How politically pragmatic is it to speak ill of Margaret Thatcher?

[el_bryanto]

We've had plenty of discussion on the morality of condemning Ms. Thatcher - but do we think it's a smart idea politically?

Bryant

6 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Very practical
	3 (50%)
	Somewhat practical
	0 (0%)
	It can work if handled delicately but risky
	0 (0%)
	Somewhat impractical
	0 (0%)
	Totally impractical
	2 (33%)
	I'm not interested in politics - I care about right and wrong!
	0 (0%)
	It's politically impractical to post such bullshit polls!
	0 (0%)
	I like to vote!
	1 (17%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[Hissyspit]

1. Fuck Margaret Thatcher.

[el_bryanto]

2. Well I'm not sure I would have done that when she was alive.

And her dying really hasn't increased my desire. Who else do you have?

Bryant

[Hissyspit]

4. I voted for 'Very Practical.'

Let the world be reminded of the sociopath she was in any way they want.

[cali]

7. inchoate hate is the order of the day

don't get me wrong. I'm reading really interesting critical stuff about her but I find the free floating hate a bit yucky. Criticism should have a wee bit more depth than that.

In any case, as to your query, I don't think it makes a bit of difference politically- at least not in this country.

[Hissyspit]

9. I've posted plenty of interesting valid criticism.

And it leads me to the conclusion of: Fuck Margaret Thatcher.

Listening to the Heritage guy defend her and lie about American's views of her on BBC last night was stomach-churning. And I have my opinions about some of the games people are playing here, too.

[el_bryanto]

14. What games are those? nt

[Hissyspit]

16. Not you.

Nor Cali.

[leveymg]

10. If you're iin the least choate, you hated Maggie before she died.

And that shouldn't cease now.

(Just one more thing on which Justice Scalia and I disagree.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/magazine/03FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=0
On Language
Choate
Lettering by Ji Lee

By BEN ZIMMER
Published: December 31, 2009

If you’re a lawyer presenting an oral argument before Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court, never, ever use the word choate. No, not the name Choate (rhymes with “boat”), which graces a Connecticut prep school and the great 19th-century jurist Rufus Choate. The taboo term is choate (pronounced KOH-it or KOH-ate), an adjective defined by Webster’s New World Law Dictionary as “completed or perfected in and of itself” and formed as the opposite of inchoate (“commenced but not completed, partially done”).
Related
Times Topics: Language and Languages | English Language
More On Language Columns

A lawyer named Randolph Barnhouse learned this lesson the hard way in November when he appeared before the Supreme Court as counsel to a company selling tax-free cigarettes over the Internet. Barnhouse said the opportunity to recover taxes on the cigarettes was an “inchoate” interest, not yet fully formed. “Any recovery would not be property until it became choate, until there was an amount of money assigned to it,” he explained.

Scalia stopped Barnhouse cold. “There is no such adjective,” he declared. “I know we have used it, but there is no such adjective as choate. There is inchoate, but the opposite of inchoate is not choate.”

[Arkana]

3. Very practical if you're a private citizen.

When you're a public official and your remarks are subject to intense scrutiny, probably better to just fart out some bland words of praise and move on. It's shit you otherwise don't need.

[HappyMe]

5. I don't know.

I'm kind of ready to start talking shit about her because of the vast amount of threads she has inspired.

Present company excepted.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

6. If you're a leader of another country,

you don't criticize the leader of a country you have no beef with when they die. I'm assuming this poll is because of what Obama said about Thatcher.

[backscatter712]

8. The President is expected to maintain decorum.

We're not.

[leveymg]

11. In which case, he should have stuck to the same script he used upon the passing of Chavez:

“At this challenging time of President Hugo Chavez’s passing, the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government. As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.”

[Benton D Struckcheon]

22. Venezuela has been hostile to the US,

and Britain hasn't. Over here in the real world, that means Obama says nice things about Thatcher and doesn't say nice things about Chavez. Simple, really.

[leveymg]

25. I don't recall that BP has been selling cut-rate fuel oil to the people of New England, or

England, or anywhere else, for that matter.

What nice things did Thatcher do for us?

[sibelian]

12. It's a GOOD idea.

There's not a british righty left labouring under the illusion that we in the UK give their transparent drivel the least credence. Punch 'em in the bollocks, says I. Let them SEE what the ordinary people feel. Why should we wander around cowed by the inane rhetoric of INSENSATE NITWITS? Drooling BLOCKHEADS. They haven't the wit or common decency even to manipulate us WELL.

[tralala]

13. what is "smart politics"?

who practices it? what are its objectives?

[el_bryanto]

17. I would guess smart politics are acquiring the means to implement the policies you support

by winning elections and working the legislative process successfully. In this case - does attacking Margaret Thatcher on the occasion of her death make it more or less likely that people will vote Democratic in the future.

Obviously we are presumably private individuals - so our actions aren't as likely to have a big effect as if we are public officials.

Bryant

[tralala]

18. i suppose if you want to give the public the impression

that margaret thatcher is your idea of an exemplary leader, then praising her legacy of supporting everything that's wrong in the world is the right thing to do.

[tralala]

20. or if you want the public

to think that margaret thatcher is the kind of leader IT should think of as exemplary - somebody who will unapologetically lay down the law on capital's behalf - then yes, you should praise her on the occasion of her death.

[Cal Carpenter]

15. It seems a shit ton of people know almost nothing about her

and her impact on the whole damn global economy, as though 30 years is ancient history. Perhaps it's a great thing, politically speaking, because maybe some folks will actually learn something about how we got where we are, and learn how NOT to repeat the same bullshit over and over and over.... obviously history classes in school aren't covering any of this, LOL.

[Starry Messenger]

19. How is highlighting her record speaking ill of her?

If describing her record seems ill-speaking, then that is on her, not the poster.

Seems like everyone born after 1979 grew up in a different world than some of the rest of us. School is in.

[datasuspect]

21. my ass is pragmatic

[el_bryanto]

23. That must be useful. My ass is prone to flights of fancy. nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. On DU, it doesn't matter at all

I can understand when Ed Miliband is not speaking ill of her. He needs to win centrist voters in the UK, and it would offend more than it pleases of them.