Recently-elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy proffered another reason for the bulk of the EU to despise him, as well as a good portion of his countrymen:

Instead of publicly falling all over himself to apologize to the “disaffected youths” rioting in Paris and elsewhere, Sarkozy chose instead to visit wounded police officers at the Eubonne Hospital and the Hotel Dieu Hospital — those injured in the riots.

Sarkozy said:

President Sarkozy vowed Wednesday a zero tolerance policy against the rioters after two nights of clashes between youths and police in the suburb of Villiers-le-Bel north of Paris.

Referring to angry youths who clashed with French police Sunday and Monday night, the French president described their actions as completely unacceptable, and said those who who fired at them were guilty of attempted assassination. He said authorities would track them down and bring them to justice.

This bit of common sense is sure to infuriate Socialists and Leftists alike who bleed for France’s Muslim detritus.

Victor Davis Hanson, in his Thursday, 11-29 column on Townhall.com, wrote:

Sarkozy almost single-handedly has restored France’s friendship with the United States, begun to reform the economy at home and sought to bring back French entrepreneurship and creativity critical for a free, expansive economy.

The more the unions, the French intellectual elite and entrenched socialists slur Sarkozy as a reactionary and American puppet, the more he has vowed that he won’t relent until a reformed France can recapture its former commercial and geopolitical prominence.

Sarkozy still has many liberal leanings, but the times have most definitely changed in France.