French President Sarkozy Shines in Washington DC

We were told they all hated us.
They were wrong about that, too.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy came to America. He delivered a powerful pro-American speech to Congress on Wednesday.
In fact, Sarkozy was certainly more pro-American than many Democrats we've heard from lately.

US President George W. Bush (R) toasts with French President Nicholas Sarkozy (L) during a Social Dinner in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, 06 November 2007.(AFP/Saul Loeb)

Say Anything has video of Sarkozy's speech.

Atlas Shrugs calls his visit "Spectacular!"

From the Embassy of France here is part of that wonderful speech:

Speech by Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic before the Congress of the United States of America

...What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars.

The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it.

Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.

Fathers took their sons to the beaches where the young men of America had so heroically landed. They read them the admirable letters of farewell that those 20-year-old soldiers had written to their families before the battle to tell them: “We don’t consider ourselves heroes. We want this war to be over. But however much dread we may feel, you can count on us.” Before they landed, Eisenhower told them: “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”

And as they listened to their fathers, watched movies, read history books and the letters of soldiers who died on the beaches of Normandy and Provence, as they visited the cemeteries where the star-spangled banner flies, the children of my generation understood that these young Americans, 20 years old, were true heroes to whom they owed the fact that they were free people and not slaves. France will never forget the sacrifice of your children.

To those 20-year-old heroes who gave us everything, to the families of those who never returned, to the children who mourned fathers they barely got a chance to know, I want to express France’s eternal gratitude.

Sarkozy Merveilleux!