ARTICLE: "French Candidates Try Softer Touch to Woo Minorities," by Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, 14 December 2006, p. A4.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the center-right candidate, tries to live down his role in suppressing the Paris riots last year, courting the same people he labeled as "scum" back then. Telegenic (no kidding!) Segolene Royal (wasn't she in "Davinci"?) pushes "inclusiveness." Even Jean-Marie Le Pen's got a poster with minorities marching alongside him into the future (imagine George Wallace's conversion). Le Pen's still all law and order. He's just admitting that appearing too white French on that score isn't enough to be credible as a candidate. In sum:

With France's presidential election four months away, Mr. Sarkozy and the other leading candidates are campaigning hard to seduce the country's alienated and disadvantaged ethnic populations.

One French sociologist describes the shift as such:

Five years ago, immigration and integration were not campaign issues of the mainstream parties. This time, the French are questioning the failure of integration and asking themselves about their capacity to integrate new foreigners. The debate has changed.

Royal goes so far as to declare minorities to be "the future of France," deciding the "question of survival" for France in globalization's competitive markets.' I know, I know. Europe will never adjust to its Muslim minority. These people will become an endless source of instability there and threats over here, due to our connectivity to Europe. No real change is possible, or at least not possible in our lifetimes, certainly not with such unregenerates as Le Pen. Instead, it's all cultural suicide from here on out. Or mebbe not.