Portugal 2009

[Bono]

I am definitely not happy, but if you knew the sort of authoritarian antics the socialist government has been up to you wouldn't be either, trust me.

By the way, your description of CDS as "ultra-religious conservatives" is hilariously over the top. They're just a run-of-the-mill christian-democratic party.

I'll be voting for them, incidentally, since the current PSD leadership is possibly the most incompetent in its history and the current leader less charismatic than Walter Veltroni. Think Tories circa 2002.

[Bono]

This poll isn't surprising. It's looking like the PSD will destroy himself and there is no alternative to the PS. The leaders of the PSD are a joke and why should the people vote for this party when they make war against each other.

All people who says the PS government isn't good and not really socialistic, they will voting for the Communist Party/CDU (this is the authoritarian part of the far-left) or the Bloque Esquerda (this is the more libertarian part of the far-left). I think in the next election the PS don't get more than 50% of the seats, but they are the strongest power in the parlament and nothing is possible without the PS.

The CDS/PP isn't a Christian Democratic Party. I think Bono isn't right. The CDS/PP is a mixture of a ultraconservative catholic Party and a neo-liberal Party(like a ultra-FDP). I think that's not a good combination and this is the reason the never get more than 10%.

I speak not about things I haven't knowing. My father is from Portugal and I'm well informed about politics in Portugal. It's better like my English.

Hans, the current CDS leader, who is supposedly a member of its "liberal" wing, recently proposed abolishing co-payments in the National Health Service--note that these co-payments are something ridiculous as 10€ for a specialist visit, and half the people are already exempt anyway. If this is an "ultra-liberal" FDP analogue, then I'm sad for the state of liberalism in Europe.

[Bono]

CDS always underpolls.

There were polls putting them at 2% for the European elections, and look how that turned out. In fact, Portas raised a huge fuss about it and complained to the president about it.

[Bono]

Well, I certianly think a PS-BE coalition is in the works, as shown by a recent shenanigan where the Block leader went defending a minister from some PSD attacks. That said, there's no official word about it, which is natural given that they don't want to scare center voters with the idea that they might want to share power with Trotskists.

A grand coalition has been done before when the two parties hated each other more; but in this case, the only way it'll be done is without Socrates, since he has acted in such a way towards the opposition during his tenure that no one would want to govern with him. So, it'd have to be a PSD-led grand coalition. That said, it's not anyone's favorite resolution.

[Bono]

I'll take the test in a minute, but I thought I'd report the huge scandal that broke recently.

One of our private TV networks, TVI, was recently bought by Spanish conglomerate PRISA, which is known for its closeness to the PSOE.

The Evening News on TVI had broke news related to a corruption scandal involving the licensing of a Freeport shopping mall when Sócrates was environment ministry, and it was to release new compromising documents again today, before having had its anchor fired, reportedly by an order coming directly from the PRISA CEO.

The other newspeople at the station resigned in solitary, and a huge scandal broke out regarding media pressures; the opposition had been pressing the topic of the climate of fear the PS has been fomenting, and this only adds fuel to the fire, especially coming in on the heels of accusations by a private company president connected to the PSD of pressures from the PS with threats of governmental retaliation.

[Bono]

CDS 63.9%
PSD 54.6%
PCP 45.4%
PS 38.9%
BE 36.1%


LOL at having the commies ahead of the PS. Probably because of my answers on the EU.

[Bono]

Fools, I told you CDS always underpolls. There is no PS-BE majority, but there is a PS-CDS one. It wouldn't be the first time it happened.

[Bono]

It is. Since you insist, it's anti-clerical country. The land of large landowners, agricultural workers and a much more collectivist spirit than the north. It's like

Andalusia before irrigation, tourism and retirees.

Plus, Évora in particular is a university town.