So Chris Huhne was delivering a speech on housing today? Well I have read the whole thing and there's not a single word about housing in it. Instead it is just a series of personal attacks on various Tory politicians. Exactly the sort of thing LibDems usually piously tell us will turn off voters.
Note to LibDems: Labour is in power. Why aren't you attacking them? Scared of losing seats to the Tories? Need to squeeze that Labour vote just a bit more? Ah, I see. But these personal attacks are signs of desperation. Even many of your own delegates are repulsed by them. Think on.
66 comments:
Having read your `blog` and listened to Huhne on `Today`
it appears there is more than a hint of desperation from the Lib-Dems. Perhaps a new definition could be the New LB Nasty Party
Chris Huhne has clearly stolen some of Peter Mandelson's briefing papers.
I heard some LimpDum and Eric Pickles having a shouting match on the Today programme this morning.
Nothing annoys me more than "men shouting at each other" on the Today programme (well, John Humphreys biasedly interrupting any Tory he's interviewing and not letting him answer any question properly is also pretty damn annoying) so I just switched the damn thing off.
also, why would Chris Huhne, Home Affairs Spokesperson, be talking about housing? unless "home" has been given a broader definition...
I really hoped that the Lib Dems would take the chance of a lifetime and knock Labour into third place in the forthcoming election, but they seem to be stupidly hung up on the Tories.
Which really just reinforces the notion that a vote for the LibDems is a vote in Labour's favour.
I would imagine it is because the Libdems consider labour a dead duck and there is only the Tories to fight for votes.
Negative campaigning rarely has the desired effect.
Why is anyone covering this bunch of creeps in Bournemouth.
I do not know if the BNP have a conference week, but if they do, will they get the same coverage, they should because they are as nutty as this bunch.
Breaking news Fyffe's have just bought the advertising rights to re-name the Houses of Parliament in 12 years from first class nation to a Banana republic. Well done Nu Labour
The Lib Dems are just like my fantasies about winning the £90M on last week's Euromillions Lottery;
It does not hurt anyone
It gives me a frisson of excitement in my life
and
IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!
This is a conference for the supporters, not the voters. Labour's will be much the same.
The theme tune at both should be Hold What You've Got by Carly Simon
It simply shows that they have nothing else to fight the Tories with.
They have no election winning policies, no charismatic leaders, no ground-swell of support.
The only thing that they can try to do is create a hung parliament and get into "power" on the apron strings of another party.
"Note to LibDems: Labour is in power. Why aren't you attacking them?"
Because NuLab has already lost. There will never again be a Labour government. Labour voters will be going elsewhere - thought not to the other bits of the liblabcons. Can't blame the dimlibs for trying though.
You are right Iain when you say that its all become personal - this has got to be deliberately orchestrated as we have been seeing them do the same thing against the SNP leadership in Scotland for some time now.
The Lib Dems leadership are a bad joke and embarrassment north and south of the border and will never achieve any kind of status unless on the coat tails of a coalition.
Utter hypocrisy and stupidity. You attack the Lib Dems all the time.
And personal attacts by Gideon and others on Brown calling him a liar is ok then ?
I don't particular like Brown but if you don't like personal attacts don't make them.
The Libdimwits are snapping at the wrong heels , I couldn't agree more.
Politicians are so tedious and vexatious.
Doesn't anyone care about-
'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England'
Rather carried away by that but you will understand my drift.
is there a link to the speech? might be an idea.
Sadly this is all typical LibDem fare.
I was an activist with them for about 10 years, and for most of that time I was in denial about what they really were.
It was only towards the end, when one of their front benchers accused me of being a fascist that I began to see through their bluster. My crime had been to believe that LibDem really meant liberal, in the sense of upholding personal freedoms.
In truth all they ever offer is a series of empty (and often contradictory) slogans, mainly designed to win short-term media attention - none of which stands up to serious examination.
Whenever they manage to gain power, the result is always a jumble of nonsenscial interventionist policies - all supported by very high taxes.
Anonymous, I imagine it will be here at some stage:
www.libdems.org.uk/conference_speeches.aspx
"I really hoped that the Lib Dems would take the chance of a lifetime and knock Labour into third place in the forthcoming election, but they seem to be stupidly hung up on the Tories"
This occurred to me too. We live in times of profound political change. labour , as Polly Toynbee has often said is a "dying Party".The LIbdems have an unique opportinity to dive and take Labours place and what do they do - they attack the Tories! Incredible.
Really, it just confirms my long held view they are not a serious party and havn't been since 1918.Simply a collection of silly people who have been treated as the "third" party by the British establishment just to make up the numbers on TV chat shows.
I suppose it wil fall to one of the four new parties to emerge as competitors to the Tories
ie bnp, greens, ukip, eng dems
time will tell.
All rather childish when they have carefully left the door open for a Liberal Conservative Pact, and spent the rest of the conference copying the Conservative Party. I have a theory ....
We all know their little souls are a delightfully pale pink (Penny on income tax and Tuition Fees, Tax, Pensions, and so on ).... Neal Lawson ands James Grahams piece in the Guardian is more representative “ A coalition of progressive ideas at grass roots” . Sunny Hundal who is an identity politics hard left thug thinks he is the exemplar of something similar .
These people , the real Liberals are probably feeling a bit raw. After years of lecturing Conservatives they have to admit they were wrong and would like to be pale blue instead of pale pink. Poor things . Huhne is just chucking a few bones to the whiny curs to stop them whimpering .
Funny people
So your objection is not to personal attacks per se, but simply the party affiliation of the target?
Charming.
I would guess that this is a "displace Labour" stragegy - trying make themselves the natural home of Labour supporters, and so (eventually) become the official opposition.
Bashing Tories has always been a jolly good way of playing to the gallery at Lib Dem Conferences. Bashing Labour - not so much.
And of course Chris Huhne is of the left - unlike Nick Clegg who definitely isn’t.
why would anyone listen to the Toady programme? Complete waste of time.
It's one of Alinsky's rules:
Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/communism/alinsky.htm
The Tories might want to read Rules for Radicals, it appears to be Obama's guide book and it'll make it's way over there sooner or later.
Be fair. What could be possibly say about housing. The LibDims have supported every possible illiberal restriction on housebuilding & pushed for more & then called for ever more subsidy of "affordable housing" because it has been made unafordable. Now they are promising savage/serios cuts so they can't promise more subsidy.
You think he wants to talk about that?
Huhne is almost certainly going to lose his seat to the Conservatives at the GE, so it's not surprising that he's desperately flailing around at them.
He's always been an arrogant git and the pressure hasn't improved him any.
"Utter hypocrisy and stupidity. You attack the Lib Dems all the time."
Iain isn't a high-ranking member of the Tories (no offence).
This see the way i see it
Lib-Dems=eussr
Liebour=eussr
torys=i just dont no maybe the cam man should say somthing coz if he dont b4 the next GE im voting ukip.
I will not vote for a party that think's the EUSSR is a good thing
Ed Davey has just compared David Cameron with David Brent - and only succeeded in managing to sound remarkablylike David Brent himself. This negative campaigning is not only pathetic and desperate - the LibDums are useless at it.
The only issue the Lib Dems can attack the Tories on is their prevarication over the Lisbon Treaty.
But they're on shaky ground there and don't want to open up that debate.
What a fine mess these mendacious politicians have got themselves into!
Golden Balls said:
"And personal attacts by Gideon and others on Brown calling him a liar is ok then ?"
That is just a fact though.
Liar is not a swear word.
Would you prefer a more genteel euphemism ? Fibber ? Telling porkies ? Economical with the truth ?
But that's politics Iain. You don't refrain for personal attacks - look at your opportunist post on Baroness Scotland. She made a mistake, not a particularly serious one and one for which she has apologised. End of story. But you use your position as a respected commentator to dig the knife in. Ugh!
There are some nasty things in the Conservative woodshed and they need to be brought out. I hope that the LibDems and Labour continue to go for the jugular when they can. And you should welcome this as well. It frees you up to be more bilious if you want to be and if Cameron and his motley crew ride the storm well then they will come out stronger.
Perhaps it is something to do with Chris Huhnes Majority being only 568.
Labour and LD are two brands with the same goal.
They stiched up an electoral deal to keep themseleves from a serious Tory challange and look what has happened to the country under Labour/LD.
Time to turf them both out!
Two points
1. I suspect the FibDumbs are trying to lure away those who voted for Labour previously but cannot stomach voting Tory. Maybe with the prospect of forming a Coalition with a party that is not overwhelmingly more powerful than they and desperate to cling to power (Labour). A fools errand for Labour, incompetent and failing though it is, contains some nasty pieces of work who will have the LDs for breakfast (and send the bill to the taxpayer).
2. Huhne appears a bit, how can I say it, lacking in impulse control*. I am quite sure he will, at some stage, lamp someone. It is only a matter of time.
* and no, that does not mean he runs in warp drive..
Obsessed by or with?
Fib Dems - they are who they are.
Our job is to point this out to people so they don't make the mistake of voting for them.
I was so mesmerised by his stiff purple hair that I barely heard a word he said.
And its no good his supporters saying Huhne can be rude and abusive cos bloggers are. Bloggers just speak for themselves. They have no constituents to answer to and no-one has elected them to office. They aren't receiving cash from the taxpayer.
Trouser Press Huhne is a nasty little expense fiddling runt who would deny free speech to another EU politician. He also abstained in the EU referendum vote. Let's hope he loses his seat along with all the other troughers. I find him particularly odious because he masquerades as a Liberal whilst being anything but.
Not surprised there was no mention of housing. This was a wide-ranging speech more appropriate for a leadership challenge. Is Huhne positioning himself for the aftermath of the GE massacre? After all, didn't he get more votes last time, just that some were received after the deadline.
They need to change their tack somehow, that's for sure. Labour have all but collapsed but the Lib Dims haven't picked up any poll advantage at all. In fact, they slid backwards at the Euro elections.
Radical I know, but they could always try actually being 'liberal'
Heard some BBC bod on Radio 4 talking with Clegg and his comment about Cameron being a con-man.
He disagreed with the dictionary definition, although he could and should have been able to show how it worked for him.
The BBC expert later said that Clegg doesn't like personal attacks, and doesn't believe that Cameron is a con-man.
So the BBC must believe that Clegg IS such, since he is saying something that he believes not to be true to gain an unfair advantage (ie nicking a person's vote).
Funny old world isn't it?.
Running scared. A hung parliament must seem very appealing to the Lib Dems. One step closer to actually being a government. The Lib Dems are too easily swayed by promises of power by the dark hearted whispers of Brown, and I think we know how truthful our prime minister is. A viper would be more trustworthy with such temptation.
After standing with Cameron on the Ghurka issue, young Clegg it would seem is a bit of a turncoat.
Huhne and Co are merely copying the Mandelson strategy of ad hominem attacks on the 'young inexperienced toffs that are Osborne and Cameron'
Huhne and Clegg see the impending loss of ten or more seats to Cameron. In these circumstances you climb into the gutter. They will not emerge. Huhne is going down the drain.
The young and inexperienced toffs will laugh last.
Never mind. Huhne will be looking to return to Brussels come next June.
Cameron meanwhile will be in No.10.
So, one can excuse Huhne's flailing attack and put it down to his envy. For heaven's sake he couldn't even become leader of the LibDems and standards there are pretty low.
Is the Tory-bashing really so surprising? The only thing the Lib Dems (and the Tories) want between now and the general election campaign is for Gordon to keep his job. Slagging him off for a week isn't going to facilitate that.
Likewise, i'd be surprised if we heard a huge number of very personal attacks on Brown at the Tory party conference. Wider attacks on the government, yes, but nothing that'd hasten Gordon's departure.
Chris Huhne has just been at it again on BBC News sticking the boot into the Tories attacking the Tories on inheritance tax and attacking George Osborne (would't have him running his pension fund)
Huhne comes over as a very bitter individual. He comes over as rabidly anti-Tory, more so than many on the left of the labour party.
I would guess he is feeling the pressure given his wafer thin majority with the Tories breathing down his neck.
He comes over as a rather pathetic specimen. I would guess there is still an overhang from the old SDP/Labour entryists who are pre-programmed to oppose the Tories.
Fortunately most of the senior Lib Dems are more enlightened. They should be targetting labour seats otherwise they are going to be down to a rump of around 40 seats next year.
He's at it again on News 24...
Anonymous said...
'..Because NuLab has already lost..'
Quite possibly - although don't underestimate the stupidity on the UK population! After all, they voted these creeps in on a landslide three times.
Going back to your point though. Everyone must see that the Tories have a rather good chance of making the next Government. So why don't the Lib Dumbs get stuck into Labour, destroy even more of their voting base and get themselves the position of official opposition?
'Cos, believe me, what's coming economically over the next 4 to 5 years is sure going to make Cameron unpopular. And then - at the next election? Well, we can't vote in Labour, they've cocked up big time, Cameron is no better, so let's try the Lib Dumbs.
But that's why they're the Lib Dumbs. Simples.
"Quite possibly - although don't underestimate the stupidity on the UK population! After all, they voted these creeps in on a landslide three times."
Not in 2005 they didn't.
A huge case of pot calling the kettle here. Round the clock slagging off of LibDems has long been your forte Master Dale. Yet you go all hand wringing if we do it to Tories.
I actually find it quite bizarre that the Liberal Democrats invite you to their conference to chair a meeting. They obviously don't know your blog as well as we do. The New Right could teach Dr Goebbels a thing or to about vitriolic attacks.
You seem riled Iain, are you nervous? I think they are right to point out that Osborne has never really had a job, that it seems implausible that a man like Pickles can suddenly become a Green Liberal Conservative. These attacks are about Tory hypocricy.
Chris Who has merely realised that keeping his job as an MP is far more important than taking part in another leadership race this year. Nick Clegg is therefore safe - until July 2010. Hee! Hee! Hee!
Remember Ian Oakley and his 3½ year campaign against Sal Brinton and Liberal Democrats in Watford, subjecting them to criminal damage, poison pen letters and nuisance calls.
Tory supporter Martin Day has taken over, here is some of his handy work.
http://crysalbrintonwatfordliberaldemocrats.blogspot.com/
http://libdemssalbrintonwatford.blogspot.com/
Anyone can go ahead and call William Hague a slaphead, for all I care. I'd prefer to see the LibDems attacking Gordon Brown with the sort of terminology that Devil's Kitchen uses - i.e, telling us to throw things at him in the street.
I quite like the American definition of " Liberals" - a bunch of con men,always fleecing others (taxes)others and spending the money. I have worked with Lib Dems in my borough when I was an independent school governor. They say anything to get votes and their forte the personal attack is born out of desperation. Huhne, Cable and Clegg had good opportunity to come out with sensible policies but being the Raving Loony Party showing their true colours. I always ignored them.
But the Lib Dems and before them the Liberal Party, have always acted like this.
"A huge case of pot calling the kettle here. Round the clock slagging off of LibDems has long been your forte Master Dale."
I think he's contrasting it with the serious, policy based discussions on here about Patricia Scotland. It's one of those irregular verbs isn't it? I hold ministers to account for their conduct; you get personal; he smears.
I Know m huhne well. So why has no one pointed out that he ran a credit rating agency which helped destroy the economy?
One thing I do not understand Iain is how can you support a political party which brought in section 28?
Did you agree with section 28? If not, why not? Did the Tories political stance in the 1980s on the issue of gay rights conflict with your own sexuality?
Why don't you allow open comments again on your blog?
Let me tell you one thing that grates on me, is the fact that you Tories oppose everything on what the government is doing.
Lets look at a few examples.
-Ideologically opposed to the nationalization or part nationalization of the banks. Would rather see the banks sink. I bet if you had money deposited in Northern Rock you wouldn't want it to just simply sink and expect some government intervention.
-Against the government's fiscal stimulus which has avoided a major depression. Further underpinned by the ideological belief that the role of government is limited in economic affairs.
-Against the new top rate of income tax - but would consider cutting public services which would leave the vulnerable and the most needy worst off.
-The announcement by the Government of a new industrial policy at the TUC Conference after years of industrial neglect by the Tories. It was thanks to the Tories that we no longer have an industrial base, and don't go blaming the Unions for that. It was the Tories that Privatized our heavy industries and neglected its long term investment.
The difference between the Government and the Tories is quite clear Iain Dale.
The Government will not let people just simply 'sink' to use your terminology.
News flash! The recession was not Brown's fault but is indicative of a global recession which the majority of the globalized economy is facing.
Mr Kramer, I believe in fighting the battles of today, not 25 years ago. I dare say Labour and the LibDems regret policy positions they held 25 years ago.
I also dont support aparty because I disagree with one policy. No one can ever agree with everything their own party does.
I agree with Iain. Many gay people I know support The Conservatives - this is because, like many in the population, they are also creative, imaginative and thoughtful people too. People who believe in freedom, choice and taking personal responsibility for themselves and others. Even when Section 28 was about (and given the views of some Tories about gay civil partnerships) they have always voted for The Conservatives.
You see Mr. Kramer, Labour once believed in nationalisation - whilst the Liberals and Social Democrats once believed in having credible policies. Hee! Hee! Hee!
Yet, to win an Election in 2010 you need policies within the 21st century - not the 19th century. One in ten people are believed to be born gay and some of them are my dear friends. I was therefore very pleased and impressed when David Cameron made that Conference Speech a few years ago. It is one of the reasons why I support him. He has shown me Conservatives have changed and grown up. For we all make mistakes. A test of character is knowing you have made them and changing your ways and policies.
Seems there are quite a few simple souls on this thread who can't understand that, for the LibDems to steal Labour votes, THEY NEED TO ATTACK THE TORIES.
It's all good - Go Huhneee !! You dope.
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