Sarkozy Walks Out Of 60 Minutes Interview: "If I Had Something To Say About [My Wife] I Would Not Do So Here"

Watch French President Sarkozy walk out of a 60 Minutes interview he called "stupid" and a "big mistake."

Read more about the interview below and on Huff Wires:

France's president abruptly ended a "60 Minutes" interview aimed at introducing him to U.S. audiences, dubbing it "stupid" and a "big mistake" and refusing to answer questions about his wife.

Before the CBS news show interview in Paris even began, Sarkozy called his press secretary "an imbecile" for arranging the session on a busy day.

Comments

[Steamboater]

Bravo Sarkozy! He also should have told Stahl, it's none of her business and no one else's either. Maybe Stalh has learned a good lesson now. Doubt it though. You'd think she was working for the National Enquirer instead of a major network news show.

[mae692]

Once again we have conservatives showing us how to act when faced with asinine questions (see Laura Bush yesterday). Do we learn anything? No. That's why I'm going green!

[Beelzebul]

Perhaps we should introduce France and Mr. Sarkozy to some Shock & Awe. Saddam found out the hard way what happens when you diss the USofA. He ows Ms. Stahl and all freedom loving Americans an apology.

Sooner rather than later.

[nabrum]

You need to not skip your meds. What an idiotic statement.

[frenchstudent]

Are you serious? You'd try to "shock and awe" a nuclear power over its leader not answering a personal question on american TV?

And you ask why so many people think Americans are stupid and have a god complex?

[DustinSD]

Good for him! Why do our American journalists think that the best use of their time interviewing policymakers is talk to about BS subjects like their personal lives?

[jaybird6239]

Stahl looked like a fool and it's none of our business about his marriage. With all the important things going on, you would think a show like 60 minutes could come up with a few relevant questions. I'm glad he got up and walked out.

[BRUMALIA]

Private lives versus public lives.Sarkozy is right to discontinue the interview with respect to questions regarding his wife.Some journalists are only about the so called titillating stories and not the real hardcore news.

[Boobaloo]

The man's personal life is none of our business. Its devestating to have a marriage end and more so to have end so publically. Leave the man alone.

I am much more concerned about his Zionism that is precipitating nuclear threats against Iran and other Middle Eastern nations.

France is a very well stocked with nuclear weapons and he has threatened to attack Iran and to protect Israel at the expense of the world.

That is what that twit from 60 minutes should've been asking him.

[MI6troll]

Constipation theorist talking point of the day.

[Boobaloo]

Sarkozy "Should I remind you the visceral attachment of every Jew to Israel, as a second mother homeland?"


Fact: Sarkozy is a Zionist.
Fact: For the first time in 60 years, France is threatening to attack a Middle Eastern nation.
Fact: Cherac had excellent relations with Arabia.
Fact: Sarkozy threatened to use nuclear attack against Iran and any nation that threatened Israel. Keeping in mind that Iran never threatened Israel and that Israel and the United States have been doing all the threatening.
Fact:mtroll loiters on huffpo blathering garbage inorder to keep America in the dark and to keep the world under nuclear threat all for Israel to be happy. Interestingly, mtroll is a Zionist too.

[Horst]

To be a television "reporter" in America you need to be blonde, have straight teeth, and be able to read slowly moving copy on a teleprompter. Did you see bubblehead Stahl just sit there after Sarkozy blew her off. LOL.

[Boobaloo]

ha! Exactly right. She was ridiculous!

[wonderful]

good for him. he said no once, she pressed, game over. Something personal like that - its his WIFE and hes in the middle of something really brutal and traumatizing, i think he had every right. Policy issues would have been a different matter...

Having just gotten back from france, with one year of french under my belt, i had a very easy time. Eveyone was extremely polite. Everyone is 'sir' or 'madam' always! Can you imagine that here? Can you imagine how you would react to someone coming up to you out of nowhere and only speaking to you in spanish or french? AMERICANS ARE 10x MORE ARROGANT ABOUT OUR LANGUAGE - the debate about or 'official' language comes up all the time! And all that amounts to is racism. At least the Europeans take the time to actually learn about things outside their own little bubble, pfft.

[VOTER]

France and the French people are indeed WONDERFUL!

Your comments are right on.

[Lisette]

American TV reporters are soooo rude and she deserved what she got.

Good for Sarkozy.

They say the French are rude -- but no one is more rude than newscasters.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Madamoiselle Lisette,

I am an American, the son of a WW2 US Marine. One of my uncles (one of Dad's older brothers) Served in combat with General George S. Patton Jr. in the European Campaign. I am a loyal American citizen who loves his country more than life.

President Sarkozy was not rude. Some things are private, even for public figures. The American corporate press is currently running out of control. Leslie Stahl is just a prime example of the corporate hack, a pathetic, sycophantic attention seeker pretending to be a responsible news reporter.

President Sarkozy stood up on principle. He is to be respected for this gesture. His privacy deserves to be respected, as does that of all private figures (unless they are in violation of the law).

President Sarkozy is to be commended for his restraint with this crass Stahl creature. Such corporate vermin do NOT represent Americans in the majority, and certainly do not represent THIS American.

Leland R. Erickson
Citizen

[PixieThis]

Dear Citizen,

Please re-read Lisette's post. You're having a little problem with comprehension.

[Tosca]

Leslie Stahl got what she deserved for making such a big deal out of nothing? I don't care if the President of France is getting a divorce. I am embarrassed that she gave the impression that Americans have no greater concerns. Good for Sarkozy. Stahl is a TWIT!

[Desaparecido]

I don't understand. Stahl didn't ask him about the investigation as to Sarkozy being a Mossad spy or whether the riots in France were staged, a al Operation GLADIO, as a means of boosting his electoral chances in the election or whether the voting machines used in France hacked the vote for him; Stahl merely was asking about his wife.

[MI6troll]

Naff off, ghosts/wars

[Desaparecido]

Thanks for the warning and the confirmation.

[BWonka]

And after he told her he wasn't going to comment about his wife, she pressed him and he got up and left - what can't you understand?

[Oldtimer]

DId 60 Minutes air this interview and
show the walk out on TV?
I certainly hope they show the walk out and
the comment about Leslie Stahl being childish.
It would be a fresh thing to see on corporate
TV. If 60 minutes shows stupid questions and
an interview closed down abruptly then
good for 60 Minutes. Hooray! We need more
fresh, unadulterated interviews. We don't
need stupid questions though. I applaud
Sorkozy for walking out. It's like a bitch slap
in Leslie Stahl's face.

[BWonka]

Yes - they showed it last night. And they showed him telling her he wouldn't comment about his wife. She asked again so he got up and left.

Good for him.

[Beelzebul]

Lesley Stahl is awesome. If the French want to be an ally of the USofA in the global war on terror, then all patriotic Americans have a right to know what's going on in Nic's private life.

Mr. Sarkozy showed himself to be a very unstable person when he walked away from Ms. Stahl's interview. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to find out him and Bill Clinton are both carrying on an affair with the same women.

Namely, Cristina Fernandez.

[BWonka]

"...all patriotic Americans have a right to know what's going on in Nic's private life."

Why? Some of us "patriot Americans" don't give a rat's ass about ANYONE's sex life - not Sarkozy, not Clinton, not Rudina, not Oprah, not Peter Pan, not Larry Craig, not Captain Kirk , not even yours.

Of course if you had a sex life maybe you wouldn't get so hot and wet talking about others.

[Muldro]

You wrote: "It wouldn't surprise me one bit to find out him and Bill Clinton are both carrying on an affair with the same women."

Then you shouldn't be surprised if some people would think your statement is idiotic.

[elpollo]

O course it's idiotic. It's suppose to be sardonic humor. Half of the ultraconservatives think that Colbert is really a right wing twit and approve of him. Their stupidy is his greatest asset. It's too bad that the left doesn't have much more of a sense of humor.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

This remark must have been composed with facetious intent: Its logic is borrowed from a Karl Rovian, press release. Yet, the writer comes across as an otherwise witless, neocon drone....?

[DocManhattan]

Hmmm ... smells like ... bullshit provocation to me Beelzebul. What's the matter, wishing you had an actual opinion that someone gives a rat's ass about?

[frenchstudent]

First, I don't see why France has to beg to fight terrorism. In case you forgot, 9/11 was in New York, not Paris. If you want help, fine. If not, WE don't need YOU.

Second, I see no reason to divulge details about the private life of politicians. I certainly did not ote in that last election according to his marital status, and to horrify you even more I do not know Sarko's religious beliefs and I do not care. I judged him on his positions on the issues, and my experience growing up in the town he was mayor of.

Third, he did not show himself as instable. He showed that if he was not going to be interviewed a) with respect ( as in, when he says no to something, it means no) and b) about what is important, his position on the issues, the interview was useless. Therefore he ended it.

However, I am willing to bet you euros to dollars that any policy qestion, no matter how hostile, would have been answered. Had it been asked.

[HumeSkeptic]

Sarkozy is falling apart under pressure. He seems to have lost it even before starting the interview. He was publicly calling his press secretary an imbecile.

Also, from what I have read, both Putin and Hu Jintao treated him like a little kid.

You made a horrible mistake voting for guy, I think. France deserves better.

[rixhex56]

I am completely ignorant about Sarkozy -- don't know a thing about him, and he might not be someone I would support. But I do know that I'm sick and tired of the U.S. MSM asking this sort of questions of world leaders when there are certainly hard-core political questions that need asking and answering. I think what he did simply indicates how backward the U.S. is in terms of social development. We are so "dumbed down" that it is unbelievable.

With all that is going on in the world, why would this interviewer ask this question of this man? The question itself is a revelation of backwardness, childishness, and retardation of our societal interests and values. It was an insult to our nation for her to ask this question -- it was simply idiotic.

Perhaps Sarkozy could have used this to verbalize all of this, but then, given the state of our national dumbed-down-ness, would that have done any more good than simply walking out?

[exflatlander]

Most Europeans ( and Canadans) can't understand why the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton over an affair. "But he didn't get anybody killed!"
I guess that confirms those fears that we've been dumbed down to the ridiculous; why should this surprise anybody?

[steamboat]

I wouldn't had voted for impeachment had I been in congress...However, in answer to your question, he was impeached because of PERJURY. He lied under oath.