Pm Nomination Postponed After House Fails To Make Quorum Again

[Old Man River]

Chart Thai and Barnham don't stand "firmly" on any issue. They like power, and know which way the wind is blowing. If the wind changes direction, they'll be lined up with the Dems faster than you can blink.

Absolutely! Banharn is not known as "the slippery eel" for nothing. He worked hard to earn this title and continually lives up to it.

[Smithson]

What remains to be seen, should this all occur, is whether party platforms going forward remain like what the Democrats offered in December 2007, which as you point out were much more favorable to the people in the northeast than the PPP which they voted for. Personally, I think Thaksin's legacy is that he has up tiered their importance and they will gain by it.

I agree that Thaksin's legacy was to raise the importance of the northeastern voters, but it appears the aim of PAD/new politics is to neutralize them as a voting block. I don't think anyone has their best interests at heart.

[chuang]

PM nomination postponed after House fails to make quorum again

After the Democrat nominated party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to the post, the People Power Party called for a quorum checking.

The Nation

September 12, 2008 : Last updated 10:00 am

So the Democrat clown finally rear it's head....for the past months the country is in a mess caused by the PAD, the democrat did nothing even in their southern strongholds....now he wnats to be a PM through the backdoor...what a cock..

[hammered]

PM nomination postponed after House fails to make quorum again

After the Democrat nominated party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva to the post, the People Power Party called for a quorum checking.

The Nation

September 12, 2008 : Last updated 10:00 am

So the Democrat clown finally rear it's head....for the past months the country is in a mess caused by the PAD, the democrat did nothing even in their southern strongholds....now he wnats to be a PM through the backdoor...what a cock..

I think actually you'll find it was a piece of politcal opportunism created by the governments inability to muster around Samak. The Dems realised in parliament they were in a majority over the PPP MPs present. The coalition parites and Isaan Pattana were not there. The Dems put forward Abhisit's name and relaising he would win the vote if it went forward immediately the PPP inquorated the meeting. If there had been a vote Abhisit would have been elected PM in a quorate parliament!

[sriracha john]

The checking found that the House failed to make quorum as coalition MPs would not identify their presence.

<deleted>? I don't know the layout of Thailand's parliament but doesn't the government sit one side of the chamber and the opposition the other?

Sounds like the coalition members haven't got the balls to either stand up and support the guy or come out and publicly oppose him. The reason for this of course is self interest, they want to sit on the fence as long as possible so they can be sure which side has the greener grass.

Politicians : as slippery as eels in a bucket of grease.

It's a shame Parliament isn't hooked up to the Internet...cause then they would have had to produce their ID cards (and thus identify themselves) in order to log on.

[yumidesign]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

Too true. this man has no policies, no vision, as you say, no political will, no mind. There is no opposition.

[Plus]

I agree that Thaksin's legacy was to raise the importance of the northeastern voters, but it appears the aim of PAD/new politics is to neutralize them as a voting block.

Not exactly - they want to neutralise Thaksin's lock on electoral process in North East, farmers can vote for anyone they want after that.

The idea is that whoever they vote for should represent THEM and not Thaksin, as it is now.

Edited September 12, 2008 by Plus

[steveromagnino]

I agree that Thaksin's legacy was to raise the importance of the northeastern voters, but it appears the aim of PAD/new politics is to neutralize them as a voting block.

Not exactly - they want to neutralise Thaksin's lock on electoral process in North East, farmers can vote for anyone they want after that.

The idea is that whoever they vote for should represent THEM and not Thaksin, as it is now.

actually the farmers never have really significantly changed their voting patterns, they just vote for who they are asked as per normal for the last 20 years. If they were really voting for candidates, you think some of the idiots that just happen to be relatives of this person or that would get in???!

Most of Rural Thailand the people always vote for the side that they are asked to by the Kamnan, local Phoo Yai, teachers etc; the idea that Thaksin actually elevated their status as voters is meaningless; I think what people mean is Thaksin actually both did the usual get the factions in a line as everyone else does and also gave the voters what they think they wanted as well to reduce the costs for the factions to get the votes and as the triple whammy controlled the media and the local authority figures via a carrot and stick approach (lose your job or get a free SIM card) so that anyone looking to know who they should vote for had some helpful guidance.

So everyone wins sort of.

If the Democrats get the factions to switch sides, then they will win the election. Has less to do with what the farmers think they want, more just get the Chidchobs on side with enough payments and then you have Buriram no matter what the party.

The swing seats are a bit harder; Democrats (incidentally Sanan advisor to Chart Thai and Samak are both ex Dems) have been damaged a bit from the TRT approach of building hatred up against the south and painting the Dems as southerners.

The power of market research and systematic polling aye.

Edited September 12, 2008 by steveromagnino

[younghusband]

I agree that Thaksin's legacy was to raise the importance of the northeastern voters, but it appears the aim of PAD/new politics is to neutralize them as a voting block.

Not exactly - they want to neutralise Thaksin's lock on electoral process in North East, farmers can vote for anyone they want after that.

The idea is that whoever they vote for should represent THEM and not Thaksin, as it is now.

actually the farmers never changed their voting patterns, they just vote for who they are asked as per normal for the last 20 years.

Just which side the people they always vote for choose to side with, the idea that Thaksin actually elevated their status as voters is meaningless; I think what people mean is Thaksin actually both did the usual get the factions in a line as everyone else does and also gave the voters what they think they wanted as well to reduce the costs for the factions to get the votes.

So everyone wins sort of.

If the Democrats get the factions to switch sides, then they will win the election. has less to do with what the farmers think they want, more just get the Chidchobs on side with enough payments and then you have Buriram no matter what the party.

The swing seats are a bit harder; Democrats (incidentally Sanan advisor to Chart Thai and Samak are both ex Dems) have been damaged a bit from the TRT approach of building hatred up against the south and painting the Dems as southerners.

I think you are completely wrong on this Steve.Forgive me for being blunt because I normally respect your common sense.I do think that "Thaksin elevated farmers status as voters" to use your expression.I don't think they are dumb beasts who do what they are told for a few hundred Baht - not that you are saying that but many others are.There is much more political intelligence in Isaan than there was twenty years ago despite the continued presence of provincial bosses.What partly drives the PAD is the fear of middle class vested interests being threatened:Plus's last bit of comical piffle made me laugh out loud - I suspect even he had to suppress a smirk as he posted it.As to PAD I'm not sure it matters much what they do or think now, having already achieved a lot of their agenda.However the time will come when powerful interests will elbow them aside having served their purpose.

[Gravelrash]

Rural Thais want instant gratification. They'd rather have jam today than a feast tomorrow. (or a gold chain today rather than a diamond ring next year)

Education is of course a keystone policy, but not a vote-winner.

Are you sure you didn't mistype farang tourists here?

[IAmMarchHare]

Rural Thais want instant gratification. They'd rather have jam today than a feast tomorrow. (or a gold chain today rather than a diamond ring next year)

Education is of course a keystone policy, but not a vote-winner.

Are you sure you didn't mistype farang tourists here?

Perhaps. In a study about instant gratification, about a third of 400 four-year-olds could not wait for a second marshmallow. They were followed into their teens, and their impulsive behavior did not change much, and the consequences were lower self-esteem, poorer test scores, etc. This, of course, was a western study. It would be interesting to see what the results would be in Thailand.

EQ: Marshmallow Studies by Stanford University

[IAmMarchHare]

Remember the 'educated' Bkk voters gave both Thaksin and Samak (as governor) landslide victories. So blaming the uneducated villages isn't quite right.

Are you talking about both as governor, then? I always thought it was the educated, esp. in Bangkok, that wanted Thaksin out (as PM).

[Gnarpjohan]

Rural Thais want instant gratification. They'd rather have jam today than a feast tomorrow. (or a gold chain today rather than a diamond ring next year)

Education is of course a keystone policy, but not a vote-winner.

I'll tell that to the farmers I know who borrow money to send their kids to university. Seems that quite a few farangs share this (upper-class? city?) view of rural thais, I suppose they hang out with the wrong people.

I like hammered's post however, I don't know much about how politics is organized in the north, but it does not seem far fetched that the democrats have a hard time to reach out. Which is bad of course, people need to be informed in order to make rational choices. Edit: and for some constructive political debate/competition.

Edited September 12, 2008 by Gnarpjohan

[animatic]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

One of his main policies during his party's campaign in the last election was he wanted to make the reform of our education system the main priority. He emphasized that we needed to do something with our education if we wanna see the better future of the country. He was campaigning for this while other parties were talking about how many mega-projects they'd have or how much money they would hand out to the villagers.

He is not flashy, but he looks at core problems.

So he wouldn't talk about a nonstarter issue like appointed parliment,

with out referencing it to the 'arcane constitution', at least he is prepared to SPEAK about the constitution

like he has actually READ the dam_n thing. Rather than just pass laws and THEN find out that they are unconstitutional...

a classic PPP cabinet move.

[animatic]

Chart Thai and Barnham don't stand "firmly" on any issue. They like power, and know which way the wind is blowing. If the wind changes direction, they'll be lined up with the Dems faster than you can blink.

You could be right.

Oh yeah it's his M.O. in spades.

#2 to Abhisit and lots of whispered clout,

he'd like that better than being one voice in a cacaphony around PPP.

Edited September 12, 2008 by animatic

[Pierrot]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

I couldn't more agree with you. I support Samak's government, not because of love for the PPP but because I strongly believe the democrats don't deserve to be in charge of this country.

Actually I've to confess, I'm no better than the PAD. They act because they hate Taksin, I do because I hate these gutless democrats.

[Plus]

What partly drives the PAD is the fear of middle class vested interests being threatened:Plus's last bit of comical piffle made me laugh out loud - I suspect even he had to suppress a smirk as he posted it.

I thought you'd realise by now that I don't share your paranoid view of middle class/elite interests being threatened by politicaly astute farmers.

The main premise of "new politics" is to bring farmers to parlament, not exclude them. Hopefully the process will bypass local pooyais altogether.

>>>>

Thaksin's policies have stressed importance of national agenda over local interests, I agree with that, BUT, last December we had a few million people casting local votes for exTRT candidates and party list votes for their nemesis Democrats. Says something interesting about currentl voting trends.

The end result, though, is that PPP exploits local electoral victories to set national politics where they have actually lost. The system shouldn't allow this contradiction in the first place.

I don't believe fresh elections would solve current crisis, but I'm curious to see the results. There's only one external factor that might skew the outcome - unusually high prices on agricultural products that significantly increased farmers' incomes. Apart from that there's little going for PPP.

[younghusband]

Abhisit does not deserve the PM job

Certainly not because he speaks English in a cultivated, posh voice.

He has never done a thing - not laid out his vision, apart from sit there in interviews simpering and making convoluted, arcane analyses of constitutional law. (Waiting for his turn to be handed the job on a plate)

He may fit the popular idea of a smooth American politician, but never for Thailand.

One of his main policies during his party's campaign in the last election was he wanted to make the reform of our education system the main priority. He emphasized that we needed to do something with our education if we wanna see the better future of the country. He was campaigning for this while other parties were talking about how many mega-projects they'd have or how much money they would hand out to the villagers.

He is not flashy, but he looks at core problems.

So he wouldn't talk about a nonstarter issue like appointed parliment,

with out referencing it to the 'arcane constitution', at least he is prepared to SPEAK about the constitution

like he has actually READ the dam_n thing. Rather than just pass laws and THEN find out that they are unconstitutional...

a classic PPP cabinet move.

I have to say I agree with this.It would be rather unfair if the premiership fell into Abhisit's lap but perhaps this what the country needs.Maybe I have misjudged the man but I think he has the intellect (Oxford 1st class Honours) integrity and vision to see the country through this difficult transitional period.I just wish he had more political skills.

Incidentally the comment about Abhisit's " cultivated,posh voice" is of course irrelevant but rather revealing of the poster's prejudice.England's class war echoes across the seas.Most English lower middle class and working class (dare I say it probably a majority of Brits on this form) bristle at such an accent even if the speaker is a foreigner.That's way public schoolboy Tony Blair altered his accent according to the prole factor of his audience.I don't see why Old Etonian Abhisit should concern himself with the way he speaks one way or another.

[hammered]

From the Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=130625

Somchai, Sompong are candidates for PM

and the last paragraph is interesting:

Pol Lt-Col Kan also said that he plans to propose a bill that will grant amnesty to 111 former executives of the dissolved Thai Rak Thai party for national reconciliation.

Im not quite sure that will have a positive effect on national reconcilliation.

[cmsally]

Personally I don't think Abhisit speaks with a "posh" voice at all. It is a pretty general ordinary English accent considering he went to Eton. However considering his background I would expect him to be more of a powerful speaker.

I can't help wondering if they would make mincemeat out of him in an Oxford debate.

[hammered]

Personally I don't think Abhisit speaks with a "posh" voice at all. It is a pretty general ordinary English accent considering he went to Eton. However considering his background I would expect him to be more of a powerful speaker.

I can't help wondering if they would make mincemeat out of him in an Oxford debate.

Quite frankly any of the candidates being discussed are preferable to the abrasive arrogant but ineffectual previous incumbent in terms of being rational human beings. Who knows if we are lucky they may even listen rather than preach. A good listener is needed far more than some lunatic firebrand orator at this point in time imho

Listening is a very underated skill that is found in so few to any high degree.