Times sportswriter Jere Longman worked in some of the Times' patented (and puzzling [1]) bias against French President Nicolas Sarkozy in his Wednesday A1 story on the troubled French World Cup squad's ignominious departure from the tournament, "France, Its Dishonor Complete, Exits World Cup With a Loss [2]."
France exited in disgrace from the World Cup on Tuesday with no victories and little sympathy for a team that infamously used an intentional handball to get into the tournament and self-destructed on the way out.
....
But there seemed to be plenty of blame to go around for France's catastrophic World Cup performance. Domenech called his players' revolt "unspeakably stupid." Some opposition politicians said the players' behavior represented the selfishness fostered by the governance of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had been called President Bling Bling for his flashy style.
"It's all about individualism, egotism, everyone for themselves, and the only way to judge human success is the check you get at the end of the month," Jérôme Cahuzac, a Socialist Party member of France's National Assembly, said in a radio interview, according to Reuters.
One hopes Longman is just folding in some local color and not seriously forwarding the view that Sarkozy (a tough-on-crime Bush supporter and constant target of Paris-based reporter Elaine Sciolino [3]) shares blame for the disgrace of his country's soccer team.
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