Guest Blogged by Winter Patriot
It will be interesting to see how long this will last:
The party, which was formed last year by former Labour MP George Galloway, says it “told the truth about Iraq” and will continue to do so on other issues.
Respect is contesting 30 seats in England and Wales at the election.
A spokeswoman said: “We’re not a single issue party and will be fighting for pensions and against privatisation.”
‘Electric atmosphere’
More than 700 people attended the party’s election launch in London’s Bishopsgate on Wednesday night, and gave Mr Galloway’s speech a standing ovation.
Mr Galloway, who was expelled from Labour for comments about the Iraq war, is standing against pro-Iraq war Labour MP Oona King in Bethnal and Bow.
Good luck, George! We’ll be watching!
I think they’ve just told their first lie.
Off topic, but check this out:
More detail on the Republicans multi-pronged strategy to attack the judiciary, straight from their own mouths (kind of reminds me of the recent purging of that "liberal hotbed" called the CIA)
NYT – Repub attack on Judiciary
(It might take registration)
Some quotes:
"Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, escalated his talk of a battle between the legislative and judicial branches of government on Thursday, saying federal courts had "run amok," in large part because of the failure of Congress to confront them."
More like a failure of Congress to confront YOU Mr. Delay!
More from the article:
"The organizers of the conference and Congressional staff members who spoke there called for several specific steps: impeaching judges deemed to have ignored the will of Congress or to have followed foreign laws; passing bills to remove court jurisdiction from certain social issues or the place of God in public life; changing Senate rules that allow the Democratic minority to filibuster Mr. Bush’s appeals court nominees; and using Congress’s authority over court budgets to punish judges whom it considers to have overstepped their authority."
Simply STUNNING:
""I am in favor of impeachment," Michael Schwartz, chief of staff to Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, said in a panel discussion on abortion, suggesting "mass impeachment" might be needed."
Mass judicial impeachments?
Punishment of "bad" judges by slashing their budgets?
Removing court jurisdiction for "certain issues"?
In addition to removing the filibuster?
These assholes are WAY out of control.
Comming to a U.S.A near you:
Comrads! All hail the Supreme Leader!! Your Government-appointed doctor will take your DNA sample shortly! If appropriate, your mandatory sterilization will be reversed – after we carefully review your files!!
What a tragedy that a politician who includes in his platform a promise always to be truthful (Hi! Peg C! Infinitive intact!) is invariably met with cynical guffaws! Speaks tomes about the corner politicians have painted themselves into…
It is so hard to put faith in politicians any more. I mean, how many times have politicians lied to us and we swallowed it due to hope that they would be different. I think anymore – anyone with any intelligence would stop listening to the words and look for the proof. Don’t tell me you’re not going to lie to me – prove it.!!!!
I will believe it when I see it.
Well, let the token limey add a few lines here:
"Gorgeous George" Galloway has been an old school thorn in Blair’s ‘New Labour’ side for quite a while now and has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war since before it began, he went so far as to go to Bagdad and met Saddam Hussein.
When the media here cooked up a story about him accepting Iraqi money, he immediatley, loudly and publicly sued for libel and won – I doubt very much that this would have made Tony very happy. You see, Tony doesn’t like dissent at all and he doesn’t like socialists very much either (strange for the leader of a previously socialist party but true) , so when he is faced with a dissenting socialist, then that person won’t be in the Labour party for much longer. So far every attempt to smear and discredit George Galloway has unravelled pretty quickly, so he has been pushed out to the fringe – after all, Westminster politics is no place for someone with scruples. If he was on the ballot in my constituency, I’d vote for him.
As we say over here: "New Labour, old Tory."
I really, really, really, really hope that the Liberals do well this year, maybe it’d wipe that smug grin off his smarmy, over privileged face.
Thanks for #5, Da Wookie. I was hoping to hear from you and/or some of our other British friends.
I agree with you about the liberals and I also wish Gorgeous George all possible success. It would be a fantastic example for others, would it not?
Galloway is certainly an interesting character – and as a socialist myself (and unashamedly so) I’ve gone to a few talks he’s done in Dublin (one about Afghanistan and one about Iraq iirc) and followed the development of RESPECT with interest. I have many differences with their politics (such as embracing the Muslim Association of Britain – I really don’t think thats a road progressives should be going down). It’s also, from what I can gather a pretty undemocratic internal regime – largely dominated by the SWP faction. At least, this is what I’m hearing from friends and comrades in the UK.
However, Galloway is certainly a powerful figure, and I have nothing but respect (boom boom) for him – political differences aside. I think the fact that the Blairites forced him out speaks volumes about the state of the Labour party today. As does the fact that the Conservatives could possibly actually win this election – two years ago they were pretty much dead in the water. Now they are campaigning on the fear factor – fear of gypsies, fear of immigrants, fear of taxes. While Labour are pretty much campaigning on ‘fear of terrorism’ and of course, fear of the Tories!
I’m afraid I have to disagree with Da Wookie about the Lib Dems. They pose as a ‘soft left’ alternative, but I think they are just oppurtunists. I’d never advocate a vote for them – in fact I’d vote Labour (depending on the candidate, there are still some good people in the Labour Party) before Lib Dem. However, as I’m an Irish citizen, and I no longer live in the UK anyway, I don’t get a vote. But if I did, here’s how I’d vote.
In Wales: Forward Wales or possibly Labour.
In Scotland: Scottish Socialist Party
In England: Either RESPECT, Green or one of the smaller socialist groups such as the SP or Scargill’s SLP.
In Northern Ireland: Not much of a choice there, four sectarian parties. I’d vote for whatever community campaigner (if any) runs.
BAck to Galloway: Wookie, did you see him on Question Time about two weeks ago? It was hilarious – there was a woman from the Torygraph (Daily Telegraph, one of the papers that slandered him re: Saddam – and he sued them and won like 300 Grand in damages. The other paper was the Christian Science Monitor, who he also successfully sued) and Labour’s Minister for Children. The Labour Minister actually slandered him on live TV, and Galloway turns around and goes:
"You’ve just slandered George Galloway, and as [points to Torygraph woman] she can tell you, slandering George Galloway is liable to get you into a lot of trouble!"
The whole place exploded with laughter and applause, it was great.
Also, I’d like to say I hope Oona King gets her arse kicked by George.
And maybe that will have the added effect of getting her off the telly to boot! It’s all good baby.
It is beyond wonderful when the words ‘politician’ and ‘truth’ are used in the same coherent sentence.
If the Brits can depose the lying poodle Blair then our little lying george will be left with an empty leash and tumble he will.
George Galloway got elected in London last night beating a Blair ally on the war. A bloody nose for Blair on Iraq!
See my write-up.
=D