Congratulations to the people of Spain!

[TaylorD]

Im all for the process of democracy, so if this is the will of spain's people, then so be it (apparently it wasnt until the bombings, see Ornery's post above - Aznar was favored to win)

But I find it unsettling that it took a terrorist attack on their own soil for them to get out an vote for a party that will end their involvement in the war in Iraq and supposedly their support of the United States. I have no problem that their token 1300 troops are leaving, nor that they dont support us anymore - what scares me is that the terrorists were able to exert influence over the process of democracy,

In all honesty when I heard of the bombings and I heard people were flocking to the polls I assumed it would be in a "lets get these bastards" mode and not in a "lets withdraw everyone and not be involved anymore so no one hurts us mode." It is pretty cowardly for a nation to do something like that, IMO.

 

[TaylorD]

dp

 

[CaptnKirk]

Anyone ever think that the people of Spain got tired of being lied to by thier Government ?

Maybe that is why they were thrown out. That's the take in Spain on the situation.
Maybe the people of the U.S. should wake up and actually look at what Bush has done.

The War President indeed. The Cowboy Posse President maybe.

Here's my take on the GOP right now - Never underesitmate the power of stupid people when they gather in large groups.

 

[TaylorD]

OK, so the GOP is imperfect, in more ways than one. You honestly think the Democrats are closer to perfection?


I for one, do not.... Look for the lesser of two evils, its sad, but thats what we do when we vote.

 

[freegeeks]

interesting article

International Herald Tribune: After Aznar: Coming home to ?Old Europe?

 

[fjord]

Damage Control in fast Spin mode

in fast Spin mode was the key to the phrase.

That is an impressive list. Impressive not because of its validity--Its false, of course--No, its impressive because the propaganda works so well, and so fast.

It cannot possibly escape anyones attention how the phrasing of each entry is so similar to the others--almost like it was copied over-and-over.

Credit to the Bush Damage Control Spinners

 

[Ornery]

You just keep telling yourself that. In the mean time, you might try and come up with another link or two, showing the opposite to be true. Go ahead, it's easy!

 

[TaylorD]

You cannot argue that the popular party was not favored to win.... The bottom line is that they were.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: TaylorD
You cannot argue that the popular party was not favored to win.... The bottom line is that they were.

They shot themselves in the foot by trying to lie:

http://www.reason.com/links/links031704.shtml

"The behavior of the Aznar government in the wake of the attacks seemed to confirm the worst of this view. Mere hours after the attack?an attack lacking many of the hallmarks of an operation by ETA, which nearly always phones in notice of its bombings?the government was acting as though the Basque terrorist group's culpability was an established fact, and took the unusual step of pushing through a UN Security Council resolution pinning the blame on ETA. In a memo obtained by El Pais, Foreign Minister Ana Palacio instructed ambassadors: "You should use any opportunity to confirm ETA's responsibility for these brutal attacks, thus helping to dissipate any type of doubt that certain interested parties may want to promote." Aznar even telephoned the editors of major publications repeatedly in an attempt to pressure them to avoid any suggestion that groups other than ETA might have been responsible.

All this despite the fact that, even on the day of the bombing, a van containing Arabic language materials and detonators was found by police. The most serious blow to the administration story came after the foreign press began reporting on Saturday that authorities had arrested several Morrocan nationals in connection with the attacks. An SMS text-message campaign quickly mobilized a protest outside PP headquarters, where young people demanded "Tell us who really did it!" On Monday, after the elections, the government finally dropped claims, ill supported from the outset, that ETA had been responsible. In short, it became abundantly clear to most Spanish voters that the Aznar administration was cynically attempting to spin a horrific tragedy for political advantage. A backlash should scarcely be surprising. "

 

[PELarson]

From the Financial Times

"Germany was reminded of this last weekend. Its federal criminal bureau said the Spanish authorities intentionally withheld information and misled German officials over the explosives used in the Madrid bombings. The Spanish conservative government had insisted the Goma 2 Eco dynamite for the explosives had been frequently used by Eta, the Basque separatist movement. On Monday, it admitted that was not the case."

Congratulations to the Spainards, Democracy it is working!

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: TaylorD
OK, so the GOP is imperfect, in more ways than one. You honestly think the Democrats are closer to perfection?


I for one, do not.... Look for the lesser of two evils, its sad, but thats what we do when we vote.

You mean the lessor of two Weasals and it's apperant how big of a Weasal the Dub and his Handlers are! Kerry is no miracle worker that's for sure but I think the Dub should be held accountable for his and his handlers deceptiveness!

 

[Gaard]

To those claiming the bombing played a part in the results of the election. Are you saying the bombing caused people to ghange who they were going to vote for?

 

[Ornery]

Jonathan Gurwitz: Madrid massacre sign of things to come

• ...the unavoidable fact is that tens of thousands of Spaniards changed their votes ? or came out to vote who otherwise would not have voted ? because they held their own government responsible for the carnage wrought by terrorists.

 

[Gaard]

Originally posted by: Ornery
Jonathan Gurwitz: Madrid massacre sign of things to come

• ...the unavoidable fact is that tens of thousands of Spaniards changed their votes ? or came out to vote who otherwise would not have voted ? because they held their own government responsible for the carnage wrought by terrorists.

I'm not sure how they come up with a number for the amount of people who changed who they were going to vote for, but if the number of people who voted went up, isn't that a good thing? I guess in a way, if the bombings caused this increase you could say they effected the election, but wouldn't that effect be a positive effect?