The pen is mightier than the sword!

Lou at one point started blinking his eyes – probably he came to know a bit more about orphanages and felt sorry for the poor guy in front of him yesterday evening.

These loyal politicians who make it to the top do it the hard way. They go out to get new voters to the party and make clean campaigns, to get elected in our parliament.

Does anyone remember Michael Frendo’s 1996 case, instigated by Dr Sant as “the bus ticketing scandal”? With that mud-slinging the hardworking Dr Frendo was out of the electoral race.

Some of his colleague candidates in his district gave Sant a helping hand with rumours to poach those precious votes.

Lino Spiteri was another victim of political underhand tactics, even though he was a beam of hope to the majority of MLP delegates.

He was the front runner for his party’s leadership race and mathematically he was the sure winner until a certain MC wrote an anonymous letter against Lino which was distributed to the party delegates before the election.

A certain Paul also cast an abundant number of Sant votes in the presence of the party marshal Nestu.

In the fifth district, the PN’s Hermann Schiavone was about to be a winning horse in the 2003 election after years of hard work and campaigning, but was nipped in the bud by some opponent in his same party (probably) with another infamous anonymous letter sent to his party Leadership and probably the newspapers and the MLP.

He was asked not to contest that election, probably to avoid a “scandal” campaign a la’ Alfred Sant at the eleventh hour of the election.

The MLP call them “Terrinati” after the nickname of Ettore Bruno, who just before an election in the 1920s said under oath in court that as a waiter he saw Gerald Strickland wearing the Freemason’s apron at the Marsamxett Lodge.

The thing is that our politicians have to be on the lookout against members of their own party as well as those of the rival party, who want their seat of power: Joe Cuschieri’s was taken by Joseph Muscat, Lino’s by Alfred Sant, Herman’s by Franco Debono and Strickland’s by Il-Gross.

Not all floating voters, but the vast majority who realise that in truth there is no alternative to PN, but are unhappy with the state of affairs in some areas of the current administration.

Consequently their most likely decision in the forthcoming elections will be to ‘punish’ the PN by abstaining, or worse still vote Labour “halli naghtuhom chance.” Now with Franco and JPO on board…

Malta can benefit with an extra seat but he needs to form a working relationship with David Casa and Simon Busuttil.

Why should they attract the vote of the ‘floaters’?

Don’t bet on it. To contest the elections for the PN, Pullicino Orlando would have to defend/praise the PN and attack the PL.

Labour voters would immediately turn against him.

They only make a show of supporting him because they hope he might bring down the government. Otherwise they have no use for him, or for Franco Debono, for that matter.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20111025/local/Debono-softens-stand.390650