Cheering supporters yelled "Gerd! Gerd!"
Posted on 09/03/2005 10:39:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Warning supporters not to trust an "unholy alliance" of pollsters, publishers and media commentators predicting his defeat, Schroeder declared: "I am sure we will reach our goal." Cheering supporters yelled "Gerd! Gerd!" and waved signs aimed at Merkel such as "No Angies." ...Schroeder slammed Merkel and her conservatives for, as he put it, seeking an "elbow society" driven by egoism which would produce a few winners and lots of losers. "It's cold, it lacks solidarity and it's inhuman," said Schroeder to applause... Schroeder accused Merkel of planning to "break the backs of trade unions" and doing away with the current system of setting nationwide wages for industrial sectors - which is beloved by unions and hated by most business leaders. He also dismissed Merkel's plan to raise value added tax to 18 per cent from the current 16 per cent. "The value-added tax plans of Frau Merkel are a threat to our economic recovery," said Schroeder. Putting a positive spin on German unemployment, which edged down to 11.4 per cent for August in figures released Wednesday, the Chancellor accused Merkel's party of "brazen lying" in ignoring the 1,500 new jobs a day being created since April.
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"Merkel's CDU/CSU and Free Democratic (FDP) ally has a clear majority of 51.3 per cent, said the Allensbach poll. In contrast, Schroeder's ruling SPD-Greens government is at 35.8 per cent. The Left Party, which is poaching SPD votes and also winning over people who would not normally cast ballots, has just over 10 per cent."
Merkel Launches Campaign Against Schroeder [Merkel 42%, Schroeder 28%]
AP | August 10, 2005
Posted on 08/17/2005 3:44:56 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1465414/posts
Schroeder starts campaign with Bush criticism
Spiegel | 13 AUG 2005 | Spiegel
Posted on 08/14/2005 8:03:30 AM PDT by Red6
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1463127/posts
Germany's conservatives attack Schroeder on Iran
ABC News | Aug 14, 2005
Posted on 08/14/2005 1:44:44 PM PDT by Hadean
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1463276/posts
Germany's foreign policy more independent under Schroeder - Putin
Russia Journal | August 24, 2005
Posted on 08/24/2005 8:06:43 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1469685/posts
Schroeder Offers to Vote for Russia
Kommersant | Sep. 01, 2005
Posted on 09/03/2005 5:03:46 AM PDT by Lukasz
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476311/posts
Cheering supporters yelled "Gerd! Gerd!"
Its clear that she will get the 50 percent she needs. The question will be how big that the Left Party wins. If they clear over five percent...then they sit in the parliament...and this is going to provide some great discussions. I'm betting they carry over 12 percent...and that will make them a player in future poltics.
Love the graphic!
I'd probably experience acid reflux too if I had to live in a nation whose putative leader bragged about an 11% unemployment rate.
I can't believe the Commies are actually going to garner enough support to make it into the parliament (Bundestag?) this time.
Weird.
Whatever happened to the FDP?
Perhaps, but I'll guess that the Left Party is a sign of the further fracturing of the German socialists, and the third link below sez perhaps 8 per cent, but as much as 30 per cent of the vote in the former EG.
Schroeder reportedly doesn't mention the Greens (his allies in the coalition, and a source of frequent humiliation -- either they're saying stupid things and undermining German-US relations, or undermining his political credibility by pointing out his shortcomings), and the reprehensible Joschka Fischer -- part of the cabinent -- appears to be going down to defeat.
That will be something to savor.
Maybe Fischer will go back to his pastime of attacking police officers after he's thrown out of office at last.
Germany's Stoiber confident Schroeder is finished
http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=18630
Germans buy Merkel's miracle
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1562314,00.html
New left strikes chord in disillusioned east (just some spin doctoring)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1561831,00.html
I doubt there will be much of a last minute surge to the long-discredited leftist sloganeering. Voter turnout will be key, and the motivation to vote for the CDP is very high. Who but a lockstep / pull the party lever / drone will fanatically turn up to vote for any of the leftist parties?
I think the Greens are preparing for a major overhaul...Fischer likely walks away into retirement...and a new group comes out over the next two years. You can see that the Greens have peaked out...they haven't signed up any big new numbers. And a few hardline Greens have hurt their image in public. It'll be interesting to watch the nuclear powerplant episode open back up under CDU...and possible new plants discussed. I'm sure that will invite a Green war of some type.
Or at least, the German variation of it.
:7)
The seemingly inexorable upward movement of crude prices just about guarantees widespread and strong support for nuclear plants in Germany, particularly a revival of the pebble bed architecture pioneered there, and now being developed in South Africa and explored in Japan (of all places).
Ladies and Gentlemen, the next governor of the great state of California. ;')Merkel Ready to Move on Fuel PricesMerkel says the prospect of releasing part of the country's strategic reserve should be on the political agenda. "This should not be a taboo in Germany," she commented in reply to calls by the opposition Free Democrats (FDP), with whom she hopes set up a government.
Transportation News Network
Merkel made her remarks after the U.S. said it would release part of its 700 million barrel strategic oil reserves to dampen the impact of Hurricane Katrina which shut down oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Flanked by CSU Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber and FDP chief Guido Westerwelle, the Christian Democratic alliance (CDU/CSU) candidate Merkel vowed the three parties would be in a position to swiftly set up a government, if they won September 18 elections.Germany's way forwardAbout a third of the electorate remains undecided. The fortunes of three of the smaller groups, the Free Democrats (FDP), the Greens and the newly formed Left Party, each of which might form a coalition with the big two, are hovering between six and eight per cent of the vote... During their seven years in power, the Social Democrats have twice failed to meet their campaign pledge of reducing unemployment. For that, they and their coalition partner, the Greens, deserve to be voted out, opening the way to a Christian Democrat/Free Democrat partnership with a keener appetite for liberalisation.
TelegraphWhy Europe needs a Merkel victoryAfter the No votes in the French and Dutch referendums, the EU has been paralysed. The German election campaign has been the only noteworthy political event this summer. Europe is gridlocked over its budget, how to salvage all or part of the proposed EU constitution and the future of its social model. A change of government in Germany is necessary - though not sufficient - to break this gridlock... Under the leadership of Gerhard Schröder, the chancellor, Germany has become inward-looking, protectionist and increasingly hostile to the European Commission's efforts to liberalise goods, services and financial markets. Anti-liberalism, trade protectionism and anti-Americanism have also emerged as some of the defining characteristics of the Franco-German alliance under Mr Schröder and Jacques Chirac, the French president.
Financial TimesSchröder is bruised by challenger in TV fight for his titleANGELA MERKEL, leader of Germany’s conservatives,emerged last night as the narrow winner of a crucial television debate with Gerhard Schröder, removing the last major obstacle to an election victory this month. "You cannot seriously believe that 5 million unemployed is satisfactory," she blurted into the middle of a long list of the achievements of the Social Democrat-Green government... Frau Merkel made a direct appeal to the German people: "We need a new mentality. We have to say what can be done instead of why things cannot be done." ...Television has rarely played such a vital role in German politics. With his Social Democrats lagging 11 per cent behind in the opinion polls, the Chancellor was forced to use his 90-minute performance to persuade millions of wavering voters that he was the most confident and able leader of the world’s third-largest economy... Frau Merkel’s Christian Democrats are scoring 43 per cent of the vote and the party’s preferred partners, the liberal Free Democrats, are on six per cent. That easily outnumbers the Social Democrats (32 per cent) and their partners, the Greens (7 per cent)... No one expected Frau Merkel to emerge as a charismatic heroine last night and that was to her advantage. As long as she did not fall from the podium, she was bound to score simply by making the Chancellor appear overly slick.
by Roger BoyesGerman unions and CDU remain divided before electionGerman trades unions and Angela Merkel's opposition conservatives failed on Tuesday to bridge pre-election policy differences but the unions reiterated they would maintain a neutral stance ahead of the September 18 vote. Merkel's conservatives, who have a commanding pre-election opinion poll lead over Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, want to curb the power of union bosses to determine sector-wide pay deals... Some union leaders have suggested they will launch a campaign of industrial action should any conservative-led government seek to overhaul collective wage bargaining laws... Merkel said she also saw eye-to-eye with the unions on the need to address a shortfall in company apprenticeship places for young workers.
ReutersBodybuilder adds muscle to Merkel's election campaignRalf Moeller, a bodybuilder who featured in a number of Hollywood films including "Gladiator," couldn't resist showing off his strength and lifted two young Christian Democrats staff members into the air -- one on each arm -- at Merkel's headquarters.
Reuters
Let's follow the path Thatcher pioneered, says Germany's Iron Maiden
Telegraph Online | July 15, 2005 | Kate Connolly
Posted on 07/15/2005 6:38:18 AM PDT by lowbuck
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1443492/posts
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