Critics of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was recently snapped on a "date" with Italian-French model Carla Bruni at Disneyland Paris, are crying foul. The budding romance, they say, is a public relations move designed to distract the French press from their leader's recent foibles. (Sound familiar?)

Bruni, a former Guess Jeans girl and musician, voted for Sarkozy's rival in the recent elections and has some unusual views on relationships, suggesting she's not planning on putting on a suit and playing the part of the French First Lady any time soon. Last winter she told a French glossy: "I'm monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy and polyandry."

Nonetheless, by aligning himself with a model who's dated Vincent Perez, Mick Jagger, and, er, Kevin Costner, the freshly divorced Sarkozy is able to reassert his manly leadership abilities. Serge Hefez, a shrink authoritatively quoted in coverage of the possible affair, says the fake dalliance also serves as a great distraction from Sarkozy's recent visit from Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, during which Le Prez allegedly bent over backwards to win contracts from the shady dictator. "His affair comes at a time when Sarkozy was humiliated by Gaddafi, who led him around by the nose. His image was greatly tarnished," said Hefez. "And now, by a wave of the magic wand, he appears resplendent. He has become active, brilliant, seductive again."

If the pair are indeed nothing more than an attractive stunt, at least the headlines have given Frenchmen the chance to pause and consider this NSFW montage of Carla Bruni's magazine work, set to the husky tones of her Norah-Jones-esque dinner party Musak. Pretty!