aldabra: (ghost)
posted by [personal profile] aldabra at 06:15am on 13/09/2016
I think talking about a second referendum now, like Smith is, is a disaster and will be alienating the people who voted Brexit in the first (who are significant enough in the Labour heartlands that they can't afford to alienate them). I'm hoping for a general election before Article 50, but I think the best way of getting it is by not boxing May into a corner, and waiting to see whether the Brexiteers produce anything; there's a fair change they'll self-immolate first.

And I think Smith is a Blairite triangulator, and that is a strategy that only works if your party has a clear and recognisable position to triangulate away from. They're not going to get a better shot than Corbyn at articulating an anchor, and then the focus-group wonks will have something to work with.

I haven't completely decided whether I'm going to vote or not, but if I do it'll be a vote for the PLP to get with the programme.
ext_3375: Banded Tussock (Banded Tussock)
posted by [identity profile] hairyears.livejournal.com at 10:01pm on 18/09/2016
Right now, the focus groups are saying that it's electorally advantageous to be just a little bit racist: and Owen Smith is listening.

I have every confidence that he realises it's wrong.
emperor: (Phoenix)
posted by [personal profile] emperor at 06:47am on 19/09/2016
OTOH, if everyone keeps being a bit racist because the focus groups say it plays well, then that Overton window is never going to shift in a good direction, is it? :(
ext_3375: Banded Tussock (Banded Tussock)
posted by [identity profile] hairyears.livejournal.com at 10:03pm on 19/09/2016
It isn't triangulation, it's capitulation. There is no point in being not-the-conservatives if all they aspire to being is a bit less conservative.

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