 Paris - President Jacques Chirac was said to be in good shape in hospital on Tuesday, as aides angrily rebutted newspaper speculation about the political fall-out of his sudden illness. On his fourth day of treatment for an eye disorder linked to a "minor vascular incident", the 72-year-old president was visited at Val de Grace Hospital by his wife, Bernadette, and his chief foreign affairs adviser Maurice Gourdault-Montagne. Doctors said the damage to his vision was limited and that Chirac would be out of hospital after a few more days of observation.
| "M. le President! Stop doing that or you'll go blind!" |
Anne Robert of the army medical service said: "It is a small haematoma, which explains the isolated and limited nature of his visual impairment."
| Ahah! A subdural haematoma! I saw this on the teevee once... Maybe it was twice... |
Robert said: "The clinical indications are on the decline, which means he is making very favourable progress.
"He's making favorable progress, Doctor!"
"We'll have to operate!" |
"The president of the republic is resting and under simple medical observation. I confirm that he should be out in a few days."
Chirac was admitted on Friday evening. Cardiologists agreed that the president had most likely suffered a "transient ischemic attack" affecting his eye, which occurred when a mini blood clot lodged in his retinal artery, causing restriction to his field of vision.
| "M. le President! Getcher hands outta yer lap! You'll go crazy!" |
Chirac's agenda for the week had been cleared, and the regular cabinet meeting on Wednesday was to be chaired by Villepin.
| Who is adjusting Chirac's chair and thinking how good it feels |
Supporters of the president rejected charges that his true condition was being deliberately kept secret and said speculation about his political future was grossly premature.
| "He ain't dead yet, Jim!" |
| "I live! I breathe! L'etat endures!" |
Speaker of the national assembly, Jean-Louis Debre, said: "At no moment has there been a power vacuum. The continuity of the state has been assured because the president has received the prime minister, issued instructions, signed decrees and continued to fulfil his mission."
"Here ya go, M. le President! Sign this!"
"What is it?"
"It's a decree!"
"What's it say? I can't see it!"
"Just sign it!"
"I don't want to!"
"Nurse! He's having another spasm!"
"Oh, alright. I'll sign it." |
Press commentators had said that Chirac's illness raised for the first time the question of his long-term health, and meant that in the last 18 months of his term in office attention would increasingly focus on his political replacement.
| Does this make him a "lame frog"? |
Commentators said the medical scare made it unlikely that Chirac would run for a third term in 2007, so a fierce succession battle could be expected between Villepin - Chirac's chosen heir - and Nicolas Sarkozy - the outspoken and highly ambitious interior minister.
"Yon Sarkozy has a lean and hungry look!"
"But Villepin can count on the help of his brothers — Margaret and Dolores!" |
Debre also rejected the accusation made in Le Monde newspaper that the details of the president's health were masked in France by a "cult of secrecy which would have done the Kremlin proud in the former Soviet Union". The newspaper asked why it took 12 hours before even Villepin was informed of Chirac's illness. But, Debre said there had been "complete transparency".
| "It was transparent. It just took 12 hours." |
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