It might be instructive for Americans to get a flavor for the overwhelming support that Barack Obama has among Europeans. I am currently living in the Paris area for a couple of months, and almost everyone I talk to is strongly hoping Obama gets elected. A few are amazed that it is even possible that a black man could become president. There was even a news story the other night where a reporter suggested that France hold primaries like the U.S. so that a more diverse range of candidates could compete for the presidency here. Perhaps a good idea, but, IMHO, their 2-3 month election cycle is far better than our 2 year process. But I digress from my main topic.
The most followed news broadcast in France (Le Journal on France 2, a French public station) had an extensive story Sunday where Daniel Roussel, a French movie director, claimed he had evidence that showed McCain lied about the level of treatment he received in Vietnam while a POW. More after the fold.
Daniel Roussel (sorry - his site is in French only) was a journalist from 1980 to 1986 for the communist daily l'Humanité (Humanity) in Vietnam and speaks Vietnamese fluently. The news story on France 2 had video obtained by Mr. Roussel showing the Vietnamese man who found McCain in a lake when his jet was shot down, a woman who initially cared for him, and the former head of the prison where McCain was held, Tran Trong Duyet. No video link is available (it would be in French anyway), but some photos from the story can be found here showing the women who initially cared for McCain and the prison head, then and now. The essence of Roussel's claim is that McCain was treated far better than he has led people to believe. The argument was essentially that, once the Vietnamese found out who his father was, McCain was treated well so that he could be used for exchange of important Vietnamese prisoners.
Of course, a sceptic would claim that a Vietnamese prison official would have no reason to tell the truth about torture that he might have been responsible for in the past. The ironic part of the story is that the prison official, Tran Trong Duyet, despite his claim that McCain is lying about his prison treatment, would vote for him if he were an American!
France 2's political correspondent in the U.S., Alain de Chalvron, responded to Roussel's claim that no one in the U.S., including Democratic politicians, are questioning McCain's story of the conditions under which he was held in Vietnam. He said it was essentially "he said, she said."