Bill Maher on French phobia.

This is a brilliant article by Bill Maher, ridiculing the conservative penchant for hating all things French. First of all, many of the founding fathers were inspired by the ideas of French intellectuals. So if you say America is the greatest country in the world, you must admit that the intellectual foundation for that greatness is partly due to French influence. It is absolutely hilarious to see nutjobs like O'Reilly fuming at France because they didn't support America in Iraq war. May be that, and French suspicion of Bush's foreign policy shows a more mature understanding of international affairs.

Apart from all this, Maher highlights a more important point. The completely different, and infinitely more mature, way in which politics is conducted there.

...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. There is no Pierre Six-pack who can be fooled by childish wedge issues. And the electorate doesn't vote for the guy they want to have a croissant with. Nor do they care about the candidate's private lives: In the current race, Ségolène Royal has four kids but never bothered to get married. And she's a socialist. In America, if a Democrat even thinks you're calling him a liberal he immediately grabs an orange vest and a rifle and heads into the woods to kill something.

And as always with Maher, the article is very funny.