Opinion Poll for Lidové Noviny: Paroubek most at fault for government crisis
The person most responsible for causing the current political crisis is according to an exclusive opinion poll by MEDIAN the Chairman of the ČSSD Party Jiří Paroubek. He’s also the person who stands to gain the most.
From the more than 400 people questioned, 44% think that Jiří Paroubek is to blame for the crisis, whilst 41% lay the blame on Mirek Topolánek. Only 10% of those questioned hold President Václav Klaus responsible.
It’s interesting that more men find Jiří Paroubek to blame for unleashing the current crisis, whilst amongst women fault for the fall of the government is equally divided between the ODS and ČSSD leaders.
It’s largely young people from Prague and Central Czech that blame Paroubek whilst in villages and smaller towns people see Topolánek being at fault for the current situation.
As for the question of who stands to gain the most from the political crisis roughly a third of all those questioned answered unequivocally Jiří Paroubek. This view was shared by both young and old, and inhabitants of both villages and large cities.
Černý isn’t afraid anymore
Embattled Mirek Topolánek has found a new ally against President Klaus - David Černý. The sculptor caused a small scandal a couple of months ago with his plastic ‘Entropa’ which included a representation of Bulgaria as a Turkish toilet, something for which he has since apologised in Brussels.
He was less diplomatic at a recent European conference on creativity held in Prague: ‘what’s a few Bulgarian assholes in Entropa compared to the big asshole sitting in Prague Castle’ criticising the government?
David Černý is interesting material for study of the crowd phenomena. To insult Klaus in the circles in which Černý moves is the easiest thing in the world. Society, in a large city especially, is divided into various layers and sub-cultures so that we can rail against an abstract group whilst never actually meeting any representative of that group. We live happily in our little world and cultivate it’s partialities and prejudices.
The problem can arise when a non-conformist arrives in unknown territory (Brussels), where they’re a little out of their depth. All at once it’s not certain whether or not the crowd against which they’ve safely railed from a distance, is represented in the group before them.
Luckily there’s a way to compensate for such an unpleasant experience and get your old confidence back on home soil. That’s the case here with Černý and Klaus. Someone returns from work where they once again didn’t stand up to their boss and screams at their wife instead.
Daniel Kaiser Lidové noviny
Topolánek: The lesser evil, that's us
So the election campaign has already started. It’s widely alleged that Mirek Topolánek will endeavour to depict his story as that of a long distance runner, whose opponents threw sticks under his feet for so long, that he eventually fell.
This story is certainly politically sound. The fall of Topolánek and the handing over of his chairmanship is exceptional in that it isn’t just about the normal political struggle, but a fundamental clash of good and evil.
