FROM THE SCHADENFREUDE DEPARTMENT:

French President Jacques Chirac, who flew to Singapore to present Paris’ bid to host the 2012 Olympics, came away empty-handed, suffering his fourth defeat in 15 months. . . .

For Chirac, 72, the defeat is yet another setback after the French on May 29 rejected a referendum on the European constitution and his political party was routed in regional and European parliamentary elections last year.

It’s a petty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless. And no, it doesn’t bother me that Bloomberg didn’t get it for NYC, either.