More bickering from the opposition

.flickr-photo { border:solid 1px #666; padding:0; margin:0;}.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding:0; margin:0;}.flickr-caption { margin-top: 0px; }

If my opinion on American and British politics is clear, I’ve done my very best to “leave matters alone” when it comes to the politics of the country in which I live. They put up with me, the least I can do is reciprocate.

But my tether has gone way beyond stretching point now. As the BBC reports, people are “frustrated with how the country’s two main political parties continue to bicker”. They say, “over how to deal with Eta militancy”, but truthfully, they bicker over every damn thing.

It’s like the married couple whose initial love has turned to extreme hatred. Those “cute” little things their partner once did, are now nasty annoying habits. They are minor, but they cause the biggest rows. Both pick up on the slightest utterance. They pick at grammar …

Since the very moment that Socialist party PSOE (website in Spanish) won the election in 2004, the losers opposition have done nothing but pull faces, rant, whine and stamp their feet like little children who have had their toys or sweeties taken away from them.

Not once have they come up with what sounds like a considered argument or an intelligent disputation. Spain’s centre-right opposition Popular Party (PP), has, in my mind, redefined the meaning of political “opposition”, because all they do is just oppose everything.

They react so fast and whine so bloody much that, actually, I’m surprised they haven’t opposed their own arguments yet! (Or maybe they have?)

And, much to the opposition’s disappointment, I still maintain, from the comments I was hearing among “ordinary folk” prior to the events of March 2004 that they were going to lose that election anyway.

Secretary of PSOE, José Blanco, says on his blog that “MaríaNO should be reminded that the ballot boxes are always more difficult to fill than busses. That’s something they know well from experience.”

(MaríaNO - the way he writes it with the capitalized NO - is referring to PP leader, Maríano Rajoy. Most apt in my opinion and, I presume, is a clear reference to the fact that Rajoy says “NO” to everything. This, I find highly amusing, especially coming, as it does, from one of the top men in the government, but I’m afraid it looks just as childish.)

And, as ever, there has been considerable dispute over quite how many busses they managed to fill. While the BBC report merely says, “Tens of thousands of demonstrators”, in some Spanish reports, the PP themselves have claimed that the number of demonstrators was two million.

But as local news site, ArchipielagoNoticias, says here (alongside a Photoshopped image of PP politician, Ángel Acebes, with a Pinocchio nose) technology provides evidence that they lied. They point to a blog post (that has an amazing 800+ comments currently), which shows a map, with points on it where they took “control” photos. By estimating the area to 80,000 square meters and supposing a density of 3 or 4 people per meter (which seems mighty generous), they calculate a figure of between 240,000 and 320,000 demonstrators.

Another item from ArchipielagoNoticias doesn’t mince words either. I think I only need translate the headline of this article, “”Fascist Spain demonstrates in Madrid calling for civic rebellion.”

A recent poll, admittedly on the PSOE site, shows that 70% think that the PP are fomenting a resurgence of the far-right in Spain.

Well, they are certainly causing politics to become more polarized in Spain. And, of course it was the PP’s previous leader, Aznar, who got into bed with those other two banditos, Bush and Blair.

So one does not need to look far to see where it comes from.

My feeling, gleaned from everyday chitchat, is that every time Rajoy and co. open their mouths, the majority here have a good laugh at the ridiculousness of the statements. May they continue to say stupid things for our entertainment and may the majority of the Spanish people maintain their command of common sense. Otherwise …