If you thought, even for the slightest of moments, that 20 years in opposition, 15 years in leadership, 22 months as leader of this country and three successive electoral defeats have taught Alfred Sant and his Labour elves anything then you are wrong! The MLP earned the not so positive reputation of always sitting pretty criticising everything the PN does and every now and then throwing some mud to gain a vote or two. The moment the same opposition comes up with four "concrete" proposals its credibilty takes a nosedive, knee jerk reactions from leading Labour spokemen take a toll and we start getting the same attitude we assisted to in the 1998-2003 period when the Labour leadership lashed out at anyone and everyone who supported Malta's EU membership.
Whenever our Opposition is hard pressed to give details about what they really intend doing, how, why and when, they turn themselves into paranoid victims and start accusing the people in question of bias and of being part of this friends of friends network of the PN. After the recent gaffe regarding Prof. Albert Fenech to which a public apology was never given (talk about arrogance), we now have the MLP for the umpteenth time attacking Where's Everybody and boycotting a programme where the two leaders were supposed to face each other calling it a farce and comparing it with the Jerry Springer show. Not only this but Dr Sant wanted to know how the lights are going to be, who is going to speak, for how long, the identity of the audience and the role Peppi Azzopardi will play, as if Dr Sant himself had never been on the programme and needed to orientate himself.
If this is not despicable, political arrogance at its best, than I don't know what is and if that's not enough here comes the cherry on the cake: the MLP said that Xarabank does not offer the scope for transparent and civil debate but then a few weeks ago Jason Micallef and Charles Mangion went to the same Xarabank, took a busload of fervent, loud Labourites, most of who came from the Forum Zghazagh Laburisti (with their mothers, fathers, cats and dogs!) and spent a whole programme booing, heckling and ridiculing the Nationalist speaker. How's that for a transparent and civil debate?
Taking clips from this "circus" to use them on One News for propaganda purposes is ok but then if the circus leader asks them a thorny question all hell breaks loose and they cry their heart out about how disadvantaged they are and what a pigsty PBS has become!
Doesn't this country realise that our Opposition has nothing to offer? Doesn't this country realise that this is the same party which one morning decided to remove VAT without the slightest idea of what to introduce instead of it and is doing the same now with their surcharge and overtime proposals? And then Dr Sant went posing in front of a camera to tell us that he had refused the Xarabank invitation because he was suggesting "serious" and "civil" debates and tongue-in-cheek came up with his own conditions for these debates. All this arrogance when he's only a Leader of the Opposition! Can you imagine what he would do if he became Prime Minister?