Citat: Barack Obama om väntan inför valresultatet!

I love the stillness and the mystery of the day or two before elections, because in a lot of ways everything goes radio-silent. Nobody at that point is really listening to an argument. The infrastructure is set. And now it’s this weird alchemy that’s taking place in the country, and you just have to kind of wait and see how it works. But there’s always this mystery to it, this possibility.

Which, in some ways, is powerful and affirming of the humanity of democracy, right? […] It’s not mechanical. It’s not a formula. It’s not set. It’s not fixed. There is always the possibility of surprise. And in that sense it’s a little bit like sports. It doesn’t matter what the odds are. Weird stuff happens. And that makes it scary if you’re rooting for one team or the other, but that’s the drama of it.

Från ”It happened here” av David Remnick i The New Yorker, november 2016.

Bild: Pari Dukovic för The New Yorker.

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Citat: Bernie Sanders om valkampanjen!

Bernie Sanders i en intervju med Rolling Stone:

It’s hard. But I volunteered to do this. I’m glad we’re doing it. I look forward to winning this damn thing.

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Citat: Nick Cohen om Labour!

Nick Cohen skriver att parlamentsledamöterna i Labour måste göra sig av med partiledaren Jeremy Corbyn om partiet skall överleva:

The left would go wild; Labour members would scream that MPs were backstabbing bastards who had overridden party democracy. But so what? Politicians are meant to be backstabbing bastards. There are moments of crisis when their party and their country’s interests demand backstabbing bastards. If today’s Labour MPs can’t bring themselves to be backstabbing bastards, they should step aside and make way for proper politicians who can.

Bild: Jeremy Corbyn i The Telegraph. Foto: EPA.

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Citat: Chris Lehane om valkampanjer!

Chris Lehane, politisk rådgivare, om presidentvalskampanjer:

In the last five days, it always comes down to a knife fight in a telephone booth.

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Citat: Wellington vid Waterloo!

Hertingen av Wellington, segrare vid Waterloo och blivande premiärminister:

Hard pounding this, gentlemen; let’s see who will pound longest.

Bild: Detalj från ”Scotland Forever!” (1881). Målningen av lady Butler (Elizabeth Thompson) föreställer en kavalleri attack utförd av Royal Scots Greys vid slaget vid Waterloo 1815.

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Citat: När det hettar till i kampanjteamet!

When the house is on fire, it’s better to have a psychotic fireman than no fireman at all. 

                                                                      – Howard Wolfson

Wolfson var Communications Director i Hillary Clintons kaotiska kampanjteam 2008. Citatet från Joshua Greens ”The Front-Runner’s Fall”, The Atlantic.                                

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Citat: I skjortärmarna mot segern!

The country went to the polls. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, prepared by going around with his sleeves rolled up. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said that his pledges had been cut into an eight-foot slab of limestone. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, took a bus for John O’Groats.

– The Spectator sammanfattar veckan när Storbritannien gick till val.

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Citat: Nigel Farage om Europa!

I love Europe. I have drunk more Rioja than most people alive!

……………………………. – Nigel Farage, partiledare för EU-kritiska UKIP

Bild: Nigel Farage kampanjar i Cambridgeshire 2013 (Chris Radburn/PA)

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Citat: Tala är silver. Tiga är guld!

Affärsmannen Sir Daniel Gooch (1816-1889) talade aldrig i House of Parlament under de tjugo år han var parlamentsledamot för Conservative Party. Men han var lika glad för det.

I have taken no part in any of the debates, and have been a silent member. It would be a great advantage to business if there were a greater number who followed my example.

Bild: Teckning av Sir Leslie Ward alias Spy (1851-1922) i Vanity Fair.

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Citat: En riktig konservatism!

In 1904, 20% of journeys were made by bicycle in London. I want to see a figure like that again. If you can’t turn the clock back to 1904, what’s the point of being a Conservative?

                  – Boris Johnson, Londons borgmästare

Bild: Reklam för Hercules (1934)

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