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The Love Labour’s Lost
Enough. Really. There’s only so long that you can keep a straight face and try to fit into what this sad excuse of a political caravan considers to be politically correct. Joseph Muscat’s five year honeymoon with the electorate as heir to the throne is coming to an end. Sadly, he is winning. Sadly, he is managing to con his way into Castille. I’ve had it up to here with “defending” this blog from accusations of being “inherently nationalist”. It’s a waste of time and resources.
What this blog tries to do (and quite frankly I think it manages) is to point out the realities that are hidden behind the marketing ploys and messages that the PLPN system has refined to quasi-perfection. When we look at Joseph and Labour we do not see it in contrast to Lawrence and PN but rather we try to give the party and its leader a chance to shine in its own right – to prove itself on its own steam.
So what remains once you remove the repetitive mantra that boils down to “how bad, corrupt and dangerous the PN is”? Nothing. Our verdict on the energy plan is a damning “Could Do Better (hopefully)”. Then we have to suffer the pain of hearing about how Muscat’s measures are all inspired by some latter-day Keynesian fiction of putting more money in pockets. What money though? If you stand up and say that the “savings” on the electricity bill will not go a long way to reviving an ailing economy then you are either nationalist or ignorant. This is not me blaming Labour for whatever is happening in the Standard & Poor’s rating department (tort ta’ min?). This is me not believing that Labour is the solution to the problems that they themselves are so keen on highlighting.
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AD BREAK
Thank you for reading… you might like this link once you’ve finished with this post: A time for lemons
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Whenever Muscat comes up with a new proposal – take free child care – he forgets that nothing comes for free and that someone, somewhere will be paying it. Will the savings on the new power bills be paying for the child carers wages too? It’s insane. It’s like standing and watching the Pied Piper charm a village into oblivion. He’s done his homework all right. From where we are standing (and that’s a safe distance from the two camps) we can easily see why the warts and arrogance of the PN crowd will always outweigh any measure of reasonable doubt with regards to who can best manage the country and its finances – especially once you throw in the “twenty-five years have hurt” bit into the equation. But is that enough?
Yes. We are victims of our winner takes all electoral system. Yes I will end up being labelled “nationalist” a the end of this rant even though it is not intended to tell you to Vote PN but simply is an exposition of why I can not Vote Labour. The worst part of Muscat’s plan is the rhetoric. It’s the one based around “Malta Taghna Lkoll” and the falso buonismo that really gets on your tits. It is the dumbing down of argumentation by aiming for the questionable mantra of setting aside disagreement for the sake of the country. It is built on relativist opportunism where opinions count more than facts and has a fairy tale wishy washy feeling all round.
Lawrence Gonzi has gone on record yesterday stating that “Muscat is so ashamed of Labour that he speaks, dresses and acts like a Nationalist.” What is that supposed to mean? The only truth I see in that statement is that Muscat has hooked on to what kind of façade is appealing to the electorate and has taken to mimicking those who have hitherto been the masters of the PR. It has nothing to do with dressing “like a Nationalist” or “like a Labourite” (although the fact that Gonzi thinks that way is worrying in itself) – but rather it has a lot to do with knowing what appeals best to the electorate that you are trying to win over. Xinxilli we’d call them in Maltese.
If we really wanted to play the “blame game” (tort ta’ min) then we’d find out that the new Labour outfit – more noise and colour than substance – is just what the spin doctor had ordered of the PN team for the last couple of elections. They’re in sync now – promising the earth on the eve of an election, turning their enemy into a monster in the process (iva Narcy, ibezzghu… kollha kemm huma), and investing heavily in special effects (remember how the campaign kicked off). This time round the money factor swung heavily in favour of the PL – our wonderful entrepreneurial sector having sniffed a possibility of change are now hedging their bets with those fantastic donations that will never be seen in the accounts that Labour never really publishes.
What does that say to all of us? That Labour is change? If Labour is about change then I’m Mother Therese reincarnate. This election is once again not about change. It’s about Same, same but different. It could not have been otherwise – our system is fine tuned to force us into the Hobson’s Choice equation every five years. The dilution of real politics has been a constant for over ten years now and there seems to be no hope in sight unless somebody is brave enough to break the mould.
As for Labour. Chapeau for the campaign – it is deceptively brilliant. I’d hate to be in Joseph Muscat’s shoes the moment the carcades peter out, the last firework explodes and the door of his office opens for the first day in Castille. I’m sure that on that day his promise of resigning if things go Pete Tong will not be of any consolation.
To anyone.
P.S. Happy Birthday Joseph.
¨Lawrence Gonzi has gone on record yesterday stating that “Muscat is so ashamed of Labour that he speaks, dresses and acts like a Nationalist.” What is that supposed to mean?¨
Gonzi does not act. What you see is what you get. Muscat acts. What you see is a show.
Sorry Tzeitel but when it comes to being frank (not acting) I’d rather Gonzi dedicated his time to more serious and relevant matters than whether the books (PLPN) have their specialised covers. Some time ago I asked a friend (of nationalist persuasion but that’s beside the point) this question:
If Lawrence Gonzi had the opportunity to use a “below the belt” trick in order to win votes would he (a) ignore it because it is not right, (b) grasp the opportunity willingly (c) reluctantly do so when convinced by those around him it is the only way to get those votes?
What do you think?
I think your question is already answered. Look at who is the one using dirty tricks right now.
Why should Gonzi NOT remark about the fakeness of Muscat´s actions, the emptiness behind the pomposity? This does not detract from the time he dedicates to serious and relevant matters, but frankly it’s the hell of an important point. You vote for a sheep and get a wolf. Don’t overestimate the ability of the man in the street to tell the difference. The PN is not innocent either,but Muscat is assuming the nation is a herd of stupid sheep, and that’s unbelievably dangerous in a democracy. You vote him in, then what??
You did not really answer my question. I have no doubts about what option Joseph Muscat would choose but not so convinced about Lawrence Gonzi.
Democracy is dangerous as it is.
Muscat is simply using that fact to good effect.
This election is about change. It’s about Labour changing from a centre left party to a party which tries to cover the whole spectrum depending on where it can take votes:
Migrants: far right
Child care: leftish
Gay rights: left
power generation: right
you can continue the list.
You mean that Labour have finally caught up with what wins the PN votes?
Re: childcare. Jidhirli f’Xarabank, Muscat qal li min jiħux l-option taċ-childcare jibqa’ jgawdi mit-tnaqqis fl-income tax li ngħata lil min għandu t-tfal u mar lura għax-xogħol. Naħseb din tindika li min ħa jieħu ċ-childcare ħa tiżdiedlu t-taxxa għal daqs tal-oħrajn u b’hekk titħallas iċ-childcare. Fis-sens b’xejn u mhix.
In 2008 AD had the best electoral manifesto. And I’m serious.
Even though you unfairly tagged me as a troll and an elf.
Really? so what is so wrong with playing the same game as the PN for once! If most Maltese vote for the wrapping and not the contents…..than it is a good thing that for once the PL are playing along…… PR is important the PL never took PR seriously and look what it got them 25 years in the opposition. Really is it not a good thing to remove the PN from power after all this time….. is Gonzi not tired of grasping the seat of power because he has been hanging on to it by a string each time one of his ministers fucks up! I really feel sorry for him and I bet he is just waiting for the day to sit down with his wife and not have to go out and face the music after another fuck up from one of his ministers……
Seriously Doreen? You think they spent 25 years in opposition (bar the 2 year blip in 1996) because they had a problem with PR? You should stop taking those pills.
“Maltese vote for wrapping”? Well that’s my point. It’s wrong to vote for wrapping.
Please enlighten me, because your attack on Labour has perplexed me. And it’s clearly an attack, not criticism. Criticism would be to point out a wrong and explain WHY it is a wrong. Instead you simply rant on and on about ‘xinxilli’ and conning one’s way into Castille. Can you tell me what you expect from Labour? What proposals would you like to see being put forward? How can you assume PL’s promises won’t be kept just because we’ve had to endure years of incompetence from a self-interested bunch of individuals? You refer to PL’s supposedly repetitive mantra of “how bad, corrupt and dangerous the PN is” … seriously? I was under the impression that PN is the one employing empty scaremongering tactics, and that PL’s criticsm of corruption is backed by facts. What do we care if at the moment PL is trussed up like a drag queen for the show? That’s how politics work. I’d rather elect a well dressed drag queen who can deliver whilst stripping off and prancing about on the stage, than the same mediocre government who seems hell-bent on taking us back to the middle ages. You clearly have a problem with the system, so I can’t see how attacking this country’s best shot at a competent government will help at all.
“Shot” alexia. That’s the right word.
…”mediocre government who seems hell-bent on taking us back to the middle ages”???? Really? Are we even living in the same country? How old were you in 1987? Three? If you think that we have really gone back to the middle ages from 1987 to today, then may the good Lord help us.
“I can’t see how attacking this country’s best shot at a competent government will help at all”.
Perhaps I can help you see, alexia.
If you can understand that an incompetent opposition can never turn into a competent government, then you’ll see and understand how attacking this country’s best shot at a more incompetent government than we already have will help a great deal.
You are right Sir, but it’s too late.
The PN will also lose the Catholic vote. There are what, 10,000 gays (LGBT) in Malta? There are what, 50,000 “real” Catholics in Malta, whose religious conscience is most important to them? They’ve courted the 10,000 in the hope the 50,000 vote PN rather than Labour.
I know at least 100, off-hand, who will not vote at all as all 3 parties have gone liberal and there’s no choice in values (faith-based values) other than a PM who fought divorce but now is happy to court the LGBT rights charade.
That’s a good thing.
“Faith-based” values have been imposed on all for far too long.
It’s about time non-Catholics have a few rights of their own, based on their non-faith-based values. This without imposing them on Catholics, naturally, in case you haven’t noticed.
How exactly does a non-Catholic’s divorce affect a Catholic’s marriage? It doesn’t.
How exactly does a non-Catholic’s gay marriage affect a Catholic’s “faith-based values”? It doesn’t.
On the flip side, Catholic faith has been imposed on non-Catholics and has hindered civil rights and liberties.
Nobody is telling Catholics not to be Catholic. So let Catholics stop telling non-Catholics to be Catholic.
If they can’t grasp that, then the only thing that may knock some sense into their collective conscience is less representation of their imposing “values” in power. In this respect, what is “too late” is the PM’s courting of non-Catholics’ rights; speaking of which, what “faith-based values” lead you to call them a charade?
The 49,900 can stay at home with the other 100 until they learn to live with the remaining 241,000.
When you start using your real name and stop calling yourself “V” and being a coward, I will deign your points worthy of a response.
My real name? I suppose any will will do, seeing that neither you nor I have any means to confirm whether any user’s name is real or not. So, in this respect, how does any name I choose to use differ from the name given to me at birth?
And why should it matter? You obviously think of anyone not using any name as beneath you. Others, I dare say much “higher” than yourself for their humility, tend to think that attacking the messenger rather than the message is a clear sign of a lost debate.
So you will not vote LP. But have you ever voted labour before or you have written this article just to give GonziPN’s message (there is no need for change and scaremongering) a slightly different interpretation?
Please sir, can I answer “neither”, for your two-choice question leaves one no choice other than to call it pure nonsense.
Thanks for your reply. I thought I was in some kind of ‘Socratic-dialogue’ but I was mistaken as it seems I lack the brains. Nevertheless, thanks for spending some seconds of your life to reply to pure nonsense.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Speaking nonsense does not imply a lack of brains. Not being able to speak anything but nonsense does lead one to that conclusion, but the thought that your nonsensical question is a complete and total reflection of you never crossed my mind.
“Attakk fahxi fuq il-PL u JosephMuscat.com minn blogger nazzjonalist li jrid jichad it-tfel jew tifla tieghek iPad gdida, li jrid jichadlek 25% inqas mill-kontijiet tad-dawl u ilma u l-COLA ghall-istependji, irid sahansitra jichadlek il-puluzija jekk tghix is-Swieqi! Tafu kif ghamel hekk?”
“Ghax saqsa minn se jhallas ghal dan kollu”
“Mur ghidlu mhux il-musrana hehehehehe”