I loved the last New Rule on the show. Just brilliant. Read on..
And finally, New Rule: Conservatives have to stop rolling their eyes every time they hear the word, "France." Like just calling something "French" is the ultimate argument winner. As if to say, "What can you say about a country that was too stupid to get on board with our wonderfully-conceived and brilliantly-executed war in Iraq?"
And, yet, an American politician could not survive if he uttered the simple, true statement, "France has a better health care system than we do, and we should steal it." Because here, simply dismissing an idea as French passes for an argument. "John Kerry? Couldn't vote for him; he looked French." Yeah, as opposed to the other guy who just looked stupid.
Now, last week, France had an election, and people over there approach an election differently. They vote. Eighty-five percent of them turned out. You couldn't get 85% of Americans to get off the couch if there was an election between "Tits" and "Bigger Tits," and they were handing out free samples!
Now, maybe the high turnout has something to do with the fact that the French candidates are never asked where they stand on evolution, prayer in school, abortion, stem cell research or gay marriage. And if the candidate knows about a character in a book other than Jesus, it's not a drawback.
The electorate doesn't vote for the guy they want to have a croissant with; nor do they care about private lives. In the current race, Ségolène Royal has four kids, but she never got married. And she's a Socialist. In America, if a Democrat even thinks you're calling him "liberal," he grabs an orange vest and a rifle and heads into the woods to kill something!
Madame Royal's opponent is married, but they live apart and lead separate lives. And the people are okay with that for the same reason they're okay with nude beaches; because they're not a nation of six-year-olds who scream and giggle if they see pee-pee parts!
They have weird ideas about privacy. They think it should be private. In France, even the mistresses have mistresses. To not have a lady on the side says to the voters, "I'm no good at multi-tasking."
Now, like any country, France has its faults, like all that ridiculous accordion music. But, their health care is the best in the industrialized world. As is their poverty rate. And they're completely independent of Mid East oil. And they're the greenest country. And they're not fat. And they have public intellectuals in France. We have Dr. Phil!
They invented sex during the day, lingerie and the tongue. Can't we admit we could learn something from them?
So, from now on, all you high-ranking Bush Administration officials, because the French are righter than you on most things, when France comes up in conversation, you are not allowed to roll your eyes. The only time you get to do that is when your hooker from Ms. Julia is blowing you.
For an unedited version of this, do visit Purush's post here.

8 comments:
Hey, thanks for the credit.
Yeah, pity that quite a lot of it got edited out in the TV show.
When do you think we'll have an Indian comedian/commentator able to talk like that on Indian TV?
Ha Ha. Amusing :)
Like you said there's little heartburn among the French as opposed to that among Americans for the candidates.
It also makes sense that French want to maintain their style of living, including the 35 hour week.
And why not. It shows they have the pulse of their heart in the right place.
Purush - Ha! come on man, you know the answer to that question!. I don't think we'll ever see anything like, or even remotely close to, Real Time. No one will host it, no studio will touch it, no channel will broadcast it, leave alone anyone in India having the same political gyaan, fundas AND humor that Bill Maher has (I'm not saying he's the best, but man, he does make sense a lot of times).
Anil - Thanks for the visit! Actually I wish I'd said all that stuff but it was Mr. Maher! and, man a 35hour week...sounds so outlandish sitting here in India!
Hey, thanks for posting this one! One of my favorite shows, but no longer get to watch it all.
Shantanu - Thanks. In fact, I've not watched it ever! I just listen to the podcasts..Wish they would show it here, but seems too doubtful.
Very amusing post indeed! So we should emulate the healthcare system of a country where about 15000 people die of heat waves in the course of a few days? Socialized medicine meant doctors could all go on vacation without any thought to the havoc this could cause to the system
CS - Thanks for that link. Nice reality check. Even though this happened in 2003, its quite shocking. Perhaps Mr. Maher should've done his homework better.
Corporate serf -- What's to stop doctors from going on leave in a non one-payer healthcare system like the US? 2 factors compounded the situation in France during that 2003 period:
1) The unexpected severity of the heat wave &
2) Political inaction and inefficiency. The Chirac government's legendary sloth and leadfootedness is pretty well-known and documented.
FYI, this heat wave killed between 35,000 and 50,000 people in Europe in 2003. Nearly 3,000 in England and Italy and 7,000 in Germany.
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