Weird News Story: French president doesn't like cheese

The French are a proud nation that have surrendered in almost every single major war since 1900. They won't stand for their president not eating cheese. I wish I was kidding but this is an actual story.

It’s a matter of (spurious) debate if France’s president is a “surrender monkey,” but one thing seems clear: He is no longer cheese-eating. Nicolas Sarkozy decided to stop savoring "le fromage" after meals, the AFP reported in an article on the kitchens at the presidential Elysee Palace.

His chef said Sarkozy was trying to eat healthily, preferring "light, balanced meals and poultry to red meat," AFP added.

The term “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” was first used on "The Simpsons" and was popularized by National Review journalist Jonah Goldberg, who claimed he had made it “an accepted term in official diplomatic channels around the globe.”

 What would the American equivalent be? If our President didn't eat McDonalds and was healthy? Oh wait we have that in Obama. I guess we're wishing for the days of Dick Cheney and his 80 heart attacks. Or maybe a better comparison would be if our president said he didn't like freedom. Instead of freedom, the French like their cheese.

 The variety and flavor of cheeses to be found across France is a matter of national and regional pride, a subject that can fire considerable passion.

As the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper noted, Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French forces during the Second World War and later president, once declared, “How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 different kinds of cheese?”

It remains to be seen if a non-cheese-eating leader is acceptable to the French electorate, who will decide whether Sarkozy remains in the Elysee in presidential elections in just three weeks’ time.

 I'm glad that a person's diet is determining global politics.