Sarkozy Is Looking More Like The 'French Rudy' Every Day.(Periscope; Twins)(similarities of Nicolas Sarkozy and Rudy Giuliani)

Byline: Christopher Dickey

Rudy Giuliani has a dream. actually, the GOP presidential candidate says he's had it about five times and it's always the same: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a plane, and out over the Atlantic it almost crashes head-on into another one. As the planes pass one another, Sarkozy waves at the Democratic presidential front runners aboard the oncoming aircraft. As Giuliani tells it, Sarkozy is on his way to the United States to learn the virtues of a free economy, while the Democrats are headed to Paris "to see how they can take all the policies that failed in France."

This week, Sarkozy heads to Washington for real on a whirlwind visit that includes an address to a joint session of Congress and a state dinner at the White House. His aides say he won't be meeting -- or waving to -- any presidential candidates, but they note that as a government minister he encountered John McCain and Barack Obama. And he has met Giuliani at least three times since 2002. "They know each other well," says one close associate of Sarkozy. Part of their rapport is based on shared beliefs in the benefits of lower taxes. Both men cultivate tough law-and-order images. Giuliani recently said he would "give the death penalty to the death tax," adding with apparent pride that this was "the program of the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy." "I love ...