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Le PEN: Not So Mighty.(French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen)(Brief Article)
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the 73-year-old ex-paratrooper who leads the National Front, will almost certainly not be elected president of France. Yet his ability to edge into the two-man run-off against Gaullist incumbent Jacques Chirac, and ahead of the Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin, rightly made headlines.
Le Pen's vote in the first round -- 16.9 percent -- is virtually his base vote, only slightly better than some of his previous three runs for president. But splinter parties on the left pulled Jospin down to 16.1 percent; Chirac's 19.6 percent showing -- deflated by corruption - - was the worst ever by an incumbent seeking reelection.
Le Pen's good fortune provoked continental outrage. Bien-pensant Europeans vowed to turn back this candidate of the far-right fringe who -- as almost every story on him points out -- once called the Holocaust a "detail of history." But surely this reaction was what shrinks call displacement. Fighting Le Pen is fighting yesterday's anti-Semitism. When French synagogues have been attacked by Islamist extremists; when French citizen Zacarias Moussaoui has called for the "destruction of the Jewish people" (see above); and when European governments, in a more polite fashion, routinely tilt toward Yasser Arafat, there are more pressing demons afoot.
Where, meanwhile, is the outrage at French extremists of the left? Jospin proudly worked with French Communists, whose party was the most Stalinist in western Europe. Jospin himself, as a not-so-young man, was a Trotskyist, compounding totalitarianism with futility. It was even possible, as ...
- Mighty Le Pen. (Jean-Marie Le Pen; France) (Europe )
- Magazine article from: The Economist (US) May 12, 1990 700+ words
...nothing seems to make Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen go away. This spring has brought...Whatever they try, the mischievous Mr Le Pen finds a way to turn it to his advantage...new law looks unlikely to deter Mr Le Pen, who has already been fined repeatedly...
- Mightier than Le Pen? (Jean-Marie Le Pen and the French Right)
- Magazine article from: National Review Kaplan, Roger July 23, 1990 700+ words
...near Lyon, the candidate of Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front beat out the other...dominant Gaullists, is what to do about Le Pen. And the election also illustrates...Right's biggest problem, which is Le Pen's growing popularity. LE PEN entered...
- Negro futuro europeo para Le Pen.(Jean Marie Le Pen, político francés)(TT: Dark...
- Magazine article from: Tribuna de Actualidad October 19, 1998 700+ words
Jean Marie Le Pen (en la foto), lder de la ultraderecha gala, tiene los das contados como eurodiputado. Sus compaeros en el Parlamento de Estrasburgo...
- Locals love Le Pen.(Jean-Marie Le Pen, of France's radical National Front party)
- Magazine article from: The Economist (US) June 17, 1995 700+ words
AFTER the record 15% won by Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front leader, in the...voting, on June 18th, to block Mr Le Pen's people in the towns they have a...to the idea of a formal alliance. Mr Le Pen is grinning.
- The wily old trooper won't go away; Jean-Marie Le Pen.(Far-rightist Jean-Marie...
- Magazine article from: The Economist (US) August 12, 2006 700+ words
...resonant: the far-right's Jean-Marie Le Pen. Because the National Front leader...TNS-Sofres, suggested that Mr Le Pen's popularity in May this year was...explosion of the banlieues--Le Pen told you so!" In any case, fears...
- LE PEN dinamita FRANCIA.(Jean Marie Le Pen, líder del Frente Nacional;...
- Magazine article from: Tribuna de Actualidad Florentín, Manuel April 6, 1998 700+ words
...del Frente Nacional (FN), Jean Marie Le Pen, no ha logrado su sueo de convertirse...surgidos en los comicios del da 15. Le Pen esperaba contar para ello con los...Francois Lotard, el peor enemigo de Le Pen, hicieron abortar la operacin...
- Le Pen's People.(Jean-Marie Le Pen)(Brief Article)
- Magazine article from: The Nation GUTTENPLAN, D.D. MARGARONIS, MARIA May 27, 2002 700+ words
...held in "transit camps," Jean-Marie Le Pen's claim to be "socially left...streets of Paris as the scale of Le Pen's defeat became apparent was a...how high the stakes had been. But Le Pen polled nearly 6 million votes...
- Le Pen is mightier. (Jean-Marie Le Pen) (A Survey of France)
- Magazine article from: The Economist (US) November 23, 1991 700+ words
...points for French voters. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the National Front...acquiring French nationality. But if Mr Le Pen strikes a chord with his anti-immigrant...Napoleon 11 I and was bequeathed to Mr Le Pen by an admirer. The ex-paratrooper...