Article Published: Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Owens' jokes get gonged
Remarks at Michigan event offend Francophiles, embassy officials
By Susan Greene
Denver Post Staff Writer
France's U.S. Embassy blasted Gov. Bill Owens on Monday for "unfortunate and ill-informed" jokes about the French.
Keynoting Saturday at the Michigan Republican Party Convention, Owens quipped, "You know why they planted those big trees along the boulevard in Paris? So the invading armies could march in the shade."
And, he continued, "You know why the new French navy has glass-bottom boats? So it can see the old French navy."
C'est dommage, responded Nathalie Loiseau of the French Embassy in Washington. She admonished Colorado's two-term governor for "uselessly practicing French bashing for the purpose of playing politics." Owens delivered his riffs to a crowd of 2,000 Michigan Republicans after contrasting President Bush's leadership with that of likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Kerry, he said, "would wait for a permission slip to be filled out by the United Nations and initialed by France" before rebuilding Iraq.
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Owens was unavailable Monday to explain his bon mots against the French.
Communications director Sean Duffy said the governor "has been very concerned about European and other nations who have been not only unsupportive, but actively antagonistic in the conduct and the run-up to the Iraq war."
"He was pointing out how America has sacrificed for other nations. So, historically, he was trying to point out that America has done a lot for France," he continued.
Concerns about Owens' jokes are "kind of bewildering," Duffy added, "because he had a standing ovation in the hall."
He noted the governor - who has traveled several times to France - "likes the French quite a bit."
Funny way of showing it, some Francophiles counter. They note Owens has refused two meetings in the past year with top French diplomats visiting Denver.
Duffy said the governor would not meet France's consul general in the spring of 2003 - near the start of the Iraq war - because he "felt strongly that it was not a good time to be sitting down and pretending that everything was dandy." Owens declined to meet with the French ambassador this spring "because their schedules didn't work out," Duffy said.
There are an estimated 3,000 French families living in Colorado. The state's exports to France totalled more than $267 million last year. Owens's Office of Economic Development and International Trade has tried to lure more business from Europe, including France.
"As an entrepreneur myself, your governor certainly wouldn't make me want to locate a company in Colorado," said Michael LaVean, a Michigan resident who has lived in France and took offense at Owens' humor.
Tom Clark, director of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said Owens' "are old jokes that are used about all kinds of countries."
"It's campaign time. People are going to make jokes to endear themselves to audiences. I'm not offended one way or another," said Clark, whose office has been trying for six years to lure Air France to fly to Denver.
Frieda Sanidas, the honorary consul of France in Colorado, tried to stay neutral.
"I suppose this is supposed to funny. But I really would not like to comment," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Reporter Susan Greene can be reached at
sgreene@denverpost.com .