Sunday, January 15, 2006

And your point was ... ?

Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway posted without comment a couple of stories about the BND scandal: one from the Independent, and one from the Boston Globe. In the comments, "Paul in Mexico" opines that "the Germans sure voted against their own self interest when they elected this ultra-right wing nut, did they not?"

The blog advertises itself as presenting a left-wing point of view. E.g., Melanie in a different posting faults the Senate Judiciary Committee for not inquiring further into Alito's CAP membership. So I have to wonder what her purpose was in posting the two news stories on the BND. From what I've read, the Germans have been the staunchest opponents of the war in Europe. The goverment under which the alleged assistance to the U.S. was given was a coalition of the Green party and the center-left Social Democrats, and arguably the most anti-American government in the post-war period. It doesn't appear to me that the conservatives and the libertarians are tarnished by this scandal at all. Absent her actual commentary on the reports, I have to assume that she was being fair-minded by reminding us that the European left can be hypocritical, too.

Paul in Mexico's comment, however, makes little sense to me. Was he under the mistaken impression that the scandal reflects badly on the CDU/CSU? Or did the stories of the potential scandal for the SDP and Greens make no impression on him, such that he could only mention the right-wingnut Angelika Merkel? Or is he perhaps just being sarcastic?