The pn could have distanced itself and the bloggers could still continue with their point of view. That would be real freedom of speech in action. No blogger should be beholden to political parties direction .

Political parties in healthy democracies can and do distance themselves from commentators when a comment can be perceived as injurious to that political party.Value judgments are a fact of life. The distancing itself should not and generally is not construed and should not be seen to condition the commentator. Especially in healthy democracies where freedom of speech is paramount. It would be the decision of the commentator to either continuing to pursue their point or else choose to be conditioned. Perception ,although often wrong will still contribute to peoples life decisions, in this context voting.If a number have a perception, however wrong it may be, it is still a problem for the political party that the perception exists. No scientific evidence based analysis is ever going to change that.

Discuss.

But people EXPECT Labour to be corrupt. That’s the whole point. They also expect favours from the PN and expect it to be immaculate, and cannot see the giant contradiction in this.

This election has been an eye-opener. I used to think a majority of the electorate voted for EU membership because they wanted a European way of life. I was wrong. Only a minority did. The same minority, give or take, that voted PN this time round. The others just wanted to cash in. When they didn’t, they turned home to mama. Home to Labour, where they belong in the head and in the heart.

P.S. That report is utter crap. I could have done much better.

I’ll go as far as saying that the PN can never win against this lot precisely because it has no Daphnes in its ranks.

God, if it had half a dozen men and women with that clarity of thought, that laser-beam language and that active brain, it would have swept the field with the numpters on the other side. Daphne’s on MY dream team, and no mistake.

Daphne was the only sane voice in a sea of darkness and madness, and still is.

I’m not sure whether there were people who voted Labour because of Daphne (sounds stupid), but I’m sure there were people who voted Labour after Gonzi took so long to discipline and control the trio of rebels.

The PN looked weak and this caused us to enter in election campaign mode for at least 18 months. People became sick of politics and were eager for change.

In my opinion it would be a good thing if the PN commission would read these comments. I’m sure there is more to learn here than from the comments they received.

Well said, Daphne. My thoughts exactly.