I suppose you can’t really blame Labour. Once you get over the squalid feeling you get the first time you demean yourself and snuggle up with someone who has no claim to fame other than betraying the party that got him elected in the first place, then, from there on in, there’s no holding you back.
Disclaimer, incidentally, I’m writing this before Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando met the Prime Minister on Thursday, so I’ve no idea whether by now Labour’s Lil’Elves are rejoicing because he’s totally ratted out or they’re down in the dumps because he’s sworn undying fealty after having been brought to his senses by the total and utter defeat that was visited on him, not least due to the fact that Labour left him swinging in the mind, callously and, I suspect, with malice aforethought.
As I said, I’ve no idea and, frankly, I don’t give much of a toss because we’re in end-game now whichever way you slice it, which, of course, is no surprise to anyone except aforesaid Lil’Elves, who seem to have knack of seeing everything from the terminally limited viewpoint of someone with the intelligence of a severely stupid stone.
Quite a number of people I know got an e-mail from His Sublime Leadership last week and it made amusing reading, not least because it was sent to folk who would poke out their eye with a rusty fork rather than vote for that opportunistic coven of smug cynics.
It started out with the usual disingenuous claptrap we’ve become used to (you see it on the Facebook pages of Labour’s bright and beautiful). Quoth, the bright young thing: “While Lawrence Gonzi is busy squabbling with his PN colleagues, our movement is focusing on the country’s future”. This prompts nasty people like me to say: “Yeah, sure you are, by feeding some poor sap a bunch of lies and sitting back making stupid remarks like that”.
We go on to hear about the exciting new policies that Labour has put forward as part of the road map for economic growth to give a better life to all Maltese people. So that’s any filthy foreigner out of it, for a start, which must give the racists a warm and fuzzy feeling.
These policies, exciting and new as they are, include the following.
New and exciting policy number one: a guarantee that every young person will have a job, education or training. Don’t hold your breath waiting on how this new and exciting policy is going to be achieved because you’ll likely expire. For all I know, he’s thinking of creating labour battalions.
We then get a promise to commission social impact assessments before taking major economic decisions. So exciting is this new policy (even though the word “new” seems to have taken on a new meaning, since this is what is always done) that I’m told that the youths of Paceville cancelled all party events and had earnest roundtable discussions, moderated by members of Pulse and Graffiti, to review the implications of this particular statement of the ruddy obvious.
And so we move on to the third policy, that of getting a better deal for people with disabilities, and their families, giving them peace of mind for the future. Obviously, this is a policy with which no one would quarrel but since it is that obvious, it didn’t need to be said, for all that it would behove the government to remember that more could be done for people with special needs.
The brutal reality, though, is that, in many cases, peace of mind for the future, at least in the sense that Joseph Muscat was implying, isn’t a viable proposition because there are severe limitations on what can actually be done. That said, there’s no excuse for not doing everything possible and more.
I still get the feeling, though, that Labour will say anything and promise anything to everyone and her sister if it will put the government in a bad light, which is the way Labour seems to think it will gain favour with the electorate. If you look at the way they’ve gone about things for the last four years, at least, you will see what I mean: not a single opportunity has been let slip to make the government look bad and, at the same time, imply a promise that whoever is having a whine, be it a hunter, a racist, someone with a real gripe, the usual whingers, whoever, will have heaven on earth when Dr Muscat trips daintily up the steps of Castille.
To my mind, they brought themselves out in their true colours over the last couple of weeks, though. The way I read it, Labour, and Dr Muscat in particular, fed Dr Pullicino Orlando, who seems to have decided to abdicate logical thought in favour of visceral reaction, with a shed-load of prestidigitation, shallow innuendo, gross misinformation and a few downright lies mixed in to the mix.
Dr Pullicino Orlando’s attack on Richard Cachia Caruana was utterly baseless, totally without foundation and clearly motivated by emotions that had the good of the Nationalist Party as far removed as possible. That much is clear.
Even taken at face-value, assuming, if you like, that Joe MIzzi and Karmenu Vella’s statements were the epitome of stark veracity, they gave no substance to Dr Pullicino Orlando’s accusations, actually quite the contrary, and the other witnesses gave him no comfort whatsoever either but this hasn’t stopped Labour and Dr Muscat carrying on as if Moses had brought them down from the mountain along with the Ten Commandments.
Which I, for one, take to mean that Dr Muscat, who said a few days ago that he had verified Dr Pullicino Orlando’s statements and found much in them, is not remotely interested in establishing the truth but only in scoring cheap, opportunistic points.
Frame-up, anyone? Deja vu’, anyone?
imbocca@gmail.com
www.timesofmalta.com/articles/author/20