Germany's Social Democrats are polling ahead of Merkel's bloc for the first time in 15 years

[DFW]

5. That's like saying Americans preferred Joe Biden over the Democratic Party

Merkel WAS from the conservative party. She just had so much common sense and compassion that she was a true conservative rather than a right wing nut case. They radical right can CALL themselves "conservative" all they want, but that's like saying that wading into the ocean makes you a fish. You can call yourself a fish, but it still won't give you gills.

They preferred Merkel over the extremists of the right and left, and the incompetence of the center-left. With good reason, I might add. But now that her party has shown itself incapable or unwilling to nominate a successor who would carry on in her vein, they are slowly dropping into the wishy-washy mass of professional politicians with no idea of what it is like to make your living out there in the real world. They have about four weeks to clean up their act, which I think is not enough time. They might give the election to the SPD by default, and for the sole reason that the SPD's candidate presents a less befuddled figure than the CDU's candidate. Believe me, half a year after the election next month, the Germans, no matter who wins, will be cursing their choice, and begging Merkel to come out of retirement. Fat chance. The next time she gets invited to give the commencement speech at Harvard, she might just decide to stay there.