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April 6, 2005On the subject of tactical voting
More trucking images coming soon. In the meantime, here are two links to ponder...
Scotsman - And the winners are ... the tactical voters: Tactical voting will perhaps be more appealing in this election than any other because, once you cut through the spin, there has seldom been less difference between the two contenders for 10 Downing Street.
Guardian - Hold your nose, vote Blair and Brown will be the victor: Iraq stands as Labour's gigantic error, fighting George Bush's war on his terms for his reasons. It is blood that cannot be expunged, expiated or "parked", as some crasser Labour campaign organisers say. The cabinet and MPs were complicit, but this was Blair's war and he is immeasurably damaged by it: now it symbolises a host of other discontents. But there is not much Blair can do about it. He can't apologise for a war he thought right. I am not among those who think he lied. All he can do is keep acknowledging the widespread anger. So at this point the question falls back on the Labour voter. What are you going to do about it? To make Blair suffer by chasing Labour from power would be an odd revenge - cutting off Blair's nose to spite everyone else's face. Imagine election night as Labour seat after Labour seat comes tumbling down to the Tories - Portillo night in reverse. (And it would be Tory wins since the Lib Dems can only expect five or six gains from Labour.) The individual voter can't fine- tune their vote to give Blair a satisfying slap in the face without risking Howard in Downing Street. As ever, revenge is disappointingly elusive.
Posted by Manic on April 6, 2005 9:10 AM in the category UK General Election 2005
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Comments
The Tory Party can dump leaders (including victorious sitting Prime Ministers) who are a liability, so why can't the Labour Party? They could, if they were functional, have punted Blair out of the way and delayed the election by a year.
For all the fear they're trying to make us feel of the Tories, a Labour defeat would be a bigger disaster for all those officers and MPs in the Labour Party than for any single member of the public. Never forget that. So we should see who blinks first.
PS I love that sign truck. Do you have enough cash?
Posted by: goatchurch at April 6, 2005 12:33 PM
Can you answer a stupid question for me? Why is it called Backing Blair when the website is ... not? I know i'm thick and it's probably totally obvious, but I just don't understand.
Posted by: ghani at April 6, 2005 1:42 PM
Ghani: Irony is our greatest weapon
Posted by: Manic at April 6, 2005 2:27 PM
Your forgot surprise.
Irony and surprise. Surprise and irony. Our two weapons are irony and surprise and sarcasm. Our many weapons....
Posted by: balders at April 6, 2005 3:07 PM
"Do you have enough cash?"
In a word; no. We've got some fundraising stuff that will kick off in the next day or so. 250 gets us a day in the van, 2500 lets us do something very exciting that I can't blog just yet.
Posted by: Manic at April 6, 2005 5:19 PM
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