Conservatives crush Liberals in German elections
And so it begins. Angela Merkel and her conservative coalition scored a huge win in the German parliamentary elections today, handing the the lefties (the German version of the Obots) their worst defeat in years.
It must have killed the New York Times to report this story. Since all the German parties call themselves some form of ‘Democrat,’ I’ll give you the decoder ring up front. Merkel’s party is the Christian Democrats and the defeated libs are the aptly named Social Democrats.
Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed victory in national elections Sunday, with projections by public television stations putting her conservative party on a path to form a new center-right government and achieve Mrs. Merkel’s goal of ending the country’s “grand coalition” with the Social Democrats. . . .
A roar went up in the crowd when the German public television station ARD announced that the Christian Democrats had won nearly 34 percent of the vote. An even louder cheer greeted the news that their partners-in-waiting [the pro-business Free Democrats] had received roughly 15 percent of the vote, which together would be enough for a majority of seats in parliament.
So how big of a win was it?
The Social Democrats’ chancellor candidate, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called the election night “a bitter defeat” for his party, which suffered the worst decline ever by a party in a German parliamentary election. . . . The Social Democrats were on track to win just 23 percent of the vote, according to ARD, a fall of 11 percentage points from the previous vote. . . .
The mood at the Social Democratic headquarters in Berlin was one of dismay and disbelief, and the discussion of who would take responsibility for such a complete defeat had already begun.
“I’m completely speechless and shocked,” said Michael Twardowski, 31, bank branch manager and member of the Social Democrats who worked on the campaign.
And just in case any American politicians are watching, here is what the winning German coalition stands for, none of which is supported by the Democrats in Washington.
Estimates by the German television stations, based on exit-polling data, varied slightly, but all agreed that the margin of victory would be enough to allow Mrs. Merkel to remain chancellor and to push ahead on issues such as tax relief, a simplification of the tax code, reduction of bureaucracy and a possible extension of the time that nuclear power plants can continue to operate.
And it seems like Change has reached it expiration date in Germany as well.
Voters in Europe’s largest economy have shown little appetite for dramatic change in the midst of the economic crisis.
The writing is on the wall for American Democrats, plain as day for all to see. If they just keep doing what they are doing, they will go the way of their Socialist brethren in Germany. But I can save them a little time in their post-defeat squabbling about who is to blame. He lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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Not exactly, Bill.
The Christian Democrats, who can hardly be called conservative by American standards, lost ground since the 2005 election. Based on preliminary results, they dropped from 35.2 percent of the vote in 2005 to 33.8 percent in 2009.
The Social Democrats did indeed lose 11 percent, but those votes went left, not right.
The Free Democratic Party, a liberal party, gained about 5 percent.
Die Linke, The Left Party, gained about 3 percent.
The Greens gained about 3 percent.
(Minor parties gained about 2 percent).
“The writing is on the wall for American Democrats, plain as day for all to see.”
As Germany goes so goes the world? You’re funny dude.
Bad news: the CDU is, on most issues, a bit to the left of the US Democratic Party. Among their core issues: opposition to the death penalty and setting limits on industry in an attempt to curb global warming…which they believe is real.
Yes, you read that right: Angela Merkel is, by the warped standards of American “conservatives,” something close to a Green. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Just to be clear, because my sentence construction sucked there: the CDU not only believes in global warming, they even believe that governments can and should try to stop it, through regulations.
It’s important to realize that “left” and “right,” whatever those labels are worth to begin with, are relative in different countries. I laughed when I read a Wall Street Journal report on Europe’s move to the “right”; leaders like Sarkozy have their problems, but he, like every leader in every western European nation, is never going to dismantle the middle class’ support system. It’s far to popular with, well, the middle class. And its benefits for the region as a whole (low poverty levels, low incarceration levels, good, affordable health care) are obvious to politicians of all major parties. That’s a gigantic difference between the US and most other industrialized countries. Yet it’s so simple, I have to assume that many American pundits intentionally disregard it in order to misrepresent politics in the rest of the world. In your case, however, I presume you just don’t know how European politics work. It’s worth a little bit of study, especially if you’re planning on sharing your thoughts with the world.