No Parachute

Arno Klarsfeld, friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, telegenic lawyer, enthusiastic Israeli Defence Force checkpoint official (not to mention son of renowned Nazi-hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, who brought Klaus Barbie and Maurice Papon, among others, to justice) has been parachuted into the 12th arrondissement constituency in the east of Paris (for centuries a left-wing stronghold) as a UMP candidate for next month's parliamentary elections. Arno lives in the 8th arrondissement, the opposite side of the city and a world away from the slightly more ethnically and culturally diverse 12th. Nonetheless he objects to the use of the word 'parachute'; he tells Le Parisien that he 'passed through the 12th when [he] ran the Paris marathon' and that 'he lives in the 8th, it's not that far away.' With deadpan copy like this, newspapers are soon going to have to strategically place emoticons to avoid any ambiguity. Arno is also a supporter of George W. Bush (which even Sarkozy shies away from admitting to) and has accused the Palestinians of being responsible for some of the Nazis' victims because of their unreasonable reaction to being colonised without their consent in the 1930s. Hopefully the voters of the 12th will show this liar and distortionist of history the door on June the 10th and tell him to in future go search for his votes in the friendlier climes of the 8th.