France as a Role Model for Conservatives?

To be fair, McCain had some good things to say about France, something risky for a Republican candidate who is regarded with suspicion by the most conservative wing of his party:

On Tuesday, Mr. McCain came closest to Europhilia.
Talking about new energy sources in New Hampshire, Mr. McCain said that it took France five years to build a nuclear power plant and complained that in the United States it took 15 years or more. He also acknowledged that Americans did not readily accept France as a role model, saying self-mockingly, “As you know we always want to imitate the French.”

Here's more:

My friends, the French -- 80 percent of French electricity is generated by nuclear power. We always want to imitate the French, OK? And by the way, in case you missed it, we now have a pro-American president of France which shows if you live long enough anything can happen in America. (APPLAUSE)
So -- what do the French do with their spent nuclear fuel? They reprocess it. We can store it, we can reprocess it, we can do both. But it will have an immediate impact on our demand for foreign oil.

If not France, at least Sarkozy has become an icon for many Republicans. I suppose winning an election while being a member of an unpopular government with the promise of change is a dream for any Republican candidate these days!