Friday, September 16, 2005
German Politics
Governor Arnold Swarzenegger says figurative I'll be back. We'll see. This next run for governor might not be so easy as the recall he won against the dynamic and popular Gray Davis and the smart Gabor sister with the unlikely name of Arianna Huffington. That was some stiff competition.
In Deutchland itself, it looks like Angela Merkel might take the Chancellorship from Gerhard Schroeder. Schroeder's party has been closing the gap but it's about 10 points between them so it looks good for a woman Chancellor. Merkel's party is the CDU (Christian Democrats-- usually the inclusion of the word Christian in a party name means right center) and Schroeder's party is the SPD (Social Democrats--whenever Social is in the party's title it's a lefty outfit, for example, the National Socialist and German Workers' Party, which we call the NAZIs, was way left). I know nothing of Ms. Merkel, but I want Schroeder to be spanked for not supporting us in Iraq and for being a lefty in general.
UPDATE: I know Arnold is from Austria but what is Austria but the 'oester reich' the eastern reign of Germany? Anyway he speaks German, so there was the connection. That the German unemployment rate is above 10% and their quality control on the vehicles they make seems to have gone out the window seems to lead one to believe a change of some kind is coming.
SUNDAY EVENING UPDATE: At this point, Merkle's CDU is three seats ahead of the SPD with almost all the returns in. Not enough for an out and out win--so some sort of coalition is to be formed. What sort we're not exactly sure. But it's pretty clear that in the still somewhat testosterone world of German politics, Schroeder was beaten by a woman with no particular (or even apparent) flair for running for office. Bush led crowd of right thinkers 7--Axis of Weasles 0. (Spain remains a fluke that should not repeat).
In Deutchland itself, it looks like Angela Merkel might take the Chancellorship from Gerhard Schroeder. Schroeder's party has been closing the gap but it's about 10 points between them so it looks good for a woman Chancellor. Merkel's party is the CDU (Christian Democrats-- usually the inclusion of the word Christian in a party name means right center) and Schroeder's party is the SPD (Social Democrats--whenever Social is in the party's title it's a lefty outfit, for example, the National Socialist and German Workers' Party, which we call the NAZIs, was way left). I know nothing of Ms. Merkel, but I want Schroeder to be spanked for not supporting us in Iraq and for being a lefty in general.
UPDATE: I know Arnold is from Austria but what is Austria but the 'oester reich' the eastern reign of Germany? Anyway he speaks German, so there was the connection. That the German unemployment rate is above 10% and their quality control on the vehicles they make seems to have gone out the window seems to lead one to believe a change of some kind is coming.
SUNDAY EVENING UPDATE: At this point, Merkle's CDU is three seats ahead of the SPD with almost all the returns in. Not enough for an out and out win--so some sort of coalition is to be formed. What sort we're not exactly sure. But it's pretty clear that in the still somewhat testosterone world of German politics, Schroeder was beaten by a woman with no particular (or even apparent) flair for running for office. Bush led crowd of right thinkers 7--Axis of Weasles 0. (Spain remains a fluke that should not repeat).
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:35 PM 
