PM to OBK

oregonblitzkrieg said:

dhdawg said:

It's a nice minor victory. but it will mean nothing if le pen isn't defeated

Why don't you outline your problem with Le Pen.

Here's the short version:

Marine Le Pen

Childhood[edit]
Marion Anne Perrine Le Pen was born on 5 August 1968[21] in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She is the youngest of the three daughters of Jean-Marie Le Pen, a Breton politician and a former paratrooper, with his first wife Pierrette Lalanne. She was baptized 25 April 1969, at La Madeleine by Father Pohpot. Her godfather was Henri Botey, a relative of her father.

She has two sisters: Yann and Marie Caroline. In 1976, Marine survived a bomb attack on the family as they slept in their beds.[22] She was eight when a bomb meant for her father exploded in the stairwell outside the family's apartment. The blast ripped a hole into the outside wall of the building. Marine, her two older sisters and their parents were unharmed.[23]

She was a student at the lycée Florent Schmitt at Saint-Cloud. Her parents divorced in 1987.[24][25]

Legal studies and work[edit]
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Le Pen studied law at Panthéon-Assas University, graduating with a Master of Laws in 1991 and a Master of Advanced Studies (DEA) in criminal law in 1992.[26] Registered at the Paris bar association, she worked as a lawyer for six years (1992–1998).[26] In France, when a defendant cannot afford a lawyer, one is chosen to represent him or her. She often fulfilled this role.

In 1992, she received the certificate as a lawyer (CAPA) and became a lawyer practising in Paris. She then argued regularly before the criminal chamber of the 23rd District Court of Paris which judges immediate appearances. She was a member of the Bar of Paris until 1998, when she joined the legal department of the National Front.

Private life[edit]
Le Pen was raised Roman Catholic.[27] She was married in 1995 to Franck Chauffroy, a business executive who worked for the National Front. By Chauffroy, she has three children (Jehanne, Louis, and Mathilde).[24] After her divorce from Chauffroy in 2000, she married Eric Lorio in 2002, the former national secretary of the National Front and a former adviser to the Regional election in Nord-Pas de Calais, whom she also divorced in 2006.

Since 2009, she has been in a relationship with Louis Aliot, whose grandfather was Algerian Jewish. Aliot was the National Front General Secretary from 2005 to 2010, then the National Front vice president who was in charge of the Project.[28] She spends most of her time in Saint-Cloud, and has resided in La Celle-Saint-Cloud with her three children since September 2014. She has an apartment in Hénin-Beaumont. In 2010, she also bought a house with Aliot in Millas.[29]

Early political career[edit]
First steps and rise within the FN : 1986–2010[edit]
In 1986, at the age of 18, Marine Le Pen joined the FN. In 2000, she became president of Generations Le Pen, a loose association close to the party aimed at "de-demonizing the Front National".[24] In 1998, she joined the FN's juridical branch, which she led until 2003.

In 2000, she joined the FN Executive Committee (bureau politique). In 2003, she became vice-president of the FN.[24] In 2006, Jean-Marie Le Pen entrusted her with the management of his 2007 presidential campaign. In 2007, she became one of the two executive vice-presidents of the FN and was in charge of training, communication and publicity.[26]

In 1998, she acquired her first political mandate when she was elected regional councillor in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais. From 2002, she began to establish her parliamentary base in the former coal mining area of the Pas-de-Calais.[24]

Her aim is to expand the political influence of the FN and transform it into a "big popular party that addresses itself not only to the electorate on the right but to all the French people".[3] She has frequently stated that she rules out any political alliance with the Union for a Popular Movement.[30][31]

She has at numerous times distanced herself from some of Jean-Marie Le Pen's controversial statements,[32] notably those relating to war-crimes, which the media point to her attempts to improve the party's image. While her father has provoked a long-time controversy by saying that the gas chambers were "a detail of the history of World War II", she said it has been "the height of barbarism".[33][34]

Internal campaign for the FN leadership : 2010–11[edit]
Her candidacy was endorsed by an overwhelming majority of senior executives[35] and notably by Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the FN.[36][37]

She spent four months campaigning for the FN leadership, holding meetings with FN members in 51 departments to explain in detail her political views and projects for the party.[38] All the other departments were visited by one of her official supporters.[35]

On 3 September 2010, she launched her internal campaign at Cuers, Var.[39] During a meeting in Paris on 14 November 2010, she claimed: "My project is not to assemble our political family, or rather is not only to assemble our political family. It consists of shaping the Front National as the center of grouping of the whole French people". She also explained why the FN leadership and the candidature for the presidential election must not be dissociated: thus the next FN leader will run in the 2012 presidential election.[40] During her final meeting at Hénin-Beaumont on 19 December 2010, she claimed that the FN presents the real debates of the next presidential campaign.[41][42] Most of her campaign tours throughout France were reported in local newspapers and regional television programmes.

In December 2010 and early January 2011, FN members voted by post to elect their new president and the hundred members of the Central Committee. The party held its congress at Tours for two days (15–16 January 2011).[43] On 16 January 2011, Marine Le Pen was officially elected with 67.65% (11,546 votes) as the new president of the Front National[26][44] and Jean-Marie Le Pen became de facto its honorary chairman. Her challenger Bruno Gollnisch polled 32.35% (5,522 votes).

Controversy[edit]
Marine Le Pen stirred up controversy during the internal campaign. During a speech to the party faithful in Lyon on 10 December 2010, she said that the weekly illegal blocking of public streets and squares in multiple French cities (notably the rue Myrha in the 18th arrondissement of Paris) for Muslim prayers was comparable with an occupation of parts of French territory. Specifically, Le Pen said:

For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it's about occupation, then we could also talk about it (Muslim prayers in the streets), because that is occupation of territory. ...It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. ... There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers, but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents.[45]

The mention of World War II brought claims from the media and politicians that she had drawn an irresponsible parallel with the Nazi occupation of France (May 1940 – December 1944).[46] Nearly the entire political and media class strongly criticised her statement, which was widely commented on by different political analysts.[47][48][49][50][51][52] Whereas the CRIF,[53] the French Council of Muslim Faith (CFCM)[54] and the LICRA[55] denounced her statement, other groups like the MRAP[56] and the LDH[57] declared their intention of lodging a formal complaint. The imam of the Great Mosque of Paris and former president of the CFCM, Dalil Boubakeur, claimed that though her parallel was questionable and condemnable, she had asked a valid question.[58]

A member of the FN's Executive Committee, Louis Aliot, denounced "the attempted manipulation of opinion by communitarian groups and those really responsible for the current situation in France".[59] On 13 December 2010, she confirmed her statement during a press conference held in the FN's headquarters in Nanterre.[60][61][62] After Jean-François Kahn's comments on BFM TV on 13 December 2010, she denounced "state manipulation" mounted from the Elysée with the intention of demonizing her in public opinion.[63][64]

On 15 December 2015, the Lyon court acquitted her of "inciting hatred", considering that her statement "did not target all of the Muslim community" and was protected "as a part of freedom of expression".[65] Furthermore, France is a secular state prohibiting public religious demonstrations such as street prayers.[citation needed]