Labour Party (UK) Leadership Election, 2016

[Zanas]

What does Labour stand for anyway ? I see all of you all revved up against Corbyn because "OMG Labour cannot win an election while running on the loony left, we need someone responsible, moderate, reasonable and centre-leftish to win (!!!111!1!)".

So here's the story : we got someone responsible, moderate, reasonable and centre-leftish to run the PS into the 2012 election. Now he's running a hard conservative policy on pretty much everything. Is that what Labour wants ? I dunno, I'm asking, maybe it is.

[Zanas]

Come on y'all, don't be so pessimistic. We haven't got a clue what the climate will be around 2020 (except it'll be hotter), the Tories might very well sink their own ship into the ground on Brexit or anything else, Corbyn might get a little more... palatable to the general public, so stop acting like you gobble up everything the media feeds you. I'm not saying Corbyn is the best you could hope for, it seems he's not, but it also seems the membership is loyalist, and surely that is something of a certain value, isn't it ? Otherwise, let me point you to the nearest Brecht analogy : "The membership has forfeited the confidence of the Party's elite and can win it back only by redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier in that case for the Party's elite to dissolve the membership and elect another?"

[Zanas]

I will leave this here...

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[Zanas]

Smith represents politics, for the better and for the worse.

It's not as deep as that; Smith represents those who want to see Jeremy Corbyn out as Labour leader. If he represents politics then he's not very good at it.

Politics isn't always good politics.

The point is that politics is about at least trying to wield some power, to have a transformative influence on the reality around you. Corbyn doesn't give a sh*t about the reality around him. All he wants is ideological purity, even if this leads him to utter irrelevance.

Do you really think the likes of Smith want to have a transformative influence on anything relevant ? Are you that deluded ? It's a bit sad. They want power, yes, but they don't want to actually do anything of it, and they end up just reinforcing the powers already existent, as shown by the whole Hollande experience. But, ok, I realize I'm now among the most far-leftists here, so I'll dial it down a notch.

[Zanas]

FWIW, I don't think Corbyn is far-left by any definition. He's a bland keynesian at best.

[Zanas]

FWIW, I don't think Corbyn is far-left by any definition. He's a bland keynesian at best.

And what is Smith then? An evil neoliberal Blairite crypto-Thatcherist? On what basis exactly?

Mainly on the basis of trolling everyone around here. But, yeah, I've shifted to the left quite a bit in the last year or so.

[Zanas]

The next GE is in fecking 2020, gee, chill out a bit everyone. The Tories will have a great opportunity to feck up Brexit until then, and maybe the #publicopinion will start to realize that what they need right now is less neoliberalism and a bit more left-wing policies. Or not. Let's see, shall we ?

[Zanas]

What I don't think the Corbynistas fully realise is even if the Tories do screw up Brexit Labour has an Achilles heel that it is almost impossible to overcome, that is Corbyn's past. Corbyn, McDonnell and the people around them have some very unpleasant skeletons in their closet

The last Prime Minister was once a prick in a tuxedo with his dick inside a dead pig's mouth. I think skeletons in the closet can come and go...