France's US envoy slams "racist campaign" against French over Iraq

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040415/ts_alt_afp/us_france_040415152134

France's US envoy slams "racist campaign" against French over Iraq war
Thu Apr 15,11:21 AM ET Add U.S. National - AFP to My Yahoo!



LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) - France's ambassador to the United States denounced what he called a "racist campaign" against the French waged by US media and fueled by the Pentagon (news - web sites) since the start of war in Iraq (news - web sites).



Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, told staff, students and diplomats at the University of California at Los Angeles that Fox News and the New York Post, media baron Rupert Murdoch's properties, led the onslaught with a daily barrage of insults.


"It was a racist campaign," he said in a speech to the university's School of Public Policy and Social Research. "We were insulted just because we were French and it was unfair and dangerous."


He said such a campaign would never have been tolerated in the United States if had it been directed against blacks or Jews.

racist campaign came directly from the White House.

By the way, Barton and Guestier bottle a quite nice French merlot. Good value for money and available in the Pennsylvania State Stores.

Kerry criticized for French connection

WASHINGTON -- As the presidential race gets tighter and nastier, the F-word has increasingly crept into attacks against presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry.

It has made its way into comments by the House majority leader, onto Internet blogs, and onto the Republican National Committee's website. It has shown up on sweatshirts and T-shirts, and been thrown around in columns by nationally known conservative writers.

Kerry, his foes complain, might as well be French.

snip

House majority leader Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, is reported to have started a meeting by saying, "Good morning, or as John Kerry would say, `Bonjour.' " And the RNC weighed in April 1 with a spoof TV spot -- identified as just a little April Fools' Day joke -- that derides both Kerry and the French. "Did you know that April Fools' Day was started by the French back in the 16th century? I think today, their gas prices are about $4.57 a gallon," says the announcer, with an accordion playing in the background and an oil painting shown hanging on a wall to evoke the mood of Paris.

snip

"These guys are doing the same thing they do to black candidates. They're appealing to people's prejudices," said Senator Joseph Biden, Democrat of Delaware. The underlying message, Biden and others said, is to make the decorated Vietnam War veteran look unpatriotic by associating him with a country that opposed the Iraq war, and to make the Massachusetts senator look like he's privileged and out of touch with regular Americans.

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http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/04/12/kerry_criticized_for_french_connection/