British Invasion

British Invasion
Now Playing: Ms Jade / Girl Interrupted / Feel the Girl

This game again: Over at Talking Points Memo, Kenneth Baer is doing his duty as a DLC Democrat, tarring the amorphous "Left" with the victory of the pro-Saddam MP George Galloway and pointing out that his victory risks sparking an anti-Muslim backlash among native Brits, citing some punditry from the pseudo-center-left The New Republic in support of his claims. That's followed up with some requisite Dean-bashing.

Look, I don't really have a big problem with the DLC, and I don't really think the phrase "DLC Democrat" is inherently pejorative. But find me one left-leaning American blogger ... one ... who supports Galloway and everything he stands for. Sure, there's some anti-Israel sentiment out there on the Left (and even within the fringes of the Democratic party itself), but pro-Saddam? Please. There's been some lefty concern for the humanitarian effect of the embargo, but that's entirely different from supporting the government of Saddam. I'm skeptical you'd find a single blogger who supported George Galloway -- he's probably up there with Ward Churchill on the list of people who's support the American "Left" is not interested in. As for whether Galloway's victory will bring out larger nationwide anti-Muslim sentiment, I don't know. The TNR article mentions that the election has gotten pretty nasty, and that Labour thinks a lot is at stake here. But in many districts with a large Muslim minority population Labour appears to have held most of its ground among Muslims, at least based on the TV broadcast I watched. It's a bit too early to try and figure out what happened among the Muslim minority population.

The Dean-bashing? It's been 15 months since the Iowa caucuses. Do we really need to keep piling on?

This sort of guilt-by-association between mainstream members of the party and the lunatic fringe are a game you play with the opposition, not your own party.

Election results in the UK are almost entirely in, and it would appear that the Labour party has won a third term as majority government, albeit with a much reduced majority. I've got several quick notes, with no overarching theme:

The big winners from the 2005 election are the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems increased their vote share to 22.4% of the electorate from 19.4%. Conservatives gained a bit of ground in the overall vote, moving from 31.7% to 32.1%. Labour also lost ground, dropping from 40.7% to 35.2%. Fringe parties increased their vote share from 9.3%% to 10.5%. In Parliament, the Lib Dems have 22% more seats than before, while the Tories have gained 20%, many of which are thanks to an increased protest vote for Lib Dems that threw Labour seats to the Conservatives.

The UK press is, put simply, brutal. I don't think the Labour party deserves a free pass, but every Labour MP who's interviewed is asked a question along the line of "how does it feel to get a good kicking from the electorate? Do you think the British people have stopped trusting you?" Conservatives are asked the questions that roughly correspond to "is your party ever going to win the government again? Ever?" And they continue to haggle for the answer they want to hear. Blech.

It was refreshing to hear at least a little candor from Labour candidates who lost; many of whom basically admitted that the Iraq war and general distrust of Blair brought them down.

In his brief victory speech, Blair said he hoped that those who opposed the invasion of Iraq would look to the future and help Iraq to become a successful democracy. I agree, and wish him the best.

Were I a British voter, this is roughly the result I want. Blair's fumbling on Iraq war is a big deal for which he deserved a good kick in the pants, but on the whole the Labour government ought to keep running the show. The Tory budget is fuzzy math; the lib dems want big government for the sake of big government and don't care as much about accountability in government services.

I have to imagine that the Labour backbenchers, who now have considerably more voting strength, will put Gordon Brown in Number 10 Downing Street in rather short order.

The BBC's "swingometer" is really funny, mostly because it's called a "swingometer" (<austin powers>yeah, baby, yeah</austin powers>). And the guy who's pitching it cracks me up more than Dan "this race is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O" Rather.

Can anyone explain why Brits insist on using the term "majority" when they really mean "margin of victory"? The former is clearly incorrect usage, at least here in the States.

The declaration ceremonies are goofy -- the guy with the chain, the ribbons, etc.. House races in the US should be like that -- it'd make for better television.

The UK is really white. Whiter than Seattle. I wasn't sure that was possible.

Update: Now that the full returns are in, I've changed the first bullet to match actual figures.

Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 12:56 07 May 2005
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British Invasion Now Playing: Ms Jade / Girl Interrupted / Feel the Girl

British Invasion
Now Playing: Ms Jade / Girl Interrupted / Feel the Girl