Coalition Government defeats in the Commons

I've stumbled across a great article on another blog which lists the Commons defeats that the Coalition has had. You can find it here. I lists 10, and crucially makes the connection with the defeats that actually happened through a vote (eg, Syria) with the changes in policy that a large number of rebellious MPs forced on the Government without going for a vote (eg House of Lords reform & boundary changes). By contrast, the Wikipedia page which lists defeats of the government only shows 3 for the coalition.

Bagehot in the Economist has a great article about the rebelliousness of Conservative MPs here.

Picking Sarah Palin Undermined McCain’s ‘Country First’ - by Louis J. Sutton

There is a lot I admire about John McCain. Following his presidential campaign as well as reflecting on him since brings up some honourable achievements.  Along with being a war veteran, McCain most notably defended Obama against racial abuse from audience members in a town hall style meeting. He also showed immense reluctance to run a ‘negative campaign’ against Barrack Obama. More recently he has been pushing for a motion to reduce the importance of money in political elections, something Obama seems to be neglecting, as well as encouraging good bipartisan relationships between the two parties.

Despite this, the announcement of Sarah Palin as his running mate on the 29^th of August 2008 has nothing admirable about it.

Why did John McCain pick Sarah Palin?

In my mind, his choice had everything to do with the campaign and not even remotely related to ‘country first’, his own campaign slogan. Strategically, Palin was near perfect. She drew in Hilary supporters and gave the Republican Party a female friendly face, meanwhile appealing to the Tea Party and the right-wing of the GOP. Up until her expensive clothing scandal, Palin had given out the image as an everyday hockey mum people could relate to; almost ideal.

However, when thinking about a VP choice, a nominee must consider how they offer not only a strategic advantage in the campaign, but expertise in the white house, McCain neglected the latter. Although some seem Palin's gaffes as simple mistakes, I think when compiled it becomes clear she wasn’t up the job.

This was the conclusion given to McCain by those vetting Palin for VP.

"Democrats upset at McCain's anti-Obama 'celebrity' advertisements will mock Palin as an inexperienced beauty queen whose main national exposure was a photo-spread in Vogue in February 2008. Even in campaigning for governor, she made a number of gaffes, and the Anchorage Daily News expressed concern that she often seemed 'unprepared or over her head' in a campaign run by a friend."

The vetting process was evidently brief as it fails to mention her significant lack of foreign policy knowledge, something Joe Biden excelled at. These Clips should show her utter lack of understanding about Foreign Policy.

Although I acknowledge that the vetting process was brief and that with prior knowledge Palin would not have been on his ticket I still see it as utterly irresponsible on behalf of McCain. Not only was she weak in her understanding of foreign policy, but she would have been one step away from being the most power person in the world, something which to my eyes is inconceivable.

I must recommend the film Game Change. It gives more insights into some of her terrible blunders, while giving a good overview of the campaign process. Steve Schmidt (McCain’s operations manager during the campaign) said the film tells "the truth of the campaign”, making it definitely worth a watch.

by Louis Sutton - 1st November 2013