Hey, Ukraine is alone and seems to be doing just fi.. oh whatever

And being anti anything is so easy these days. It's much harder to publicly say that x is broken but can be fixed and here is the why's and how's. Which is why I was afraid ahead of tuesday's debate. In a 1m30 response, it's easier to say "repeal and replace the EU" than to say u gonna fix the EU. Macron did badly imo but it could have been worse.

Switzerland is as boring af

Beautiful outdoor scenery but otherwise it's so sterile and organized that it lacks anything that can be construed as charm.

Macron just said he wants a military response to Bashar al-Assad's gassing of his population. **** could hit the fan fast.

Dingdingding!

I think such nationalist as Le Pen never win in our country. I give her also 10 % of winning

why would anyone vote hamon? either vote macron if youre a neoliberal shill or vote melenchon if youre longing for the people's revolution to take down the bourgeoisie.

And if you're not a right wing racist, a neoliberal shill or a revolutionary socialist?

Wow Mélenchon now ahead of Fillon in some polls and only 4% behind Le Pen and Macron. Mélenchon v Le Pen in the 2nd round would be a huge shock for France and the EU. Macron still the favourite but this election remains scary...

If Macron wins he better pushes for a ranked voting system, otherwise France will sooner rather than later end up with a runoff between ultra left v nationalist right

then you have to choose because otherwise it's just a waste

it feels like the traditional right had this one in the bag until fillon turned out to be a crook

I'm off to Spain or another country if le pen or mélenchon wins. Screw this ****. You want to see where France is heading with Mélenchon? Google Venezuela for **** sake.

Any danger that Le Pen could beat Mélanchon in the second round?

Plenty if people like BABAR keep up the anti-Mélanchon vitriol.

I don't think so. But who knows at this point, this is uncharted territory. And I am not sure what would be worse tbh.

Have to think the fascist would be worse!

LDO

He is a dangerous guy. I used to live in South America, I personally know Venezuelans who had to leave their country to make a life. That was in 2012 when everything was "great" for Venezuela. Chavez and Maduro ran their country off a cliff by ideology. That's what Mélenchon is, he will die by his ideology.

In Venezuela they blame the gringos and the rich, Mélenchon will blame the bankers and Germany.

Look at his mentors: Chavez, Castro, Robespierre. What they have in common? Faschist in their approach to power.

Gun to my head, I don't know who I would vote for. Probably Mélenchon but I haven't thought about it yet.

I think Mélanchon's only real hope is if Hamon somehow decides to drop out and back him. Can't really see that happening. I think Fillon will do better than his current polls - think it's still most likely to be Macron v Le Pen but wouldn't rule out Fillon sneaking past Macron. If that starts to look likely, I would hope that the more sensible PS types will row in behind Macron. Stopping Fillon / Le Pen should be good enough incentive for them - a few months ago, it seemed impossible that whoever Les Républicains chose as their candidate was assured of victory.

Little bit of Holocaust denial by Marine Le Pen shows that her views might be more similar to her father's than we think:

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/10/eu...ust/index.html

I understand that she meant that Vichy Regime doesn't represent the true nature of France (essentially distinguishing modern day France from its sordid past). But when your father is a Holocaust denialist, offering anything that could be construed as Holocaust denial is really, really stupid. I mean does she actually want to win this election?

It's a really weird move, up until now she was incredibly successful in distancing herself from her father and normalizing her party. She's really shooting herself in the foot there, which is nice.

I still dont see her or Melenchon winning. He takes votes from her so it's hard to imagine a second round with the two of them. Strategic voting from moderates should prevent it too. It still looks like Macron is going to win by default.

Admit to being very slightly shook by the polling over the last few weeks. If everyone converges into the low 20s / high teens that has to increase variance and so help Le Pen. Specifically, I guess, by splitting any anti-Le Pen protest vote and having more potential "no-one-left-represents-me" abstentions in the second round. 10% seems too low for me, but not sure I'd go as far as 20%. Either way, as an inhabitant of France, it's too high.

Am hoping the Vel d'Hiv comments, and the other Le Pen scandals, have the effect of making sure people who might have switched their vote in the second round now won't. I doubt her supporters will be put off by a spot of anti-Semitism, especially with the possible Gaullist defence. It is slightly surprising she'd go there, I don't know what's more likely - that it's a miscalculation about French nationalism, or her true opinions breaking through the mask. Doesn't particularly matter, though.

Le Pen is an atrocious person and that quote shows how superficial her attempts to rebrand herself are.

Saying that the Vichy government didn't represent France so there's no need to be guilty about its involvement in the Holocaust is like saying the Nazis didn't truly represent Germany so no need for guilt there either.

I hope the other candidates pull her up on this in future debates.

Mélenchon has not gone up in the last 2 or 3 days. Macron's vote is consolidating: I think 70% says they are certain they will vote Macron, it was 50% just a week ago. I think Macron is fine but I agree it's way too close for my liking.

The fact that all the polls are so similar is a little concerning

In "you can't make this s*** up" news, Le Pen might be having her Reichstag Fire moment. Someone tried to burn down her headquarters last night, some anti-racist group seems to have claimed responsibility and she's out blaming the extreme left who, apparently, Hollande has allowed to run riot across the country for months.