To all the chatterers: a refrain is not an original opinion. Stop saying the same thing because you don’t sound cool. You sound stupid.

Published: May 7, 2013 at 9:51pm

The new propaganda refrain fed into the system by the Labour Party and mindlessly repeated by the chatterers is: ‘How arrogant the Nationalist Party is, choosing Simon Busuttil when we wanted them to choose Mario de Marco. They have learned nothing.”

Repeat, repeat: they have learned nothing. Take another drink: they have learned nothing. Another bite of food: they have learned nothing.

They don’t even realise how arrogant they are, demanding that a political party for which they didn’t vote, and which they have done everything possible to undo, will choose the party leader they want, following which they will probably proceed not to vote for him anyway because by then Labour would have given them another refrain to repeat: Mario de Marco/hereditary politics/oligarchy/no change/they never learn.

I have had it up to here with empty vessels, all of whom should read Mario de Marco’s sensible piece in The Times today, especially the opening paragraph, below.

Moving the party forward
by Mario de Marco

The process to elect the new leader of the Nationalist Party will come to an end tomorrow. All that remains is the procedural, yet important confirmation by the councillors of last Saturday’s result.

I will be one of the first to go and pledge, through my vote, my support for Simon Busuttil. On Saturday, during the short speech I gave after the result was announ­ced I urged all party supporters to throw their weight behind the leader-elect. I do so again now.

The four weeks of intense campaigning were the first step in the process of reconciliation that is sorely needed in the party after five years of internal turmoil. This dissent brought pain and wasted precious energy as we strove to lead the country through troubled economic and political waters. We have an opportunity to put all that behind us.To all




21 Comments Comment

  1. TinaB says:

    Litteralment qazzuni.

    Kemm ha ddum tirrenja l-istupidagni u l-injoranza f’dan il-pajjiz imsejken?

  2. Georgie Porgy says:

    Labour did the same thing 5 years ago. Muscat was not ‘the people’s’ choice; George Abela was.

  3. catharsis says:

    Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt

  4. ciccio says:

    They have learned nothing. The peoples of Malta.

    Don’t want to be in their zarbun, which smells of the sea, the church and the sun.

    Ejja Rover, ha mmorru, because the sun it is danger.

  5. Challie says:

    I don’t think there’s anything wrong in expressing one’s preference as party leader. I personally believe that De Marco would have made a better leader.

    Simon Busuttil is great too, but his face and attitude are now associated with a losing horse, a style of politics that has failed the party.

    I really hope he can change the party and create a winning team to win the next election.

    • Pinturicchio says:

      I’m sorry but I really can’t follow your reasoning. If Simon, who became deputy leader just three months before the elections, is “now associated with a losing horse”, then how much more is Mario, who was a minister throughout the legislature and who, I hasten to add, did a great job, associated with that losing horse?

      The elves are still at it and will not stop. Let’s not fall into their trap, shall we?

    • TinaB says:

      Challie, I don’t think there’s anything wrong in expressing one’s preference as party leader, either.

      Daphne is refering to those who before used to call themselves Nationalists but who two months ago gave the power to Joseph Muscat to run our country by either voting for his party or refraining.

      Now, instead of saying mea culpa and admiting publicly how stupid they really are they keep repeating, bitching and ranting what the PL propoganda machine is feeding them when what they should actually be doing is concentrating on what and how the people they put in power themselves are busy ruining their country.

      Can one be any stupider than that?

  6. otto moll says:

    Sorry Challie, the battle was lost long before Simon entered the fray. All he could do was limit the damage done.

    • tony street says:

      exactly and give this guy a chance. They said the same thing about Cameron and well, the UK is still reaping the problems sown by Tony Blair and his methods of governing from 2002 -the way he handled the Iraqi crisis, his lies and ohh….his POOR handling of illegal immigration. Cameron had a long road ahead of him.

  7. martha says:

    @challie
    I disagree with you that Simon ‘s face and attitude are associated with a losing horse. After all he only came to the election campain in the last minute, while Mario, with all respect to him and the good work he accomplished, was part of that ”losing horse and style of politics that failed ”.

  8. MxC says:

    funny how Privy hasn`t said anything yet

  9. Kevin says:

    Someone like Simon represents a severe threat to those whose only measure of meaning lies in the “literal” and the “overt’.

    He is difficult to read and does not wear his emotions on his sleeves. He is cool, calm and collected. Simon is a thinker: he’s measured and wise.

    This throws Labourites in complete disarray because they do not understand such qualities and will never do. Their leaders and heroes are people who are generally ostentatious and loud – to Labourites these showy displays are the only things that matter.

    The more anti-Simon comments I read, the more I come to believe that he has the makings of a brilliant leader and future prime minister.

    Mario is an easier read and Labourites are used to him as a Minister. They probably feel more comfortable with and less threatened by Mario.

    Yet, both Simon and Mario are underestimated by the Labour public. Interesting turn of events.

  10. J. Borg says:

    Mario is a proper gent — in fact all four of the contestants for the leadership showed that there are still people one can look up to in politics in this country.

    I wish they could all be rolled into one — but failing that, that they will all rally behind Simon Busuttil, and that he will use their energy and many positive qualities to bring the people back to their party, and the party back to its people.

  11. nutmeg says:

    Meanwhile, the rest of the country is preoccupied with what this administration has not learned from the ones preceding it.

  12. TROY says:

    Simon is a sleeping GIANT, which will soon be woken up.
    We all know the saying.

  13. T.M. says:

    Dear Daphne, they won the election by refrains, not by reason or logic.

  14. Joe says:

    Both Simon and Mario have good leadership skills, and both are suited to lead.

    The question was whether the PN should have brought in a complete outsider from the last election (not Simon or Mario), or not. A complete outsider means somebody who did not have a direct involvement in the last election.

Leave a Comment