German Federal Elections 2013

Are there any good (neutral) sites you recommend that cover the elections? Otherwise I'll continue to read Die Welt.
 
Maybe some mod of sort can do some impressive magic and teleport the other posts here ... ;)

One of the highlights of the election so far, has to be the Liberals (FDP) using the same stock family foodtage for an advertisment as the NeoNazis (NPD) and a finnish curd cheese before.

http://www.focus.de/politik/deutsch...fdp-npd-und-finnischen-quark_aid_1083041.html

Phila said:
Are there any good (neutral) sites you recommend that cover the elections? Otherwise I'll continue to read Die Welt.
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Well, "neutral" is always the tricky bit - in my experience all german newspapers and internetsites tend to have some bias, some more, some less ... if it?s neutrality you want, you are prob better off reading non-german media ...

Personally, I prefer S?ddeutsche Zeitung over die Welt ... but that is personal preference.

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narf said:
Not sure what this means :dunno:

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Well, obviously you?re pretty happy as to where this ship is heading ...
 
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narf said:
Not sure what this means :dunno:
[his Wahl-O-Mat result]
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Well.... do you really want to know? ;) :p

Here is mine:

Wahlomat.png


More MLPD than SPD or Greens? Oops. The rest is pretty much as I expected.
It's closer than I thought.
 
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... the highest number the wahl-o-mat is giving me seems to be narf's mid-field at 69% :p anyhoo... no surprises for me at any point and nothing that'll change my decision.
 
How much shit are us PIGS going to hear from you populist politicians so that they content the lower common denominator (milions of people) of their electorate?
 
Jimi Hendrix said:
How much shit are us PIGS going to hear from you populist politicians so that they content the lower common denominator (milions of people) of their electorate?
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You're not really an issue at the moment. The word "crisis" would spoil Mommy's "We're doing GREAT and it's because of ME!" campaign, so it's hardly used these days. After the election, who knows...
 
from over there:

MacGuffin said:
Why do you think we don't have a choice? Do you really believe nobody could do it better than Angie? Even the Muppets could come up with a better government...
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I certainly do believe that someone could do it better than her, but who that someone is does elude me. The SPD has stooped to asking Schr?der for help, a man whose ideals are neither social - much like Merkel's CDU is an "SPD light", his SPD was a "CDU light" - nor democratic ("lupenreiner Demokrat"). The Greens are desperate for issues to campaign on, otherwise they (hopefully) wouldn't have made that "Veggie Day" blunder that BL?D et al milked for all it was worth and much more. As for The Left, they still haven't renewed their personnel and I simply cannot bring myself to voting for the party of Gregor Gysi.
 
Ok, let`s talk personel for a moment. I like Merkel. I generally like her calm style of leadership. The only time I wished for her to deviate from that path was when she IMO should have kicked von Guttenberg so hard out of office that he?d reach a stable orbit ...
But as a Person and as a head of state comandrette in chief :D, I like her. It?s more her coalitions politics that I have a problem with.
Talking other Ministers that IMO do a good job: Westerwelle - since he?s not the leader of the liberal party anymore, he really shines in his role. I really, really disliked him before as the "Liberal posterboy", but as a minister for foreign affairs I think he?s very good ...
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and von der Leyen I also like. Both showed character when they stood up against their parties and coalition when there were policies they opposed.

But some good personel does not change that this metaphorical ship needs a course correction IMO. Not 180? or so, things are not that bad. But we are going into the wrong direction on some matters and the course corrections some of the current opposition propose seem quite good to me.
 
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Interrobang said:
I like Merkel. I generally like her calm style of leadership.
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I do also appreciate calmness, but she combines it with ice-cold power politics. Remember how she ended Wulff's, R?ttgen's and Guttenberg's careers?

Wulff was becoming too popular, but since he was an accomplished state PM, she couldn't kill him off like Guttenberg. So he had to be promoted away - no matter the cost. And that is exactly what happened. As for R?ttgen, well, if that doesn't show you the consequences of disappointing "Mommy", I don't know what will. As for Guttenberg, she watched him dig his own grave; a grave so deep he chose to leave the continent after his political funeral.

This "Ich Chef, du nix!" approach of hers is completely at odds with my idea of democracy. It was less bad in her first years as chancellor because the SPD wasn't as easy to push around as her own party and the neoliberals, but who can tell what might happen if we get another "grand coalition"?

Interrobang said:
Talking other Ministers that IMO do a good job: Westerwelle - since he?s not the leader of the liberal party anymore, he really shines in his role.
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Could you expain what you mean? I've heard very little from him, so it was easy to ignore the man.

Interrobang said:
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and von der Leyen I also like
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I get the former, but I'm afraid you'll need to explain the latter. Which of her policies do you like? I remember her most vividly for her complete incompetence in online matters, but perhaps she did achieve something good that I missed. As for "stood up against their parties", that alone doesn't quite cut it. It depends entirely on what you stand up against (or for).

Interrobang said:
But some good personel does not change that this metaphorical ship needs a course correction IMO. Not 180? or so, things are not that bad. But we are going into the wrong direction on some matters and the course corrections some of the current opposition propose seem quite good to me.
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We need less fearmongering, a more functional state and more honesty. The first won't happen with the CDU/CSU in charge. The second won't happen with the FDP in the coalition. The third won't happen unless, by some miracle, we get a politically suicidal government that reveals how bad unemployment, poverty and social inequality really are in this country - and not censor the respective reports until their published contents are the opposite of the real ones.
 
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calvinhobbes said:
Wulff was becoming too popular, but since he was an accomplished state PM, she couldn't kill him off like Guttenberg. So he had to be promoted away - no matter the cost. And that is exactly what happened.
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First time I hear that to be honest, will have to think about it some more ...
As for R?ttgen, well, if that doesn't show you the consequences of disappointing "Mommy", I don't know what will. As for Guttenberg, she watched him dig his own grave; a grave so deep he chose to leave the continent after his political funeral.
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Guttenberg especially and R?ttgen deserved what they got. Like I said, I think Guttenberg even got away too easy. And R?ttgen single-handedly lost the NRW elections for the CDU. What do you think he deserved for that?

Could you expain what you mean? I've heard very little from him, so it was easy to ignore the man.
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Well, he used to be the annoying chief Liberal in every talk show talking about reducing taxes. Since he?s not in charge of the Party anymore he appears quite the statesman IMO. What does a Minister for foreign affairs do? Talk a lot. In forgeign countries, to their leaders, to their press, then to us/our press ... and he does that well. It?s not like he has achieved peace in the middle east or so, but he?s managed to find what is IMO the right tone, representing the country abroad etc ...

Which of her policies do you like? I remember her most vividly for her complete incompetence in online matters, but perhaps she did achieve something good that I missed. As for "stood up against their parties", that alone doesn't quite cut it. It depends entirely on what you stand up against (or for).
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Yes, the online matters stuff was pretty stupid. But she has also done stuff that went quite well IMO. The "Bildungskarte", while only little used by those intended for - is a good idea no less. Back in her first term she also allowed for children to be used by authorities to do "test-buys" of alcohol etc to see whether shops follow the regulations on alcohol and stuff. I thought that was a good idea too. And she strongly opposed the "Betreuungsgeld" (wich is the bit where she opposed her party and coalition) ... wich I also oppose and she always argued for child care instead as an instrument of making it possible for women to pursue family and career ... rather than giving them money to stay at home.
 
The televised debate was an emberassment for TV's political journalists, for Mutti Merkel, and to a lesser extent for Peer Steinbr?ck. Everyone expected Steinbr?ck to suck much more than Merkel, but in the end, he was on par with all the other suckers around him.

I don't think his performance was good (or not bad) enough to swing the popular opinion around, but I think Mutti Merkel is in for much more of a fight than she thought.

And he left the door wider open for red-red-green than he did for a great coalition, which I think is a good thing, but from a campaign strategy and from a "where this country is heading" point of view.

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Wow, I did not expect that:


(I'd have thought Die Linke first, SPD or Piraten second, followed by the Greenies - but what is even more shocking is that I seem to have more in common with Neo-Nazi nutjobs than with Mutti Merkel - must be the "social" part of "national socialism").

EDIT: A 81.8% match with BIG (the party of the Turkish minority in Germany) and a 75% match with the MLPD makes me feel better about my leftist credentials.
 
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Dr_Grip said:
The televised debate was an emberassment for TV's political journalists [...]
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Why? Because it was the Entertainer on stage that delivered the best punchlines? Yes, Raab was not constructive but rather destructive - but with experienced politicians like that, that?s pretty much the only way to actually get some anwsers out of them. I liked him stirring things up a bit.

I didn?t think Steinbr?ck sucked that much, I thought he did much better than Merkel. But then I?m prob not that Left* as you are and welcomed the moderation on some of the economic topis more. And during the beginning of the debate it really was awful how they refused to answer the actual questions. But that changed later on. To me it did not feel like I?ve wasted my time with this. I like to think I actually learned a thing or two about the candidates and what they stand for.

* this actually shows the opposite :D
 
Interrobang said:
Why? Because it was the Entertainer on stage that delivered the best punchlines? Yes, Raab was not constructive but rather destructive - but with experienced politicians like that, that?s pretty much the only way to actually get some anwsers out of them. I liked him stirring things up a bit.
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I agree with that. The only problem I had with Raab is that he did not tackle Merkel as much as he could have. But then, I am a bit biased against her. But he saved the night.

But no one tried to stop Merkel from drowning on and on without ever coming to a point. No one had the guts to simply cut her off and tell her that she's massively overstretching her allocated debate time - this would not have happend in an American debate. In fact, Anne Will and Maybritt Illner played loyal servants to Mutti Merkel, handing her questions that basically were cues for her "Everything is great"-statements, while nonstop attacking Steinbr?ck. At the same time, Peter Kl?ppel was barely there at all.

Interrobang said:
I didn?t think Steinbr?ck sucked that much, I thought he did much better than Merkel. But then I?m prob not that Left* as you are and welcomed the moderation on some of the economic topis more. And during the beginning of the debate it really was awful how they refused to answer the actual questions. But that changed later on.
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Don't get me wrong, I am a card-carrying SPD member and vote Die Linke out of frustration with the SPD.
But never the less, Steinbr?ck sucked quite bad. Not compared to Merkel, he made a way better impression than her, in my book, but compared to, say, Schr?der.
 
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