Lib Dems unveil election slogan

We could learn a few lessons from the Liberal Democrats! BTW, Charles Kennedy did his graduate work at Indiana University.


Mr Kennedy said people want a
"credible, principled political party"

Last Updated: Saturday, 5 March, 2005, 13:35 GMT

Lib Dems unveil election slogan

The Liberal Democrats will present themselves as "the real alternative" in the forthcoming general election campaign, Charles Kennedy has said.
Unveiling the slogan at the party's spring conference, he said there was no "glass ceiling" to its ambitions.

He told delegates that Labour had abused the public's trust and that the Tories had failed to oppose them.

In response, the Conservatives insisted that theirs was the party that understood the "forgotten majority".

'Stand up'

Speaking in Harrogate Mr Kennedy said: "People want a credible, principled political party which offers a different vision of what Britain can be."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4320483.stm

The LibDems are NOT a party of the left, by any stretch of the imagination. When I was in Local Government in the UK, the LibDem group on my District Council was WELL to the right of Labour on economic policy, judicial matters and attitudes to immigration.

And don't forget, although they try to sell themselves as the "Anti-War Party," they SUPPORTED the Iraq war vociferously, once it had started and appeared to have the support of the public.

Meanwhile, a lot of their front-liners, with Charles Kennedy's blessing, are working for a further swing to the right.

A group of prominent Liberal Democrats have called for the party to shift to a more pro-market, less regulative agenda in a new book.
The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism features a series of essays by frontbench spokesmen and would-be MPs.
They call for choice and private sector innovation in public services and the "repatriation" of some EU powers.
Welcomed by leader Charles Kennedy, the book is being seen by some as a move to the right to attract Tory voters.
But Lib Dem Treasury spokesman David Laws, who co-edited the book, told BBC Radio 4's World at One the arguments were "not about making a pitch to Conservative voters".
"It's about making a pitch to all of the voters in this country," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3621340.stm

The Skin

i always thought they were like a green party with more pull than the US counterpart

The LibDems had the power to block or amend Bliar's latest attack on human rights. And they didn't. I know we weren't happy with how the US Democrats voted on the Homeland Security Bill but at least a quarter of them didn't stay at home.

Last week, The Observer attacked th government's 'deeply flawed and illiberal' control orders. They were passed on Monday with a majority of 14 in the House of Commons and Britain is one step nearer to being a country where citizens can be detained for crimes not yet committed, without knowing the charges against them. It cannot even be guaranteed that information on detainees obtained from other countries has not been extracted by torture. This is made necessary, we are told, by a state of crisis judged by government alone.
Rhetoric ran high from all political parties.

However, more than 150 MPs did not vote, including 16 Liberal Democrats (Charles Kennedy was one), so allowing the bill through. Nor were the Tories there in full strength. Furthermore, if all Labour members who had rebelled at some stages of the bill, had done so in the crucial vote, that alone might have changed the outcome.

Rest at:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,6903,1431513,00.html

The Skin

:bounce:

The real alternative to Blair and the Tories!

Liberal Democrats have called for a UK withdrawal from Iraq.

'No glass ceilings' on poll ambitions, says Kennedy

Matthew Tempest, political correspondent in Harrogate
Saturday March 5, 2005

Charles Kennedy today told his party to campaign equally against both Labour and the Conservatives so there would be no "glass ceilings" on how many new MPs the Liberal Democrats could win at the next election.

Dubbing his party "the real alternative" to the government and the "real opposition" - as opposed to the Tories who he accused of "flip-flopping" on major issues - Mr Kennedy confidently told a 1,000 strong audience at the party's Harrogate spring conference that the party would win "more votes and more seats" at a likely May 5 poll.

So buoyant is party activists' expectations for the coming election that senior Liberal Democrats were mingling in the hotels of Harrogate last night warning that the election would be "highly volatile and regional" and trying to downplay suggestions that a high national vote for the third party would necessarily translate into a massive boost in the party's current tally of 55 MPs.

But Mr Kennedy - with just eight weeks today until a likely election - told delegates: "More votes, more seats - beyond that no glass ceilings to our ambitions."

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/libdems/story/0,9061,1431165,00.html

hope you win big time!

:kick:

Blair is described as a problem for Labor by The Guardian, Murdoch might withdraw his rags' support, and the probable attempted assassination of Mrs. Sgrena will set Europe on fire--including Airstrip One.