ORIGINAL FRENCH ARTICLE: Unes
by Maurice Ulrich’s Daily Ticket
Translated Tuesday 3 November 2009, by Isabelle Métral
and reviewed byWhat does Jacques Chirac’s dog Sumo think of his master?
An impassioned study in the Nouvel Observateur this week informs us that he sometimes bit him. This could be a sign of affection. He bites what he loves.
It was not the dog, however, but his trainer, Bruno Legrand, who confided in the Nouvel Obs, which in turn devoted an entire front page to the "true Chirac".
This, with the obligatory testimony of some twenty personalities. So Frédéric de Saint-Sernin, former advisor to Jacques Chirac at the Elysée, is said to have said to him, "When campaigning or moving about, take advantage of every opportunity to take a piss." We understand the strategic import of this advice.
L’Express, surely aware of the significance of the revelations to be published by its competitor — or was it the reverse? — announces on their first page, "The Court Secrets" [1]. So Nicolas Sarkozy doesn’t like the voters in his camp any more, because of the influence of his wife, who has introduced him to the "intellectuals of the Left".
So his ministers, twisted by anxiety, ask themselves "Am I the lord’s favorite?"
Are we permitted to ask "Are these the veritable preoccupations of the French?"
But don’t be upset. Les Echos announces, also on page 1, "The morale of the rich is gradually recovering."
[1] Les secrets de la cour