Sarkozy calls scribe a 'dummy,' apologizes
Source: Agencies |
March 17, 2012, Saturday
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy was caught on camera calling a journalist a "dummy" during an official visit on Thursday, in an outburst his Socialist election rival Francois Hollande condemned as vulgar and undignified.
Sarkozy has earned a reputation for blunt speaking during his five-year presidency. In the runup to April's first round presidential vote, he has been at pains to shed that image.
But during a visit to Chalons-sur-Marne, east of Paris, he appeared to lose patience with a young journalist when questioned about clashes between police and striking steel workers in Paris on Thursday.
"Do you think I give a damn about what you say? What do you expect me to say?" he says, adding: "What a dummy!"
He then turned back smiling to the journalist and slapped him on the shoulder, apologizing for the comment and saying: "He's nice really. He's young."
Hollande blasted Sarkozy in the wake of the incident accusing him of slipping back into the "excesses" and "vulgarity" that had marked his five-year term. "Do you think that's the best way to conduct a dignified public debate?" he said on France 2 television.
Some 150 workers from the ArcelorMittal steel mill at Floranges in eastern France gathered outside Sarkozy's campaign headquarters in Paris earlier to protest at the threatened closure of the plant and push for a solution.
The protest turned violent as workers tried to break through a police line, prompting riot police to fire tear gas to put an end to the demonstration.
Sarkozy's comments came only hours after he had himself criticized Hollande for losing his temper, referring to his campaign speech in Marseilles a day earlier. "There's no need to get angry, tense up, to be nasty or aggressive," Sarkozy told journalists during a visit to a metal factory.
Sarkozy has earned a reputation for blunt speaking during his five-year presidency. In the runup to April's first round presidential vote, he has been at pains to shed that image.
But during a visit to Chalons-sur-Marne, east of Paris, he appeared to lose patience with a young journalist when questioned about clashes between police and striking steel workers in Paris on Thursday.
"Do you think I give a damn about what you say? What do you expect me to say?" he says, adding: "What a dummy!"
He then turned back smiling to the journalist and slapped him on the shoulder, apologizing for the comment and saying: "He's nice really. He's young."
Hollande blasted Sarkozy in the wake of the incident accusing him of slipping back into the "excesses" and "vulgarity" that had marked his five-year term. "Do you think that's the best way to conduct a dignified public debate?" he said on France 2 television.
Some 150 workers from the ArcelorMittal steel mill at Floranges in eastern France gathered outside Sarkozy's campaign headquarters in Paris earlier to protest at the threatened closure of the plant and push for a solution.
The protest turned violent as workers tried to break through a police line, prompting riot police to fire tear gas to put an end to the demonstration.
Sarkozy's comments came only hours after he had himself criticized Hollande for losing his temper, referring to his campaign speech in Marseilles a day earlier. "There's no need to get angry, tense up, to be nasty or aggressive," Sarkozy told journalists during a visit to a metal factory.
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