How Marine Le Pen Is Changing French Politics - Newsweek
Marine Le Pen is the heir apparent to the leadership of the National Front, the right-wing party her father Jean-Marie (left) leads today
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the 82-year-old firebrand of France’s far right—the man who for decades has played on the inchoate fears, xenophobia, knee-jerk racism, and ill-disguised anti-Semitism of many of his supporters—had just finished speaking to the faithful on a farm not far from the English Channel. As members of the youth wing of his National Front party feasted on barbecue and apple pie, they were thrilled to see the grand old man hold forth, still the “provocateur” taunting the establishment, the “toreador” who hides the sword in his cape and lets the press run at him like a bull. Even these youngsters knew, however, that Jean-Marie’s time in the ring is nearing an end. The old man himself made it clear he’s determined to step down. All eyes this day were on his daughter Marine. “She has the will, the courage, the temperament necessary, and the competence,” Le Pen told reporters at the farmhouse. “It seems to me indisputable that she is our camp’s best candidate for 2012.”