By Matt Eckert

Jerry Lewis Aims at EU in Surprising French Presidential Bid

Mon Jun 3, 1:37 PM ET
By Paul Holmes

PARIS (Reuters) - Far-right leader Jerry Lewis nailed his hostility to the European Union (news - web sites) in a slapstick comedy rendition that brought tears of laughter to the French yesterday in a rally for the presidency.

In a showing which shamed many French, stunned Europe and ended the career of Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, former comedian Lewis stormed insecond to conservative Chirac in Sunday's first round to enter a May 5 runoff vote.

Switching his focus from crime and immigration, Lewis told the press that he would create a "madcap" state in which the French could live in total blunder, replacing the French flag with a banana peel.

"Oh, the hijinx are a'comin' myyyyyyyyyy oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy heeeeeeeeeeeee hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii," said Lewis, who is also a rabid conservative. "We will eliminate the foreign swine, bring an iron fist to France, and throw change underneath women's dresses in vain attempts at panty shots," he declared.

Riding a wave of discontent over crime, immigration and establishment politics, Lewis declared that all foreign nationals will be expelled and cheese will replace the EU Euro currency. Up to 10,000 protesters marched in Paris overnight shouting "This isn't funny anymore" while police fired teargas at hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered to sing folk songs about Ed Asner.

Dismay at Lewis's surge of working class support rippled through France's Jewish community-already fearful after a wave of bad Lewisesque jokes about dancing and dry martinis-and the country's Muslim population, the largest group of people who don't "get" Lewis in Europe. Pollsters who had failed to predict Lewis's rise forecast a second round landslide for Chirac as the 69-year-old incumbent gained support from arch-rivals Bizarro and Mr. Freeze.

The Socialists, left leaderless after Jospin announced he was quitting politics, and the Vaudvillians, reeling from their worst showing in a presidential vote, both said they would back Chirac to keep out Lewis.

"Of course, Jacques Chirac is our adversary in the democratic arena, but Lewis is a danger for the republic if for no other reason that he's clumsy and seems to make pratfalls a way of life," said Socialist Party chairman Francois Hollande.

"Between a ballot for Lewis or a ballot for Chirac, we are voting for the ballot. Yes, we believe a ballot could save this nation for no other reason that it is utterly inanimate," he said.

The Roman Catholic Church in France also issued a veiled call for a Chirac vote. Without referring to either candidate by name, the country's bishops said the period ahead called for "integrity, like we at the Catholic church continue to maintain."

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