Friday fact-check

Remember when we said we'd this would be our last post about France for this week? We lied. Because the gloating of the American Right over the failed EU Constitution is occurring within their usual fact-free zone. So consider Jonah Goldberg's first two concluding observations in this column:

Of course, there were other reasons the constitution failed so spectacularly, including: 1) The French political system is scandalously undemocratic, and the French people felt they hadn’t been consulted. 2) This may have been the last chance voters had to express their fears of Turkey joining the EU.

He's left himself a couple of outs via vagueness, but nonetheless, let's note that

1) Besides having just said No in, like, a democratic referendum, "scandalously undemocratic" France has whacked Chirac over the head in regional and European elections last year, put him in the office when faced with the only alternative of Le Pen in 2002, and is chomping at the bit to get rid of him, should they get the chance, in 2007.

2) The referendum is indeed the last chance to express their fears of Turkish membership, except for the referendum that they'll get when any actual proposal for Turkish accession is on the table.

Does he get paid for writing that column?