Get lost you little jerk

Nicolas Sarkozy cracks me up. I thought lèse-majesté was quaint when used against foreigners in Thailand, but the pint-sized (yes, I’m making fun of his height) president of France has had a protester arrested, prosecuted and convicted of offending a head of state. The man had apparently waved a sign at Sarkozy saying “Get lost you little jerk.”

Now that in itself is funny, but the really funny thing is that the demonstrator was quoting ... Sarkozy. When an ordinary Frenchman refused to shake his hand, the president of France told that citizen to “Get lost you little jerk”.

So let me get this straight: The president is allowed to insult citizens, but citizens who insult the president are arrested? I’m distressed. If the French can’t rage against the pompous, who can? No country has a finer tradition of telling their leaders they are little jerks, and they should be proud of it.