Posted on 05/02/2005 11:09:15 AM PDT by quidnunc
This is the crucial bit. It is only now that millions of people will be beginning to focus properly on the decision to be made in casting their vote on Thursday.
If the polls are to be believed, something mighty strange is about to happen on that day. The public believe in large numbers that Tony Blair is a liar, that the war in Iraq was a fraud, that immigration policy is an outrageous shambles, that violent crime is out of control and that health and education are in dire straits.
And yet the pollsters tell us that this same electorate is about to vote Labour back with a large majority, trouncing the Conservatives for an unprecedented third time in a row.
Such predictions surely need to be treated with some caution. There are so many variables in this election, all with unpredictable effects, that anything might happen.
More voters than ever before will only make up their minds at the last minute, having been round the electoral course many times only to reach no conclusion. If there were a box on the ballot paper marked ‘none of the above’, such a candidate would doubtless storm to victory.
This is the disaffection election. People vote when they are presented with a distinctive political vision which lets them hope for a better life for themselves and a more decent society. But this election has not been about hope. It’s been about defensiveness, damage limitation and knocking the other fellow.
This is the ultimate no-confidence election — illustrated almost comically by the two main parties vying with each other to play down their chances, both to get the vote out and to keep it firmly at home.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at melaniephillips.com ...
"If there were a box on the ballot paper marked ‘none of the above’, such a candidate would doubtless storm to victory."
Indeed. Wasn't there a US film which used this theme - I can't for the life of me remember the name. Anyone?
I think it's simpler than that..Remember the Reagan Democrats?....lifelong Dems woudl could never vote for a Republican, until a larger than life Gipper made it easy for them to do so...The Tories need the same type of transcendant figure...Maggie was the last one..
Only one I can remember is "Brewster's Millions" where the main character anti-campaigned for office with the slogan "None of the Above!" in an effort to waste money.
Maybe the Conservatives should start being more conservative and less Labour-Lite. They also could do better with a more charismatic leader. I watched an interview on C-Span last evening and Michael Howard is as interesting to watch as paint drying. He's the Tory's equivalent of Bob Dole (without the sense of humor).
Billions have been poured into the NHS [National Health Service], only to be largely swallowed up in bureaucracy. Micro-management from Whitehall has transformed the aim of ensuring people don’t have to wait weeks for a GP’s appointment into the farcical situation — of which I have personal experience — where the only appointment people are told they can make is within the next 48 hours, but which they can’t make because they find all the phone lines are jammed at the time they are told to make the appointment.Can't wait till Hitlery gets in and gives us a "single payer" system all our own!
Exactly..and that's being kind to Howard..
I thought the election was about policies not film star style presentation.
"Brewster's Millions"
Yes that's the one. Thanks for the reminder.
Maybe the Conservatives should start being more conservative and less Labour-Lite. They also could do better with a more charismatic leader. I watched an interview on C-Span last evening and Michael Howard is as interesting to watch as paint drying. He's the Tory's equivalent of Bob Dole (without the sense of humor).
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Good analysis.
I'd have thought so too, until I took the political quiz and found that Freeper conservatives are waaaaaaaay out of the mainstream in Britain.
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