The initial French reaction was a mixture of exasperation and incredulity. A subject line was "Are the Americans nuts, or are we?" They can't believe that we will impeach the president for a tale of "touche-pipi" as one of them called it. They are exasperated that the "amerloques" would upset them for so trivial a thing.
Lately, the "explainers" have arrived, with justifications (none too convincing in my view) for Starr's investigation.
I was surprised that there are few comments in the de.soc.politik.* hierarchy. One wag thought that impeachment might be justified if the cigar is Cuban. There were a couple of serious posts, one anti- Clinton in tone, and one excusing Clinton. But on the whole, very little, certainly not as voluble as the French.
I attribute the lack of attention to German preoccupation with their coming election for the Bundestag, Sept 26. It looks like the election is pretty consuming, and my opinion is that the SPD will win but only by a plurality.
However, my German is minimal, so reading those newsgroups is pretty painful for me. Scanning would be a better word than reading.