For the stimulus package, according to Gavin Esler on Newsnight.
Well, Arlen Specter is now a Democrat. Does Esler know (and he very well might) that Maine's Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snow are about to follow suit?
Meanwhile, I offer you these wise words to Esler from the lips of the Reverend Jesse Jackson:
"While there's stimulus on the frontside, there's haemorrhaging on the backside."
Ay-men to that...
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When are Collins and Snowe going to defect?
ReplyDeleteAsk Gavin Esler. He seems to know. Well, I suppose he's paid to know, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteI didn't see Newsnight, but since your post asked whether Gavin Esler knew, and said that he very well might, I interpreted you as implying that this was your claim and not his. Apologies - you are clearly simply repeating a claim made by Esler, and have no other insight into the issue.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I think Esler made a sort of slip. He said that there had been "no Republican support". But in fact three Republican Senators had voted for it. One of those is now a Democrat. So, what of the other two? Was he letting us into a secret? Or was he just wrong?
ReplyDeleteWell, as I say, I didn't see the piece. But I suspect you're overinterpreting this. For a start, yes, Esler might very well have been wrong - it happens, even on the BBC. But more importantly, "no Republican support" can easily be understood to mean something like "so little Republican support it's barely worth mentioning", or "no support from the Republican Party leadership".
ReplyDeleteCollins has been mentioned before in various message boards.
ReplyDeleteHaven't we all, John...
ReplyDelete" Esler might very well have been wrong - it happens, even on the BBC"
Making it at least an amusing little story in itself.
"But more importantly, "no Republican support" can easily be understood to mean something like "so little Republican support it's barely worth mentioning", or "no support from the Republican Party leadership"."
"Easily understood" in such a way by whom, exactly? No, it can't be.
Yes, claiming that the stimulus package had no support from Republicans is like claiming that New Labour has no support from Roman Catholics, or anti-Europeans, or farmers, or trade unionists.
ReplyDeleteoh the only time I am mentioned on message boards is when I do it myself.
ReplyDeleteUnlike me.....and perhaps you...Senator Collins is not just a household name in her own household.
LOL
Cutbar, no, the stimulus package really did at least have SOME support from Republicans, even if not very much.
ReplyDelete"Anti-Europeans", in particular from your list, cannot be New Labour simply by definition. Nor can orthodox Catholics. I cannot see why any farmer or any trade unionist would want to be, either.
And New Labour wouldn't, and doesn't, want any of them, anyway.
As a matter of straightforward fact, New Labour has supporters who are orthodox Catholics, and supporters who are anti-European, and supporters who are farmers, and supporters who are trade unionists. You may disagree with them, but it's uncontroversially true that they exist.
ReplyDeleteSome of them don't just vote for New Labour in elections - they go through the division lobbies in the Commons and the Lords to support New Labour legislation.
That's the Labour Party. Something entirely different.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine four groups of people more likely to vote againt New Labour legislation in the Commons and the Lords.
ReplyDeleteWell, of course, Jack.
ReplyDeleteWhereas Labour is (or was) a party, in principle open to anyone who wanted to join, New Labour is a project, and a project defined by what and who it is against rather than by what or who it is for.
New Labour defines itself by being against Euroescepticism and Eurosceptics. New Labour defines itself by being against orthodox Catholicism and orthodox Catholics.
New Labour defines itself by being against agriculture and farming. New Labour defines itself by being against trade unions and trade unionists.
And New Labour defines itself by being against many, many, many more things and people besides.
As a result, such Eurosceptics, orthodox Catholics, farmers and trade unionists as there still are on the Labour benches (and even the last are disappearing, with the other three as good as gone from the Commons in particular) are extremely likely to participate in any "rebellion" against this Government.
The late Lord Carter, a farmer, was Tony Blair's Chief Whip in the Lords. He didn't just vote for New Labour legislation, he made sure others did too.
ReplyDelete"The late Lord Carter"
ReplyDeleteIt's the first two words that matter there.
Jim Dobbin voted for 90-day detention without charge.
ReplyDeleteAnd?
ReplyDeleteSo did Sir Peter Tapsell. Is he New Labour, too?
Anyway, back on-topic.