Who said the French were humorless

I was listening to the Diane Rehm Show on NPR while driving back from work yesterday.  The show’s theme was a roundup of the latest news.  Amongst the guests was Martin Walker of United Press International UPI.  He recounted an anecdotal bit that qualifies as the uncontested “Joke of Election Day.”  So I figured it was worth sharing with you today.

After discussing the possible draw-down of French troops in Afghanistan, the host moved to the subject of the recent reports about Hamid Karzai receiving bags full of cash to the tune of one million Dollars from Iran, an incident Karzai first denied but finally admitted and said that he uses the money for his “expenses.”  Here is how Martin Walker responded and this is an exact quote from the program transcription:

“Well, talking of France, there was a rather good commentary. I think it was in France Soir, one of the French newspapers, which said, we never thought that George Bush’s attempt to export American Democratic practices to Afghanistan would have such success. The point being that they see this as par for the course for U.S. campaign finance.”

I was laughing the rest of the way home.