Now that the French have elected one of their ideological soulmates, the wingers are sucking up to them. At least the, er, flexible ones, like Fred Thompson, who just oozes sincerity when he writes:

"Maybe it's time to rethink the 'boycott France' movement" over Iraq, Thompson wrote in early May. "This would be a good time to toast Monsieur Sarkozy. And if you're going to use wine for that toast, make it French wine."

Hey, if the French are really, really good, maybe we'll let them put some of our prison camps on their territory! I mean, seriously, what torturer wants to spend down-time in Bucharest when they could be in Paris instead!

That would be quite a U-turn from the bitterness tied to France's opposition to the war in Iraq, when US conservatives renamed "French fries" as "Freedom fries," branded France "Our Oldest Enemy" and recycled a line from "The Simpsons" animated comedy that mocked "cheese-eating surrender monkeys."

Of course, some remain invincibly rigid:

But it's a fragile truce: Former Masschusetts governor Mitt Romney's campaign playbook lays out explicit plans to make France a bogeyman and even, the Boston Globe reported, envisions "First, not France" bumper stickers.

The document warns that Europe wants to "drag America down to Europe's standards," and "that's where Hillary (Clinton) and Dems (Democrats) would take us. Hillary = France," the Globe reported in February.

Gad. "Drag us down to Europe's standards."

Heaven forfend that we should have universal health care!

And the French get the entire month of August as a vacation. That's looking pretty good right now, to me....