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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ManyMoose who wrote (10873)	8/13/2006 4:52:30 PM
From: sandintoes	Respond to of 71588

Or....It's the BBC, what do you expect? Profile: Spain's socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has become Spain's new prime minister after leading his party to an unexpected victory. The grandson of a Republican army officer shot during the civil war, Mr Rodriguez Zapatero joined the Socialist Party (PSOE) as a teenager in 1979. He rose through the ranks fast, and became Spain's youngest MP in 1986 - but despite this early start, he has never held ministerial office until now. His party was then in power, and united behind the charismatic Felipe Gonzalez. But by the time Mr Zapatero became PSOE leader in 2000, it was in disarray and divided. The conservative Popular Party (PP) had just won re-election, and the socialists were still tainted by the corruption scandals and sky-high unemployment that had characterised Spain under their rule. The right stuff? The 43-year-old leader is widely seen as affable and sophisticated - but some had questioned his ability to change the party's fortunes. In last year's regional elections, the socialists failed to capitalise on widespread dissatisfaction in Spain over the government's mishandling of the Prestige oil spill and Madrid's support for the war in Iraq. The PSOE won more votes than the then unpopular PP, but did not make the big gains many of its supporters had hoped for. Worse, in 2003 the PSOE lost its majority in the Madrid regional assembly - after a scandal that led some voters to suspect that the party was back to its old corrupt ways. Mr Zapatero was accused of mishandling the Madrid crisis, and has struggled to impose unity on his divided troops. Recently a senior party member criticised his decision to back the governing nationalists in Catalonia, who are pressing for a revision of the region's status. When the Iraq war was no longer foremost in voters' minds and the Popular Party was highlighting Spain's economic turnaround over the past eight years, Mr Zapatero offered more affordable housing, a massive expansion in education, state aid to spur employment, and a sympathetic ear to nationalists in Spain's regions. But following the devastating Madrid train bombings that killed at least 200 - and a videotape in which al-Qaeda allegedly said it carried out the attacks - Spanish voters turned against the Popular Party that had led the country into an unpopular war. Criticism of the way government ministers handled the initial investigation into the attacks may have lost them the election. news.bbc.co.uk

To: ManyMoose who wrote (10873)	8/15/2006 4:32:38 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

It is interesting to witness a self proclaimed leftwinger proclaiming to know what moderates are thinking and opine about the accuracy of their perceptions. ROTFHWL "McCain is a liberal. Rush Limbaugh is much closer to the heart of the Republican party than left of center John McCain. Pat Buchanan is a left-winger on the issue of freedom for the rest of the world." You, like many of your colleagues, are suggesting the sky is purple when the rest of us know its blue. Message 21065664 I hang with lefties 100% of the time Message 22711769