Douglas Alexander: Labour 'should learn from Bush'

[muriel_volestrangler]

Shock horror - David Blunkett was the voice of reason! Alexander is the Europe Minister, and thinks what the Republicans do in America is admirable.

He(Alexander) said Labour only needed to "look to the US and look at what the Republicans have done in office" for "inspiration".

The Republicans' success had been in "building a powerful movement", and by their use of emotive language, such as describing inheritance tax as a "death tax", he said.
...
(Blunkett said): "They have got the language and they have built coalitions, but the thing that we have to realise - they have built coalitions of extremely nasty people and we can't do that," he said.

"We have got to build coalitions of people who want to do good, not just for themselves, but others - who want to tackle vested interests and, for some people, who just want a good life."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4283652.stm

So, a government minister is advocating spin, lying and dirty tactics. Oh great.

[mattclearing]

1. I can get behind that to an extent.

I don't necessarily believe Blunkett is advocating spin, lying, and dirty tactics. He's just advocating using language to the advantage of Labour, which I can understand. This quote could have been said by Howard Dean.

[Beaver Tail]

2. It depends on how you read it

It is not necessarily negative, it’s just who he is looking at as an example. The Repugs are watching each others back and are for the most part on the same track with similar agendas. Saying this is neither good nor bad, it is what they do with that power that makes it good or bad and I think this is what he is getting at.