A French president who scorns the poor? Lover's book hurts Hollande

The "sans dents" or toothless ones. Of all the revelations about Francois Hollande in the tell-all book by jilted former first lady Valerie Trierweiler published last Thursday one phrase attributed to him stands out as particularly damaging.
It is the president's alleged nickname for the poor, for whom Trierweiler claims the Socialist leader has - despite his expressions of empathy - scant regard.
"He presented himself as the man who doesn't like rich people," his former partner of nine years writes in Merci pour ce moment (Thanks for this moment), her account of their relationship, moving in for the proverbial kill.
"In reality, the president does not like poor people," she writes scathingly. "Him, a man of the Left, says in private 'the toothless ones'; very proud of his flash of humour."
The revelation from the journalist who was nicknamed The Rottweiler before she was ditched by Hollande following tabloid revelations of his affair with an actress, was described by Les Echos daily as a "deathblow" to the president.
Some analysts compared the impact of the "sans dents" phrase to his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy's response to a man who heckled him at a farm fair shortly after his election. "Get lost, you poor bastard," Sarkozy ordered him.
The remark dogged Sarkozy for the rest of his presidency, with opponents calling it proof of his disdain for the ordinary man.
Hollande, in his campaign for president, had sought to present himself as Sarkozy's antithesis.
"I like people whereas other people are fascinated by money," said the Socialist candidate, who also once declared he did "not like rich people."
The man Trierweiler describes is a more cynical character, who mocks her working-class family as "not the classiest" compared with his elite entourage.
Hollande and his entourage have made a show of holding their noses over the book, which gives an unprecedented peek inside the bedroom of a sitting French president.
But on Friday, the president broke his silence to tackle the allegation that he disparaged the poor.
Speaking on the margins of a Nato summit in Wales, he vowed he was "at the service of the poorest." It was, he said, "his raison d'etre." He was backed up by his other former partner and mother of his four children, Environment Minister Segolene Royal. Royal called Trierweiler's claims "rubbish" while Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of an "outrageous attack."
Whatever Hollande's true nature, some analysts predicted Trierweiler's portrayal would further dent his threadbare credibility. A TNS Sofres poll published last week showed his approval ratings falling to a new record low of 13 percent. The poll was conducted before the release of the book. For Yves-Marie Cann of CSA pollsters the president's appeal could scarely fall much further.
But his reported remarks on the poor were nonetheless "devastating", because they contradicted a widely-held view of Hollande as a "nice, honest person, who is close to the people", Cann said. The book's mix of political and personal scandal has made it a runaway success. Fnac, France's biggest chain of bookstores said it sold a whopping 15,000 copies by midday on the first day of sales, triple that of its opening day sales of the best-selling erotic romance, Fifty Shades of Grey.
"It's like a Harry Potter launch," a bemused saleswoman at a Fnac store in Paris told dpa as customers swarmed a display stand stacked with the new title. Among them was Dominique, an advertising agency boss with a balding pate and a suit. The executive, who described himself as a political conservative, said he wanted to read the book to validate the low opinion he has of Hollande. "He's a weak man who does not keep his promises," he said.
Steven Mercy, 25, had travelled from the mixed suburb of Saint-Ouen to buy a copy for his mother at her request. "She doesn't like Hollande," he said. He himself had no plans to read the book but he had heard about the "sans dents" remark, which was widely mocked on social media. "The toothless ones: aren't they the ones who voted for him?" Mercy asked.