The parliamentary elections for Spain should be closing up right around the time that I post this; there’s some controversy over whether the increasing likelihood that Thursday’s cowardly and vile attack was done by al-Qaeda will be reflected in the final results today. Tell truthful, I’m not willing to bet either way; I don’t know how the Spanish electorate is going to jump and I suspect that I’m different from most of the amateur pundits commenting on this in that I’m willing to admit to my ignorance. If the Socialists win, then Spain will probably pull out its troops in June – which will no doubt fuel the usual breathless speculation from the Usual Suspects. Then again, a marginal victory by the Popular Party might well result in precisely the same thing. Or a marginal victory by the Socialists might cause them to decide that it’d be wise continue to keep the troops in Iraq. Or the aliens may come down and spout poison gas at us until we learn to spill water on them*.
In short, things are up in the air. At any rate, Spanish-language results are apparently going to be here; if there’s a good English-language resource, let me know.
Moe
*I watched Signs the other day, in lieu of actually providing blog content for all of you. Tell truthful, I enjoyed the hell out of that film.
UPDATE: Looks like the opposition party in Spain won (thanks to Reader Guest Blogger Edward for the link). Or you could try here: Kos was finally able to personally talk about Madrid, now that it can be spun in terms of a Bush defeat…
Oh, did I say that aloud? Bad Moe! Bad! No biscuit!
Signs was a pretty damn good movie. A little preachy in parts, but when I saw it in the theater, I thought, “finally, a movie that can do suspense.”
Then I saw the aliens and almost laughed out loud. But the rest of it was pretty good.
Moe, scanning a couple stories, including one in the Financial Times, that point to a lot of voter anger…at the Popular Party for trying a little harder than necessary to pin this on ETA.
I believe the Popular Party has conceded.
sorry, here’s the link
Spanish government admits defeat
Loved Signs. A movie that actually surprises me in its plot more than once is pretty rare anymore.
…..
PP has lost. As I said on Yglesias, Lord have mercy. Probably bad news for us all, but definitely terrible news for Bush. But I still don’t know anything about Spain, so Aznar could have been a brutal jerk. But this is, like, news.
I hope the Socialists stay the course for longer than initially planned; otherwise, I suppose al-Qaeda will attack another coalition member next to punish them for supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Note to Bush critics who only keep making the Iraq connection: the terrorists ALSO hated Aznar’s gov’t for involvement in Afghanistan, just as they ALSO hated Australia for East Timor when they carried out the Bali attack.)
If it’s bin Laden’s crew, I’m inclined to suspect that the loss of Andalusia might just as well have been the primary motive. bin Laden has written many times on the subject, and it’s a rather more longstanding grievance. I’m rather doubtful that al Queda types give much of a damn about some dhimmi electoral politics. I could, of course, be all wrong.