We Fucked Everything Up, But We Know How To Win Elections!!!

[kpete]

We Fucked Everything Up, But We Know How To Win Elections!!!
That was (New) Labour's narrative for the past 5 years. Weird that it didn't work?

They didn't fuck everything up. They can be blamed (somewhat) for the financial crisis, but spending all the tax money had nothing to do with the financial crisis. Tony Blair is basically a sociopathic monster, but aside from the obvious bad things his government did a lot of good. That crowd wants credit for winning, no credit for the actual good stuff, and no blame for the genuine bad stuff. It's truly weird. The Tory's are totally right about what we did wrong, but we know how to win elections as long as we listen to the Tories!!!

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2015/09/we-fucked-everything-up-but-we-know-how.html

Labour’s Dead Center
by Paul Krugman

In short, the whole narrative about Labour’s culpability for the economic crisis and the urgency of austerity is nonsense. But it is nonsense that was consistently reported by British media as fact. And all of Mr. Corbyn’s rivals for Labour leadership bought fully into that conventional nonsense, in effect accepting the Conservative case that their party did a terrible job of managing the economy, which simply isn’t true. So as I said, Mr. Corbyn’s triumph isn’t that surprising given the determination of moderate Labour politicians to accept false claims about past malfeasance.

This still leaves the question of why Labour’s moderates have been so hapless. Consider the contrast with the United States, where deficit scolds dominated Beltway discourse in 2010-2011 but never managed to dictate the terms of political debate, and where mainstream Democrats no longer sound like Republicans-lite. Part of the answer is that the U.S. news media haven’t been as committed to fiscal fantasies, although that just pushes the question back a step.

Beyond that, however, Labour’s political establishment seems to lack all conviction, for reasons I don’t fully understand. And this means that the Corbyn upset isn’t about a sudden left turn on the part of Labour supporters. It’s mainly about the strange, sad moral and intellectual collapse of Labour moderates.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/14/opinion/paul-krugman-labours-dead-center.html

[MisterP]

1. it's like the decade of "winning is what's important, you silly hippies and Naderites" while they

torpedoed candidates who wouldn't play the game and didn't even want to get too many seats because then they'd be asked to pass policies that'd crack the cash flow

remember, they can ask for even more from the donors if they lose, and play the underdog and make voters promises that haven't yet been undone by their own behavior

[KoKo]

2. In Upset, Socialist Jeremy Corbyn Elected as U.K. Labour Leader on Antiwar, Pro-Refugee Platform

In Upset, Socialist Jeremy Corbyn Elected as U.K. Labour Leader on Antiwar, Pro-Refugee Platform

Longtime British socialist MP Jeremy Corbyn has just been elected leader of the opposition Labour Party after running on an antiwar, anti-austerity platform. When Corbyn first announced his candidacy three months ago, oddsmakers put his odds of winning at 200 to one. But on Saturday, Corbyn won in a landslide, receiving 59 percent of the vote. He will succeed Ed Miliband, who quit after the Conservatives retained power in May’s election. Corbyn addressed supporters at a victory celebration on Saturday. "Let us be a force for change in the world, a force for humanity in the world, a force for peace in the world, and a force that recognizes we cannot go on like this, with grotesque levels of global insecurity, grotesque threats to our environment all around the world, without the rich and powerful governments stepping up to the plate to make sure our world becomes safer and better," said Corbyn during his victory speech. Corbyn then left the celebration to attend the RefugeesWelcome rally in London.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Britain, where a longtime socialist MP, Jeremy Corbyn, has just been elected leader of the opposition Labour Party after running on an antiwar, anti-austerity, pro-refugee platform. When Corbyn first announced his candidacy three months ago, oddsmakers put the odds of his winning at 200 to one. But on Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn won in a landslide, receiving 59 percent of the vote. He’ll succeed Ed Miliband, who quit after the Conservatives retained power in the May elections. Corbyn addressed supporters at a victory celebration on Saturday.

JEREMY CORBYN: This week, the Tories will show what they’re really made of. On Monday, they have the trade union bill, designed to undermine even the ILO conventions and shackle democratic unions and destroy another element of democracy within our society. We have to oppose that. They’re also pushing the welfare reform bill, which will bring such misery and poverty to so many of the poorest in our society. I want us, as a movement, to be proud, strong and able to stand up and say, 'We want to live in a society where we don't pass by on the other side of those people rejected by an unfair welfare system; instead, we reach out to end the scourge of homelessness and desperation that so many people face in our society.’ We’re strong enough and big enough and able to do that. That is what we’re about.

There are many, many issues we face, and many people face desperation in other parts of the world. And I think it’s quite incredible the way the mood in Europe has changed over the past few weeks of understanding that people fleeing from wars, they are the victims of wars, they are the generational victims of war, they’re the intergenerational victims of war, end up in desperation, end up in terrible places, end up trying to gain a place of safety, end up trying to be—exercise their refugee rights. They are human beings just like you, just like me. Let’s deal with the refugee crisis with humanity, with support, with help, with compassion, to try to help people who are trying to get to a place of safety, trying to help people who are stuck in refugee camps, but recognize going to war creates a legacy of bitterness and problems.

More TRANSCRIPT at.....

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/9/14/in_upset_socialist_jeremy_corbyn_elected

[T_i_B]

3. The moderate left in the UK is in crisis

And worst of all, I still don't think that the Blairite wing of the Labour party has woken up to what's happened yet.