According to most online newspapers today, including Dagbladet.no, Labour (Arbeiderparti) politicians are worried about the upcoming tell-all book from Karita Bekkemellem, wherein she details her political life from the time when she should've gotten an actual education and up until her much-publicized retirement from professional politics this upcoming Fall. Apparently, her comrades are sufficiently worried that Bekkemellem will paint an unfavorable picture of Prime Minister Stoltenberg that they have asked that she postpone the book launching until after this Fall's general election.
And so the debate begins - those in favor of the current government and the PM in particular want Bekkemellem to postpone the (unfinished) book, while those opposed to the coalition government would like the book to be published in time to affect the election. The only thing everyone can agree on is that the potential for detrimental behind-the-scenes stuff on Arbeiderpartiet stirs up a lot of interest and a lot of absolutely free publicity for Bekkemellem.
Considering that all warfare is based on deception, and that Bekkemellem probably had at least a vague idea that a tell-all book about Arbeiderpartiet would generate more interest and thus product sold in an election year than in any other year, there are at least three possibilities here. 1) Bekkemellem is going to stage a nutty in her book, completely melting down and dissing whomever was in any form of proximity when she was fired from her minister position. Her recent criticism of the government with respect to the hijab debacle might support this alternative. 2) There's no dirt on the Prime Minister or anyone else of consequence in the book, but she just stole herself a big payday from the free media exposure. 3) There's nothing but love for Arbeiderpartiet in the book, and thus both herself AND Arbeiderpartiet will get tons of free, positive publicity.
If you think about it, there's no way Bekkemellem can major-league diss Arbeiderpartiet in general and Stoltenberg in particular without coming off as a complete nitwit herself. After all, this is the political party to which' service she has devoted her entire adult life and then some. She's on record being all about the Prime Minister so many times that her credibility in turning heel now is abysmally low. Unless she's prepared to state that either Arbeiderpartiet has changed radically within the last year (or since whenever she last gave the coalition government a verbal blowjob) OR she has drastically changed her party affliction and political belief within the same time frame, any such statement she might make could easily be dismissed as sour grapes. Anyone who claims that Arbeiderpartiet has changed radically within the last year or so would have a hard time bringing any form of evidence. And at the age of 44, a radical change in her own political beliefs would imply that her accomplishments are severely diminished. Moreover, this change would forever arm her opponents with the very reasonable argument that her new opinions have no credibility at all, seeing as how she has already changed them once - not immediately following her adolescence, but after having been sacked by her own party and concomitantly resigning politics at the age of 44.
If the (unfinished) book is showering Arbeiderpartiet and Stoltenberg with praise, AND it's released before the general election, she'll accomplish two things: 1) The aforementioned massive product push, and 2) Arbeiderpartiet will get tons of free media on how awesome they are at the time when they need it the most, just before the election.
And so the debate begins - those in favor of the current government and the PM in particular want Bekkemellem to postpone the (unfinished) book, while those opposed to the coalition government would like the book to be published in time to affect the election. The only thing everyone can agree on is that the potential for detrimental behind-the-scenes stuff on Arbeiderpartiet stirs up a lot of interest and a lot of absolutely free publicity for Bekkemellem.
Considering that all warfare is based on deception, and that Bekkemellem probably had at least a vague idea that a tell-all book about Arbeiderpartiet would generate more interest and thus product sold in an election year than in any other year, there are at least three possibilities here. 1) Bekkemellem is going to stage a nutty in her book, completely melting down and dissing whomever was in any form of proximity when she was fired from her minister position. Her recent criticism of the government with respect to the hijab debacle might support this alternative. 2) There's no dirt on the Prime Minister or anyone else of consequence in the book, but she just stole herself a big payday from the free media exposure. 3) There's nothing but love for Arbeiderpartiet in the book, and thus both herself AND Arbeiderpartiet will get tons of free, positive publicity.
If you think about it, there's no way Bekkemellem can major-league diss Arbeiderpartiet in general and Stoltenberg in particular without coming off as a complete nitwit herself. After all, this is the political party to which' service she has devoted her entire adult life and then some. She's on record being all about the Prime Minister so many times that her credibility in turning heel now is abysmally low. Unless she's prepared to state that either Arbeiderpartiet has changed radically within the last year (or since whenever she last gave the coalition government a verbal blowjob) OR she has drastically changed her party affliction and political belief within the same time frame, any such statement she might make could easily be dismissed as sour grapes. Anyone who claims that Arbeiderpartiet has changed radically within the last year or so would have a hard time bringing any form of evidence. And at the age of 44, a radical change in her own political beliefs would imply that her accomplishments are severely diminished. Moreover, this change would forever arm her opponents with the very reasonable argument that her new opinions have no credibility at all, seeing as how she has already changed them once - not immediately following her adolescence, but after having been sacked by her own party and concomitantly resigning politics at the age of 44.
If the (unfinished) book is showering Arbeiderpartiet and Stoltenberg with praise, AND it's released before the general election, she'll accomplish two things: 1) The aforementioned massive product push, and 2) Arbeiderpartiet will get tons of free media on how awesome they are at the time when they need it the most, just before the election.
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5 comments:
So, what's your point with this post? General rambling about Bekkemellem and her book, or just create something you can link to in a "I told you so" post after the book has been released?
...there's no way Bekkemellem can major-league diss Arbeiderpartiet in general and Stoltenberg in particular without coming off as a complete nitwit herself
And that would differ from her politcal carrere in what way? I know you shouldn't vote on persons, but back in the days in K-down, i've had a hard time voting for the Labour party just due to the fact that that would also be a vote for Bekkemellem.
So, what's your point with this post? General rambling about Bekkemellem and her book, or just create something you can link to in a "I told you so" post after the book has been released?
..I'm hoping for the latter, but realistically I'll get more mileage out of the former :-)
I know you shouldn't vote on persons, but back in the days in K-down, i've had a hard time voting for the Labour party just due to the fact that that would also be a vote for Bekkemellem.
No kiddin'! Even at 16 or so, I could figure out that she had no debating game whatsoever, but started whining and labeling her opponents each and every time facts or logic got in the way of her version of reality.
..I'm hoping for the latter, but realistically I'll get more mileage out of the former :-)
LOL!
..brutal truth, eh?
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