NICK DENTON AND MICHAEL LEDEEN agree that the European Left is in trouble. And they even seem to agree to a surprising extent on why. Denton:

French and German establishment politicians are just terrified of their voters. Given the historical record, you can’t blame them. They’re afraid of populism, because they don’t know where it might lead. So they take refuge in the bland and bureaucratic. No wonder 7% [I think he means 17%] of French voters plumped for the huntin’ and fishin’ candidate. Say what you want about American politics – and I intend to – but US politicians are wonderfully responsive to popular concerns.

I didn’t know Le Pen fished. (Insert obligatory frog-gigging joke here.) Meanwhile, from Michael Ledeen:

The suicidal behavior of the French left bespeaks a more profound crisis in the European left and the growing strength of center-right and outright right-wing parties and candidates across the continent. The failure to rally around a single candidate, and the parallel failure to turn out their own voters, shows the extent to which the French Socialists have lost both a compelling political vision for the country and the discipline required to be a winning organization.

UPDATE: Reader Neel Krishnaswami says I misunderstood — Denton’s not talking about Le Pen here:

He’s talking about Jean Saint-Josse, of the “Hunting, Fishing and Tradition Party”, who actually got 4.3% of the votes, not 7%. No, that’s not a joke.

Yep, he’s right, and I should have realized that. I guess it was the 7 that fooled me.