Sarkozy "get lost" video becomes Internet hit

By Astrid Wendlandt

PARIS (Reuters) - A video of French President Nicolas Sarkozy telling a bystander to "get lost" has become a hit on the Internet.

Sarkozy was filmed by a journalist from the daily Le Parisien on a walkabout at the annual farm fair in Paris on Saturday.

Sarkozy offered his hand to a man who said: "Don't touch me, you are soiling me." In reply, Sarkozy said, without dropping his smile: "Get lost, dumb ass."

The video was posted on Le Parisien's website www.leparisien.fr.on and by midday on Sunday it had been seen by more than 350,000 people, a spokeswoman for the newspaper said.

"It has created quite a controversy," she said. The video is the first to come up when searching for Sarkozy on Dailymotion and YouTube.

Sarkozy's popularity ratings are in freefall and his hands-on style of government is attracting growing criticism.

In November, Sarkozy had a heated exchange with fishermen during protests against rising fuel costs. The president challenged a fisherman who had insulted him.

"Come down and say that," Sarkozy, elected in May, was quoted as saying. "Don't think that by insulting me you will solve fishermen's problems."