Candidate has to drive out of a mess

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                         Jean-François Monier / AFP

Things were going fine for François Fillon. A few weeks ago, many people in France imagined him as the future president of the Republic. Not only does he believe in God; he also believes in automobiles, and knows how to handle them in the city of Le Mans, where he was born.


At the height of his glory as a Right-wing presidential candidate, he gave the wheel of his automobile to his wife Penelope… who rapidly steered her husband into a big pile of mud on the track, which seems to be clogging up his engine. They've drawn to a halt by the side of the track, where they're trying to figure out if they can restart their vehicle. As an observer, with little experience of this kind of situation, I would say that the answer is definitely no. I fear they've screwed up the engine. But one never knows.

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