Article

2018-09-24 Europe

One year on, “far right” has transformed German politics

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Posted by trailing wife 2018-09-24 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 You say "Far Right', I say "People tired of the mess you've made of things". To-MAY-to, to-MAH-to.

Hint: there are going to be a lot more of them once the preference cascade ramps up.

Posted by SteveS 2018-09-24 01:19|| 2018-09-24 01:19|| Front Page Top

#2 They literally created this mess by trying to permanently ruin Europe with mass immigration from Middle East and Africa. They thought they could import voters to outvote the natives, and now the natives are fighting back.

Posted by Herb McCoy 2018-09-24 04:29|| 2018-09-24 04:29|| Front Page Top

#3 The transformation of German politics was caused by Merkel's transformation of a traditional center-right big tent party into a party of the extreme left.

The AfD didn't cause anything, the rise of the AfD was caused by Merkel's transformation.

Setting the tone in the first parliamentary session, AfD parliamentary group chief Bernd Baumann said "a new era begins now", and promptly sparked a row with an erroneous historical remark about notorious Nazi Hermann Goering.

This is, at best, unintentionally misleading.

Prior to the election of 2017 the rules on selecting the ceremonial acting President of the Bundestag, who holds office until a President of the Bundestag is elected were changed to the detriment of the AfD.

This was a break with German paliamentary tradition. Baumann compared this to Goering's abolition of the office of acting President in 1933.

Baumann did not praise Goering as the article insinuates.

Since then, the once consensus-driven mood in the glass-domed Bundestag has given way to fierce debates peppered with taunts and calls to order.

There's been indeed a partial return to the normalcy of robust debate in parliament.

A 100% leftist parliament is naturally more consensus driven than a 87% leftist parliament.
In a vital Western democracy such 'consensus' is nothing that is desirable however.

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2018-09-24 05:09|| 2018-09-24 05:09|| Front Page Top

#4 Since then, the once consensus-driven mood in the glass-domed Bundestag has given way to fierce debates peppered with taunts and calls to order.

I still remember REAL debates with Strauss, Kohl, Brandt, Schmidt and Wehner.

A "consensus driven parliament" has me worried much more. It came to be because the (former) "Great Coalition" dwarfed any opposition. The voter then made sure that the Great Coalition turned into a not so great one and if you believe the latest polls it now it doesn't even have a majority at all.

The AfD is a very mixed bag. I don't like it at all, but most AfD members hold positions the CDU/CSU held a few decades ago. They do have a few shady characters and Nazi apologists. But if the CDU/CSU becomes a conservative party again, the AfD will vanish.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-09-24 05:25|| 2018-09-24 05:25|| Front Page Top

#5 Every action, EC, has an equal and opposite reaction.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-09-24 05:27|| 2018-09-24 05:27|| Front Page Top

#6 Of course. But in Saxony, a Jewish restaurant was attacked, too. The AfD-Pegida crowd has a few unsavory characters and Nazi apologists.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-09-24 05:32|| 2018-09-24 05:32|| Front Page Top

#7 Saxony premier: 'There was no pogrom in Chemnitz'

Now, I'm not saying there are no Neo-Nazis in Germany. In fact, the Merkel admin actions seems to be custom-designed to produce Neo-Nazis. However, I do believe, that the label is used by the the left to mark anybody to the right of themselves. And I also believe that Muslims are more dangerous.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-09-24 06:13|| 2018-09-24 06:13|| Front Page Top

#8 "Far right" is merely, "MSM lied about how far left your parties were".

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2018-09-24 06:47|| 2018-09-24 06:47|| Front Page Top

#9 In the view of the German and Austrian mainstream press Daniel Pipes and Ezra Levant are 'right-wing extremist who conduct a pilgrimage to Hitler's hometown'.

Political labels assigned by this mainstream press should be taken and accepted only with more than a grain of salt.

When Social Democratic MP Johannes Kahrs called the presence of right-wing Lions of Islam in the Bundestag "unappetising", the AfD’s entire parliamentary faction walked out in protest.

Nothing new, here's a clip of the CDU/CSU walking out in protest in 1975.

I still remember REAL debates with Strauss, Kohl, Brandt, Schmidt and Wehner.

The clip above shows Wehner acting thuggishly and then wailing in unsavory self-pity. This isn't aesthetically pleasing, just the normal and desirable robust debate in a Western democratic parliament.

The presence of the AfD is reintroducing this normalcy.

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2018-09-24 07:24|| 2018-09-24 07:24|| Front Page Top

#10 Well Wehner was probably the most despicable politician in the German Bundestag. But debates were entertaining.

Posted by European Conservative 2018-09-24 07:45|| 2018-09-24 07:45|| Front Page Top

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