The Dream is Over

There was a fantastic piece by Charles Krauthammer in

Friday's Washington Post

about how and why Obama is now polling at a lower approval rate than Gerald Ford after he pardoned Nixon:

"Just look at Obama's behavior as president, beginning with his first address to Congress. Unbidden, unforced and unpushed by the congressional leadership, Obama gave his most deeply felt vision of America, delivering the boldest social democratic manifesto ever issued by a U.S. president. In American politics, you can't get more left than that speech and still be on the playing field.

In a center-right country, that was problem enough. Obama then compounded it by vastly misreading his mandate. He assumed it was personal. This, after winning by a mere seven points in a year of true economic catastrophe, of an extraordinarily unpopular Republican incumbent, and of a politically weak and unsteady opponent. Nonetheless, Obama imagined that, as Fouad Ajami so brilliantly observed, he had won the kind of banana-republic plebiscite that grants caudillo-like authority to remake everything in one's own image."

"For a man who only recently bred a cult, ordinariness is a great burden, and for his acolytes, a crushing disappointment. Obama has become a politician like others. And like other flailing presidents, he will try to salvage a cherished reform -- and his own standing -- with yet another prime-time speech."

Really is a must read.

Dave's Rave

Seems someone is having a little fun with one of the David Cameron fan pages on Facebook:

Talking of raves, well it's not quite a rave, but got your tickets to

this

yet? TB will be hosting a drinks reception before hand...

Details to follow.

Her Majesty is not impressed...

Something about

this Mandrake story

screams genuine Palace sentiment. It comes via the historian Andrew Roberts, who has the full story in the next edition of Tatler:

""The Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Charles are all furious with Gordon Brown over sub-standard equipment in Helmand, principally the underarmoured armoured cars and the lack of helicopters, and have been making their views known to him in no uncertain terms," claims Roberts, who is a close friend of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent."

TB would hope so too. As the legend that is

Ho

ward Denton

says:

"Ma’am, all you have to do is invite your First Secretary, Chancellor and Justice Secretary in for a cuppa and tell them in your own words what has to be done."

And another thing...

TB did have to laugh when having a look at

Tom Harris MP's blog

a moment ago. He has rolling ads down the side, as well as rolling endorsements that are different each time the page loads. Given his new trophy cabinet at the top, the following sequence was rather unfortunate:

DK

is always such a polite child!

Previous applicants need not apply.

They've been searching since June and it seems

Liberal Youth

are still incapable of finding a staff member. The job has been

relisted

:

Though hardly surprising... for starters a 12 month contract has suddenly become a 9 month one. Rumour has it that since the last staff member left, the LY office was commandeered by other departments in Cowley St, desperate for space. It would explain why the switchboard gives out

Elaine Bagshaw

's mobile instead of the internal connection when you phone and ask for Liberal Youth. Anyway TB is happy to help give the job a plug.

Working closely with that bunch would be enough to put any decent candidates off.

The Swedes have taken over the asylum! Corridors are awash with blond men called Lars and Sven (not that I'm complaining), and everyone is singing along to Lykke Li's latest track. Dan, Ed and I were grazing the canapés at The Parliament's Swedish Presidency reception (lots of seafood) on Tuesday when some gangling intern thrust copies of the esteemed publication into our hands. Flicking through, Ed read out loud: "when the last Swedish Presidency started on January 1st 2001, its priorities were enlargement, employment and the environment. Eight and a half years later, the same issues feature high on the agenda of the incoming Swedish presidency", to which Dan said "And who says the European Parliament is just a talking shop?" I laughed along, of course. But I thought that the more talking Parliament does, the less law making they get done. So I don't really see how it's a bad thing.

Either way, I rather like having the Swedes in charge. I feel a sort of friendly gratitude to them – if it hadn't have been for their schools policy to fall back on I'm not sure how I would have made it through the election campaign. There are only so many times you can say 'At least we're not Labour'.

Good news for the delegation on the horizon: I stopped by the Kirkhope office to see if there was any space in their fridge for a couple of bottles of bubbly. It seems Champagne Fridays is making a comeback... anyway, that's another story. The good news in this case is that our esteemed leader is working diligently on a new leadership policy entitled 'inverse reactions'. Apparently, the trick is to do the exact opposite of what is expected at all times in the hope that this will sort of throw the group together: solidarity through confusion, just like in the Great War.

This clearly explains darling Dan Han's brilliant recent promotion to Spokesperson on the Legal Affairs Committee, in stark contrast to Kirkhope and chums trying to shut him up all summer. Personally I think it's simply wonderful that Dan's going to be doing even more talking as anything that raises the profile of us lot out here is fine by me. I can't tell you how dispiriting it is to be met with blank faces time and again when you tell people you work for an MEP.

Edging ever closer towards Tory Conference, hurrah. The boys downstairs have dreamt up the most fantastic little wheeze: as there are 54 members of the ECR group they're going to make a pack of ECR playing cards to hand out in Manchester. I have it on good authority that Hannan and Helmer have been pegged for the two joker slots and were more than happy to take them, and I can but guess that the beautific Emma McClarkin will be queen of hearts. But who for the knaves? Ed says he's going to run a book on this one come Monday, so I have the weekend to pick my four. Any tips, anyone?

Hermione will be back next Saturday with more from Brussels.

All the hallmarks of an establishment scandal?

"One can appreciate how a similar situation developed from 1935 onwards in relation to the King's relationship with Mrs Simpson. But it is hard to understand why the press - especially the right-wing press - haven't had a harder go at nailing this story in 2009. The tabloids are too busy shouting threats into celeb letter-boxes, and the more liberally inclined papers may well share the New Labour view that loyalty is their duty at this stage of the game; but that seems unlikely - and what of Dacre at The Mail, or the Telegraph, still fresh from its huge success in blowing the lid off the expenses scandal?"

This

has been doing the rounds for the last 24 hours and TB couldn't decide whether to run it. Something about is highly suspicious, but other aspects ring true. A vicious smear or a desperate attempt to reveal the truth?

What do you reckon?

Ouch...

The

ConservativeHome

survey results are out:

Doesn't look good for Bercow.

Won't Someone Think of the Children!

If you ever want to see true evil face of this Labour government then watch this video. These innocent children have been indoctrinated and told they are going to die forthwith and without explanation. If there was ever a one minute video summing up everything wrong with a government run national curriculum this must be it:



Laugh now but one day they will be in charge.

Shock: TB agrees with Obama

Now here is a rarity, TB is in complete agreement with Barry and his crew:

RW: He had a strong impression, a strong reaction, to both Cameron and Brown.It was right at the end of his foreign trip. And he was really taken with Cameron. He and his aides thought that he had energy and verve, a dynamism that suggested he was a good candidate – remember this was a candidate at the time, not a president. And there was bonding that took place which you might not expect of two people at the opposite ends of the political spectrum.

SM: And what did he say of Brown?

RW: Brown, on the other hand, really they found very lacklustre. They thought that his mood and his dourness – they found the experience faintly depressing, actually. A sort of end-of-regime feel about the whole thing.

The news has emerged via

Andrew Sparrow

who was reporting on Richard Wolffe's new book Renegade. Wolffe has considerably more access to the players than The New Statesman did last year when they reported this load of tripe that was jumped on by the left:

Funnily enough Labourlist and Liberal Conspiracy aren't yet reporting this new development.

“A bunch of useless, xenophobic tossers...”

Is how a source within Liberal Youth Scotland described the federal Liberal Youth under the chairman Elaine Bagshaw.

“I feel like a fool for voting for Elaine - I was lured in by her promises of support and funding, but who wouldn't?”

Liberal Youth Scotland

only began in November last year. The tensions however started at the Scottish Lib Dem conference in March. Elaine Bagshaw ventured north with promises a plenty. She pledged Liberal Youth Scotland money to help run their Freshers Campaigns - providing they re-elected her that is. “We were promised around £500."

Despite spending over three grand on a new website that is still to materialise, as well as pissing money up the wall elsewhere, it seems Liberal Youth has refused to cough this £500 to the fledgling organisation. This is despite apparent assurances to the contrary:

“They consistently told us they had a massive surplus of around £10k, which needed to be spent. This was bollocks, and Elaine has been found out.”

It’s all really falling apart for Bagshaw, her support is crumbling away, but luckily it seems she definitely won’t be standing for a third term, and it’s not just Tory Bear who is happy about this – “I can only hope she goes away, and never comes back.” said the disgruntled Caledonian.

TB wonders how many others feel that way?

September Wikio Rankings

As of 00.20 the September

Wikio blog rankings

aren't up officially, but it seems

Cranmer has been given

a sneak preview. TB has broken into the top ten for the first time. Thank you! He is fairly sure this might have something to do with the links coming in from the Total Politics rankings but an honour none the less. Thank you to all the other bloggers who have sent their traffic this way and hence helped TB creep up the rankings:

1 Iain Dale's Diary

(=)

2

Guy Fawkes' blog

(=)

3

Liberal Conspiracy

(=)

4

Labourlist

(=)

5

Liberal Democrat Voice

(=)

6

And another thing...

(+4)

7

Harry's Place

(+1)

8

Dizzy Thinks

(-2)

9

Politicalbetting.com

(-2)

10 Tory Bear (+1)

Watchout PB, TB's coming...

Yes He Can!

Leaping Salmond

Delusions of grandeur

anyone

?

"ALEX Salmond is to demand a place in the TV debate featuring party leaders unveiled by Sky News yesterday, claiming he has as much right to take his place there as any of the leaders of the UK-wide parties.

The SNP is to write to the satellite broadcaster to get a guarantee that he would have a podium place alongside the three UK parties."

Get a grip man, you're not even leader of your party in Westminster. Nick Clegg barely qualifies so TB isn't sure what Salmond is on. This debate should be between the two leaders of the two parties that have a chance of forming the next government. That's what people want to see, that is what is important. The last thing anyone wants is annoying upstarts butting in at every moment, lying through their teeth about how they think they could actually win the election.

Don't forget to sign the petition for the Sky debate

here

.

Is she or isn't she?

There was some speculation recently that a particularly blonde tory hotty was engaged. This was quickly denied upon some probing by TB but now his eyes and ears are reporting the young lady in question is wearing a ring:

Sorry lads looks like this one is off the market, but who could it be?

Answers on a postcard...

Quote of the Day:

Overheard in the Red Lion:

"My friend used to go out with the Women's Officer of Labour Students, but he dumped her because she didn't like the Manic Street Preachers."

TB could probably tolerate this.

Adam Boulton Definitely Calls Shotgun!

TB was out last night when the details of

this

came through and subsequently spent most of today lying down. But TB was right with his hunch the other day.

Are you a reader Adam?

OUCA vs OUCF

The Mail is

reporting

that Oxford University Conservative Association have now been officially disaffiliated from the University after the accusations of racism at last year's election hustings. This is on the back of the the right-leaning Oxford Union

banning the society

from holding events on their premises too.

Interesting then that TB's sources have confirmed that an Oxford Conservative Future have been registered and will be recruiting freshers across the colleges. OUCA refused to affiliate with CF for years, just as many of the older university associations did not.

This split will be one to watch.

Quote of the Day:

In reply to

this

, Kevin Maguire said:

"Tate Modern? Recycled airliner tag? Glass of fizz? The Waitrose home delivery wing, Ocado? Great to see The Guardian getting away from the caricature of climate change as an obsession of namby-pamby, middle class yoghurt knitters. Not."

Never thought TB would agree with anything Kevin said. Meh.

Have the Conservative Toffs Gone Bonkers?

Yeah that headline got TB's attention too. It seems the cyber-nat blogger

Advanced Media Watch

has taken a summer course at the Damian McBride School of Political Science:

"Could you just imagine Tory Bear campaigning in somewhere like Castlemilk with is bow tie and bowler hat on and wheezing off to the locals how a bunch of Eaton [sic] graduates are going to save the union ?"

So does AMW really approve of the universally derided, pathetic failure of a class war campaign that Labour used in Crewe and Nantwich? Why is a sworn enemy of the Labour Party endorsing their lowest botched campaign?

Hmmm looks and sounds like a smear to this bear, he doesn't have a top hat thank-you-very-much and he most certainly didn't go to Eton. Thank God.