Robert Mayer at Publius Pundit says:
Those most affected by the riots — who had their cars torched, windows smashed, and who live among this on a daily basis — are those same blue-collar ethnic French most likely to vote for the National Front and politicians like Le Pen. Now that widespread fear of these rioters has gripped the entire ethnic French population completely, it is possible that, should the National Front moderate its rhetoric and capitalize on the situation, it could see even more improved poll results over a short period of time across the entire spectrum of the population. Even more possible than that, this crisis will force the moderate center-right, which has shown itself now to be entirely too weak, to move farther to the right, therefore culminating in a greater consensus on simply cracking down on the immigrant population instead of addressing the the fundamental problem of the lack of opportunity created by the French social model.I know it's irrational, but I think that the Parisian Intifada of 2005 is a good thing. It has helped many in America to see what a Western European country with a full tenth of its population being Muslim looks like. It also explains why France is so careful to defend the Arab/Islamic status quo of fascist and authoritarian tyrannies.
Your hand is forced, Chirac. Don't stumble now, though: Mo is staring you down and sizing you up.