Joseph Ir-Relax
Published:
March 27, 2014 at 2:04pm
Jo took a trip out of the office this morning, and was photographed with his aide Glenn Bedingfield (note to self: must add him to Malta Men Expo catalogue).
Look at the name of the bar behind them.
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Does Muscat cart around that tub of lard to fool us into thinking he really does go to the gym?
The Malta Today headline confirms my suspicion: this was a set-up to discredit George Abela at the end of his presidency.
They knew he was against the civil unions bill and that he wouldn’t sign it, so they timed the second reading perfectly to coincide with the end of Abela’s tenure, instead of waiting for his presidency to expire.
Then they leak the story to the press in the early morning and by late morning Joseph Muscat saddles up on his high horse effectively belittling George Abela.
Why would Muscat do this? Simple: it’s his cynical, spiteful and vengeful parting with George Abela – his version of “Hu go fik” if you will. These are qualities you do not want to see in a prime minister.
[Daphne – If that’s indeed the case, and thinking about it you are almost certainly right, then it backfired. There isn’t wide support for same-sex marriage.]
I think your suspicion is wrong.
First of all, as Daphne says, there is very little support for same-sex marriage. In fact, it’s being sneaked in under the radar. The Maltese mind has the attention span of a gnat. Our preoccupation with trivial news makes it worse. But there you go. If I had to be blunt and explain it in layman’s terms, it would be this: “Joseph Muscat ghamel ligi biex il-pufti jistghu jizzewgu.” How many of his voters would agree to THAT?
Secondly, George Abela was, is and always will be a Labour supporter. That means he supports the current Labour government. Keep your eye on the ball. These little “objections” are just distractions. Let us focus. George Abela, His Excellency the President, signed into law the central plan of Labour’s entire strategy since 2008, namely the sale of passports.
With respect, I still think that this was a PR strategy aimed at making Muscat look good and Abela bad. A clear pattern is emerging. I’ll give you one example:
FAA and others decide to hold a protest about over-development and the Government pulls a PR stunt the day before in connivance with Polidano to have a pretend enforcement action. They made a whole show of it by blockading roads using armed military personnel, etc. Polidano even went so far as to apologise for the “inconvenience” he caused the PM. Not the taxpayer, the PM! What did they actually pull down, in the end: little or nothing.
What the majority of voters think about this bill is irrelevant. The target market of this bill is gay Maltese voters and sympathisers. Judging by their reaction on Facebook, they are incensed at George Abela and lauding Joseph Muscat for his determination. This is exactly what he wanted. It is all about image crafting and nothing else.
Other target markets, who may well disagree with the civil unions bill, will be appeased by Labour through other means: push-back rhetoric, relaxing hunting regulations, handing out money to “poor families” with 23 year old men still living at their parents’ home, removing development control through the dismantling of MEPA, etc.
Don’t you realise that if Muscat looks good, then so does Abela? They’re partners in the big Labour takeover.
Just because Abela was appointed by a Nationalist government doesn’t erase his entire political career and his shameful behaviour during his tenure of the presidency, which fits right into the Labour mindset of working-class posturing and “grab while you can”.
I thought George Abela was a terrible president. However, you will recall that he fought Muscat for the leadership of the Labour Party. I’m sure they bear grudges against each other to this day.
In any case the emphasis of the strategy is on Muscat looking good. Abela looking bad is just a cynical added bonus.
Spot on H.P.
This posturing of Abela as the do-gooder never rang true with me. He’s a taker and I am sure has creamed all he could off the Presidency, for himself and all those around him. Thanks to him I have stopped making donations to he Community Chest Fund as I long lost faith that the funds were all being used directed to just causes. As far as I understand he has to this day refused to be subjected to any form of auditing process.
Furthermore Abela will continue to be a cost to our coffers for as long as he lives and considering he was relatively young when appointed president, this could be a hefty cost indeed. This was one of Gonzi’s errors of judgement I’m afraid.
As soon as the electorate wakes up to these elaborate PR stunts and learns to read through them, the whole “moviment” charade will finally deflate. But this is something the Opposition Leader should be doing already.
Was Bedingfield on the manly-man list?
Goodness, did autumn come while they were relaxing, because he seems to have lost quite a bit more from up top.
Indeed, this Bill does not have a wide public support. The PM knows this.
Most people must be silently applauding President Abela right now for his stand against a highly unpopular bill.
What a dangereous PM we have. Very soon this hatred will consume him to self-destruct. He put so much thought to hurt people. What a waste of energy.
Are those two guys shaving in solidarity with our soon-to-be-bald PM?
Don’t be insulting. Although I’m sure Bedingfield can take it on the chin, all four of them.
Is that a Sumo wrestler?
Oh no, it’s Glen Bingeing-field!
The President has redeemed himself after all the gaffes he committed during his tenure of office. Remember that he was caught lying when he said that he had only been given the “Speech from the Throne” a few minutes before. And what about the Euro2m he committed to Darlene’s clinic from the MCCF?
Din gdida li ma jridx jiffirmaha l-ligi.
Mela meta jrid, jista ma jiffirmax?
Kellu jkun Tarzan biex jifhem il-punt centrali hawnhekk.
Prosit. Kultant veru l-gherf titghalmu fil-foresta ekwatorjali.
George Abela’s moral objections at the end of his term is a farce. If he really values family values he should have also objected to signing the Divorce Bill when he was mid way into his term of his presidency.
And precisely because there isn’t wide support for same-sex marriage that the President should not have abdicated his responsibility to defend the right of a minority group in our society.
Now we have to live with the new san Anton incumbent ……..’jahasra mela le….. naghtu d-dritt lill-dawn l-imsieken fostna li bhalna xi darba jew ohra jissewgu.