Electric Ladyland

Franco-Francophobes?

Richard Perle, Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney and Marc Racicot: Not French Either

For those keeping score, French-descended Richard Perle joins musketeers Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney and Marc Racicot in the mounting pile of ignored French-descended Francophobes in the GOP.

The above passage was part of a long anti-Administration rant -- thought I'd take it out and highlight it for the inane concept of a Franco-Francophobe. Read a visitor's comment below for an amusing (?) anecdote on DeLay's, um, savoir-faire or lack thereof:

A fun memory circa 1999: former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien is seated at a Washington banquet table as Tom Delay loudly introduces him to the audience as follows:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of Canada, Mr. John Cur-tayne, !"

They may not know from French but this man does, having been born in France, and he has interesting things to say about anti-French sentiment in the U.S. Read on for a well-written article on his experiences as a Frenchman in the States.  His web site has a well-considered article, titled "American Francophobia Takes a New Turn" -- worth a read as well.

Stephen Colbert: Touché

(Photo from Comedy Central web site)

If you watch The Daily Show then you couldn't have missed the scenery-chewing Stephen Colbert (col-BEAR as one site takes pains to point out), whose biting satire puts a humorous spin on the sad state of warped, agenda-driven journalism today. His implacable journo-pundit arrogance never wavers for a moment as he exposes his subjects for conspiracies that they... actually never even conceived of hatching. But let's roll with it! How refreshing it is to see the news hound tack so blatantly pursued -- and Colbert has carte blanche to do so since it's fake news anyway. With him alongside Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, I know I'll be checking in for the latest in pseudo-shoddy reporting from now until Election Day during Indecision 2004.

So how about the French connection? I did a little investigating on that and found, of all things, a very funny Colbert piece from the Daily Show on a small Southern town that decided to have a French Appreciation Month in response to the anti-French sentiment that was so strong in 2003. Colbert, out to get to the bottom of the French-loving conspiracy (Exhibit A: The Croissan'wich), makes reference to the "Chiraqi" regime and, when asked if Colbert isn't a French name, retorts "It's Native American." You can watch it here in RealPlayer format.  In this online chat someone poses the "Are you French?" question again and he adroitly quips: "I am again now though shortly before and during the recent Iraq War I pronounced the T and was Irish."

Further reading:  a Media Bistro interview, IMDB's writeup, Slate and Onion interviews.  Finally, Stephen Colbert shows his geek colors in this interview on Dungeons & Dragons, of all things.  Who knew there was a gamer hiding under that natty attire?  Nice!

“I’m of French descent so I’m not against French descent obviously”

Franco-, um, Freedom-American Republican Congressmen Bob Ney and Billy Tauzin

This topic has been well covered even in this blog, but the whole freedom fries debacle has an interesting twist I only just learned of: Bob Ney, the Republican Congressman who instituted that policy, is of French descent himself! And speaks fluent French! Huh? As he puts it, “I’m of French descent so I’m not against French descent obviously." So I wonder: was he protesting just as vigorously when people jumped on his loony ban to start bashing France in earnest? You can agree or disagree with France's politics (I do at times myself), but what he did was just plain stupid.

It gets stranger still;  Rep. Tauzin, a Congressman of Cajun descent, yanked the French version of his web site around the same time all this happened. It was, according to him, a form of political protest against the French even though he claims to be proud of his heritage.

There seems to be some confusion on his part, though:

While Tauzin may strike French from his Web site, he has not completely purged it from his language.

Interrupting a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chairs, so he could go to the House floor to vote, Tauzin said, “after the vote we will return toute de suite” (which means “return right away”). Tauzin followed the French expression up with “I shouldn’t use French. Return right away.”

Asked afterwards why he used French, Tauzin said “I can’t help myself; I’m French!”

Doesn't make much sense to me. They claim to be protesting French government policy but are lashing out against French language and culture as well as fast food that happens to be called French. At the same time, Tauzin's web site links to the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana.  Come again?

Marc Broussard sings of "Home"

(Photo by John Chiasson)

Heard this NPR piece on Marc Broussard, a 22-year-old Cajun from Louisiana who's gaining notice for his soulful singing (even though he calls himself "a white boy singing soul music"). Interestingly, NPR notes:

He draws inspiration from his Acadian roots and musical family, particularly his father ... Broussard tells NPR's Jennifer Ludden that he sees [the song] "Home" as a direct line to his Cajun heritage, a "dirty and gritty" story. "And that's pretty much what south Louisiana is," he says, "it's just the dirt and the grit and a vibe that you can't find anywhere else."

Cajuns and other interested parties may want to check out Marc's official web site.