Out of ideas and without any hope of a last minute hate-America hail-mary pass or flood disaster to rally the party faithful à la Gazprom Gerhard Schroeder, the SPD gets destroyed in German elections. With just 23% of the vote, Schroeder wannabe Steinmeier and company will be riding the back benches for quite a while with any luck.
Now maybe Americans can start loving Germany again. Above are just a couple reasons to be happy the SPD will be out of the picture for a good long time.
Endnote...Tom Lantos must be smiling in heaven today...
It will be interesting to see how Merkel gets on with Obama from here on out. Needless to say, the Social Democrats will no longer be running the Foreign Ministry.
Phil, WWII is over.
I'm sure it's hard to notice that, given that it's been 60-something years and all, but I seriously doubt an apology is forthcoming for stopping Hitler.
Putz!
Posted by: LC Mamapajamas | October 04, 2009 at 12:39 AM
Thank God Germany is waking as the One tries to work his supposed Mojo on the EU people. It is a great relief to see that at least ONE government in the world is making some headway toward responsibility!
If things don't straighten out here in the US soon, we could have a revolution brewing. The Democratic leadership seems to have no clue how pissed off the American people are!
Posted by: LC Mamapajamas | October 04, 2009 at 12:42 AM
When does the neo-Nazi Phil get banned from posting comments at this Web site? He has managed to sicken everybody from even bothering to make any comments anymore -- all the loyal old-timers are gone -- and you still have this vicious creep posting like there's no tomorrow. Is this what Davids Medienkritik wants, Ray and David? You're losing just about everyone else.
Posted by: svetov | October 04, 2009 at 04:16 PM
@ svetov,
I don't assign Phil or others like him that kind of power. This blog is not that active - and that is probably why the conversation is not as active - I don't think Phil has much to do with it. Further, I think our readers are intelligent enough to see his comments for exactly what they are - and the worthwhile conversation tends to flow around those comments. Yes - we could ban every troll out there - but it would frankly be a waste of time.
Posted by: RayD | October 04, 2009 at 05:34 PM
@ LC Mamapajamas
What busted the Steinmeier campaign was President Obamas decision to suspend terrestrial missile defense.
The now emerging government should have a clear idea what it means if he were to fail: Islamic missiles being pointed at us.
The interest of Germany at this point is that the other party be prepared to respond to such a situation God beware rather than wallow in Obama Derangement Syndrome.
Posted by: German In Name Only | October 04, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Ray
While I do comprehend your "live and let live" attitude about Phil, (and I don't presume to speak for anyone but myself), he is using you and your forum as his own personal dumping ground. It isn't every troll you need concern yourself with. It is one troll named Phil.
Having said my piece on Phil...
Merkel seems like a hard-hitting woman. I think she can run circles around Obama. She will find (like Sarkozy) that Obama is an empty suit (if she can tolerate his arrogance.) Germans have what they claim to have wanted in a US president - someone who doesn't put his own country first. But Obama doesn't put ANY of our European allies first, either. So when heavy lifting is required in the future, Europe is on it's own.
Posted by: Suzanne | October 07, 2009 at 09:24 AM
@ readers...
Phil did leave another comment that pushed things too far. One off comment is one thing - several that violate our policy will get you banned. His comments have been wiped off the site - going over a year back.
Posted by: RayD | October 09, 2009 at 08:45 PM
@Suzanne - Merkel is an insolvence administrator of a morally bankrupt party, and so is Obama. They both come from ghost town constituencies. They both are confronted with the aftermath of Saudi corruption in their own parties. My impression is that Obamas heart beats for the corner of the world it obviously would be. We probably agree that Africa in its current state is better off with the Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly than with with a share in the residual term of the Security Council. Obama has listened long enough to those sermons not to be shaken by the gibberish any more. You can make the thought experiment how an United Nations translator would perform on his longtime pastor. He has produced a consistent drumbeat that our Southern neighbour will need to undergo tremendous change to survive, and so does Europe in its own way. What we are seeing now is that he is accomplishing his chance, so skeptics, agnostics and rescuers please stand on the sidelines and get ready for failure and success.
Posted by: German In Name Only | October 14, 2009 at 05:45 PM
I've been in non posting of comments phase here for a long while. I'm sure lots of folk appreciate that :)
But I would like to chime in on the Phil deal.
Imo, folk like him serve a valuable service. They assist in highlighting the mindset that is in direct opposition to all that is functional in society. They also serve as useful training foils in aiding the rest of us to tune up our ability to fight back before the situation devolves so far that taking the fight to the direct and physical is the only remaining option.
Never let a troll go unchallenged. That whole "dont feed the trolls" thing is useless and self defeating. Not only is it a training opportunity missed, comments left unopposed by direct return fire sit there for the lurkers to read. If there's no counter fire against the trolls, then lurkers are left to assume there's validity in their comment.
Don't pretend this aint all about a fight. Not a debate. This is a fight and it's for everything of any value to all of us.
Posted by: Grimmy | October 18, 2009 at 05:40 AM
Frau Merkel is just making her first big time mistake in the new term: If a new government is formed without bringing the Green party to the table, it is going to use Hermes covers to enable the Siemens/Rosatom consortium to sell Bushehr-style reactors to anyone, strategically undermining its own position in the negotiations over the nuclear program of Persia. (details in German)
Posted by: German In Name Only | October 27, 2009 at 05:31 PM
In response to Grimmy:
I have no difficulty refuting trolls, and for several years did so with our Liechtensteiner friend Phil. (True or not, in one posting he stated he was from that country.) I got tired of him. After a while, responding to inane gratuitous insults gets old.What did it for me was some insult hurled at Pamela. Pamela does not need my defense; she can handle herself very well. I just decided that I was wasting my time reading such drivel.When the level of dialogue has reached that of a middle schooler hurling invective, and Phil often brought it down to that level, it is a waste of time for me to read.
After extended experience in responding to trolls of various types,here is my response. I get tired of engaging in "dialogue" with a given troll when it becomes apparent that the troll has more interest in insults than in debates, more interest in changing the goalposts than in conceding points, more interest in dissimulation than in answering simple questions. Let others take up the fight. But in the case of Phil, he poisoned the dialogue. It became all about him, not about the subject of the thread.
Posted by: GringoTex | October 27, 2009 at 08:49 PM
@RayD
I don't think Phil has much to do with it.
Speaking for myself, it had EVERYTHING to do with it. When you invite people into your house and let some of the guests soil the carpet with their own feces, don't expect the other guests to hang around.
Phil did leave another comment that pushed things too far. One off comment is one thing - several that violate our policy will get you banned. His comments have been wiped off the site - going over a year back.
Thank you.
Hiya Gringo!
It will be interesting to see how Merkel gets on with Obama from here on out.
Oh, I'm sure she's figured out he's an idiot by now. Sarkozy certainly has.
Posted by: Pamela | November 01, 2009 at 04:17 PM
GringoTex:
You're right. I haven't been visiting here for a long while and I'd forgotten what a bitter pill Phil had been. Endlessly regurgitating the same idiocy, over and over again, clue immune and fact resistant.
Sorry 'bout that.
Posted by: Grimmy | November 04, 2009 at 07:01 PM
Thank you, Ray, for the Housekeeping.
I haven't visited this site since my last posting of Oct 7 because it appeared that Phil and his vile insults were here to stay. (Major turn-off for me. I'm a big girl and have seen lots of ad hominems - but graphic sexual insults was too much.)
I have always liked this site for the perspective it offers and the exchange in the postings.
Posted by: Suzanne | December 02, 2009 at 09:57 AM