In an unfortunate slip of tongue, the president of the state of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber, called East Germans “frustrated people” and said “I cannot accept that the east again decides who in Germany can become chancellor.” This has turned into a political shit storm and Angela Merkel has quickly lost the political spotlight while Stoiber is getting burned by it. Making matters worse, he refused to apologize and added “Unfortunately, the people are simply not as smart everywhere as they are in Bavaria.”. While Bavarians have a long tradition of independence and still defy the central government on some matters, Ed seems to have chosen the wrong moment for his Bavarian chest thumping.
Should the CDU slip, or the SPD gain, the result will be a siphoning off of votes from the smaller parties which would be used to build a coalition with. Here are the current numbers. Remember the election is scheduled for Sept. 18th.
Thus, the SPD aims to stay with the Greens and the CDU/CSU aims to create a coalition with the FDP. The SPD doesn’t yet have anywhere close to the numbers and is still poised to lose, however, should the CDU lose enough momentum to not be able to form a majority coalition with the FDP, things will get very interesting and likely lead to another government unable to govern effectively. In the past, the SPD has governed with the FDP though getting them on board with the Greens would be next to impossible.
Yet, was this little epsidoe really just a mistake? An innocent slip? Or rather part of an overall strategy? According to the German news, Ossi-bashing (Ossi is the German word for someone from East Germany) supposadely goes over well in Bavaria, yet of course would alienate the “New 5” or new 5 states from Eastern Germany. It remains uncertain whether this was aimed to intentionally weaken Merkel before she takes office or not. With Stoiber still visibly upset over his loss to Schröder in the last election, one can’t be too sure.
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Comments to this entry
maskull
August 14, 2005
2:36 am
The Expatica link above contains: "The controversy over Stoiber follows a scandal caused by another Christian Democrat, Joerg Schoenbohm, a western German who is interior minister of eastern Brandenburg state."
"Following the discovery last month of the bodies of nine babies, all apparently killed by their mother in eastern Germany, Schoenbohm blamed what he termed the "forced proletarianisation" of the region for the crime."
Well, that didn't make sense. What woman has nine babies? But after googling, I see we're talking about here are home delivery\abortions. A 39 year old mom operating over 16 years. Of course, neighbors described her as a friendly person. The remains found in fish tanks, flower pots and so on by forty policemen with dogs.
Here is a more precise version of Schoenbohm's statement:
"We have to ask ourselves how this incredible crime remained hidden over all these years. It's a question directed at relatives, neighbours, doctors and the authorities," he said.
"I believe," he said, "that communist party-enforced proletarisation is one of the significant causes of moral dereliction (Verwahrlosung) and violent tendencies."
"In a totalitarian system," he added later, "the spreading of shared values (Wertevermittlung) was a low priority. It was best not to be too involved in other people's lives."
As an American male I'm tired of abortion as self-actualization. Abortion rights a form of political empowerment. It's become a new Protestant cult. In America, if they weren't born, they were never alive. Certainly not "babies" ... a commodity.
Seems to me the woman was practicing Emersonian self-reliance. In fact, I have far less problem with abortion as long as the mother strangles the fetus with her own hands.
Some things are best not left to professionals.
As for this Ossi-bashing. Blond haired men with Teutonic accents as racist villains have been a Hollywood cliche for decades. Lately, they being replaced by emigre Russian gangsters. What kind of bashing is that?
America's left saw Clinton's Serbian excursion as poli-correct. A good war. Not like Somalia, because in Serbia and Kosovo, America only killed Evil. White Christians.
These German politics seem to have more subtlety than America's divide: "Dubya the hate-filled moronic-bumkin vs the Saint Hilary: Saviour\Genius."