Rationally, I think that black-yellow would be best for Germany and Europe. But if that doesn’t happen, red-Green would be better than the big coalition. And the entertainment value of fdp going down and all of the union friendly journalists who have been declaring Schroeder for done looking really dumb would be unbeatable. I remember how annoyed The Sun was when Livingstone was elected mayor of London. They had a headline “oh no, you’ve elected red Ken”.
I actually think that Kirchhoffs plans would be the best thing that could be happening to Germany. but the Union doesn't want to use them anyways but a f.cking compromise, add that to their unreliability, unability to do anything, antipathical figures and their cluelessness about foreign policy, which makes them unvotable...
It seems the US press has finally found out there is an election in German. Interestingly, my German in-laws do not seem to really care. Then again, they are all US citizens now. Reading the Washington Post story, linked above, it will be interesting to see have the election result is spun in the US media. If the Union-FDP wins, I think they will play up the "Merkel is a woman" angle. Here is a English language blog with some interesting links
The latest poll on Spiegel's site shows the CDU/CSU/FDP with about an 8 1/2 point lead over the Red-Green, BUT still below 50%. On a blog I visited, one of the commenters said that the undecideds were stil lup around 20%, and the swing to the SPD has a lot to do with Schroeder's performance in the debate. One thing being thrown about now is a "traffic light" coalition -- the SPD (red), the FDP (yellow) and the Greens. The idea is that the FDP gets the SPD to moderate some economic issues (allowing the FDP to claim victory and reclaim its position as the "kingmaker" in German politics). Has Germany ever had a hung parliament?
What is a hung parliament? I would say Germany yes, since the Weimarer Republik has had about anything which was possible, but the Bundesrepublik propably not.
“600 000 Turks with German passports are eligible to vote”- N24 Fvck you, n24. This is as pathetic as it gets.
Schröder needs to give the 4-5 million turks some german passports or he'll lose. Good bye Gerhard, i doubt that the CDU/FDP will be better but hey no more greens. Hängt die Grünen an den nächsten Baum.
no, i like europe. I enjoy skiing in Austria,Swiss or Italy and i also enjoy lying on a spanish,italian or greek beach in the summer. europe rulez!!!
Than put up with the greens. And use your bike. sry, but black-yellow ain't gonna win, neither. Grand coalition. Yeeha. :-/
I assume this is a joke, but according to the Independent, Schroeder is considering moving to New York if he loses the election. Perhaps this is the best reason to hope for a Red-Green victory!
I think his current wife lived in New York, so it could be for real. It was a huge mistake by him to call early elections, as his reforms are just starting to give results. In a years time the economy could have been in much better shape and given him a much better chance. But it’s all good. Black-yellow are going to win it by the slightest of margins.
I'm glad that at least you are happy. I can't wait until CDU/CSU and FDP, should they form the government, ******** up things completely. Shouldn't take more than 2 years.
Yep. Nobody is better in reviving red-green than black-yellow. Alex, in 4 years, whyt Bundesland do you think will still be goverend by the Union? Bavaria? Baden-Würthemberg? I'd say that's about it. Maybe Saxonia and Thuringia. Man I love to write German Bundesländer in English. Sound so cool like from a medieval fantasy world.
No idea when those elections are exactly, but: Bayern: For sure BaWü: Very likely Sachsen/Sachsen-Anhalt/Thüringen: Usually hard to predict, but a general weak SPD and a strong PDS there make it not unlikely in my opinion. Hessen: Possible Niedersachsen, Hamburg, NRW and SH could switch back.
In 4 years Union governed Bundesländer: Bavaria Baden-Wurttemberg NRW (as the just elected for a 5 year term) Lower Saxony ... I don´t know cause it all depends on the economy. Alex_K BTW why would anybody hope that black-yellow would fvck everything up (if they win today)? I would have been happy with a red-green gouvernment if Germany is doing well. Only apparachiks think in that way.
I suppose he didn't mean 4 years literally though, butafter the next election in those states (correct me if I am wrong). I didn't say that I hope for them to ******** everything up, I said that I can't wait for it to happen, as I am sure that it will happen. But I would never vote for black-yellow, doesn't matter what they do.
Guess you are right. Nevermind. To me this sounds like you are actually looking forward to it. Wow! Now that is... let´s say... strange?
I actually don't know what I meant exactly, but the way you took it makes much more sense ;-) We can be sure, that, from my point of view, black.yellow will F+ck up in foreign policy. Even though we may be better off from an economical and a financial point of view (which I honestly doubt), we will for sure be worse of environmentally and with social stuff plus be internationally on a position I won't like (Turkey, in Iraq, possibly in Iran). The stakes are so high I wouldn'Ät want to take them. By the way, I really ask myself wherte the Union is going. Of all the young ppl I know almost nobody is going to vote black or yellow...
Well, I don't pretend to be center or even center-left. My political position has always been far left of the (modern day) SPD. Personally I don't want to vote for a party I fudamentally disagree with on a ideological basis.