Some Gratuitous French Bashing

From the July 7, 2009 New York Times:

“America is six months behind; it has wasted a lot of time,” said Patrick Devedjian, the minister in charge of the French relance, or stimulus. By the time Washington gets around to doling out most of its money, Mr. Devedjian sniffed, “the crisis could be over.” ...

The confidence evident in the words of Mr. Devedjian, a close adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy, echoes a broader pride among French business and political leaders that their government has done a better job dodging the worst of the economic turmoil than its European neighbors like Britain, Germany and Spain. ...

“The country that is behind is the U.S.,” he said, “not France.”

From today's Wall Street Journal:

The euro-zone economy grew for the first time in a year and a half during the third quarter, but growth was slower than expected after a surprisingly weak performance from France.

Hmmm.