Thursday, May 05, 2005
Election Day in Great Britain
I would love to say that I have blogged lightly today because of the riveting election in one of my former residences, Great Britain, but that would be a lie. I am actually sick as a dog and am only able to sit at the PC through the miracle of Robitussin, a hot shower, and sheer willpower.
Max Boot has an interesting piece on the election in today's L.A. Times, in which it is revealed that the Tories are actually running someone against Blair for Prime Minister. If the average American had based his views of the British elections on mainstream video media, he would have come to the logical conclusion that Blair was facing a retention vote with no other parties were opposing him. But that's just it - Boot points to several mistakes the Tories made during the campaign and comes to the conclusion that a negative campaign only focusing on the other party can't succeed. I disagree, but, in this case, it is missing a vital ingredient - a candidate that appears strong and is likeable. The Tories most certainly don't have that in the foppish Michael Howard. If they could run a tough, attractive, short-spoken candidate (I'm thinking Colin Firth from the Bridget Jones movies) that could at least seem superficially viable to the electorate, then I would think Blair goes down today. However, that didn't happen, and Blair will win in a landslide with a horrible approval rating. Only the Labour MPs will be celebrating in the pubs tonight, because the rest of the country might qualify as clinically depressed.
MORE: Professor Reynolds at Instapundit seems to subscribe to Boot's theory in regards to the 2004 elections in the U.S.
EVEN MORE: John Walt (a Reagan conservative) at Tennessee Rants is rooting for Blair.
Max Boot has an interesting piece on the election in today's L.A. Times, in which it is revealed that the Tories are actually running someone against Blair for Prime Minister. If the average American had based his views of the British elections on mainstream video media, he would have come to the logical conclusion that Blair was facing a retention vote with no other parties were opposing him. But that's just it - Boot points to several mistakes the Tories made during the campaign and comes to the conclusion that a negative campaign only focusing on the other party can't succeed. I disagree, but, in this case, it is missing a vital ingredient - a candidate that appears strong and is likeable. The Tories most certainly don't have that in the foppish Michael Howard. If they could run a tough, attractive, short-spoken candidate (I'm thinking Colin Firth from the Bridget Jones movies) that could at least seem superficially viable to the electorate, then I would think Blair goes down today. However, that didn't happen, and Blair will win in a landslide with a horrible approval rating. Only the Labour MPs will be celebrating in the pubs tonight, because the rest of the country might qualify as clinically depressed.
MORE: Professor Reynolds at Instapundit seems to subscribe to Boot's theory in regards to the 2004 elections in the U.S.
EVEN MORE: John Walt (a Reagan conservative) at Tennessee Rants is rooting for Blair.
Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 12:46 PM 
