The oldest political game in town is that when you have no reply to the message, you attack the messenger.
Here is a typical example:
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Wednesday, August 15, 2012 by Austin Sammut, Mosta
Dinosaurs and democracy
What a shame for Alex Sceberras Trigona to write about democracy (August 8)! He never knew where democracy started. How dare he preach to us about it?
We who knew him at the University in the days he was president of the Students’ Representative Council and beyond clearly understand what slime and hypocrisy is all about. As Minister of Foreign Affairs he courted the two most dangerous people in the world on our behalf and this under Malta’s most despotic government ever (is it to be repeated?).
Dinosaurs should be in museums not running around with supposedly progressive and moderate movements (sic). I rest my case and will say no more.
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Irrespective of AST's credentials in democracy and the study of dinosaurs, his original contribution raised interesting points which need to be debated by constitutional experts. To a legal layman the issue is not straightforward. If the Constitution provides for granting additional seats so that the party that obtained an absolute or relative majority in a two-party parliament can govern, what should happen when that government loses its absolute or relative majority when one of its members resigns from the party and keeps his seat as an independent? In such an event, as presently, government no longer holds a relative majority of votes and parliament is no longer a two party affair.
Perhaps at this late stage of the legislature this is a moot point but it still ought to be discussed by constitutional experts. Dr Austin Sammut could have contributed to it better than by trying to kill the messenger.
We who knew him at the University in the days he was president of the Students’ Representative Council and beyond clearly understand what slime and hypocrisy is all about. As Minister of Foreign Affairs he courted the two most dangerous people in the world on our behalf and this under Malta’s most despotic government ever (is it to be repeated?).
Dinosaurs should be in museums not running around with supposedly progressive and moderate movements (sic). I rest my case and will say no more.
___________________________________________________________________________
Irrespective of AST's credentials in democracy and the study of dinosaurs, his original contribution raised interesting points which need to be debated by constitutional experts. To a legal layman the issue is not straightforward. If the Constitution provides for granting additional seats so that the party that obtained an absolute or relative majority in a two-party parliament can govern, what should happen when that government loses its absolute or relative majority when one of its members resigns from the party and keeps his seat as an independent? In such an event, as presently, government no longer holds a relative majority of votes and parliament is no longer a two party affair.
Perhaps at this late stage of the legislature this is a moot point but it still ought to be discussed by constitutional experts. Dr Austin Sammut could have contributed to it better than by trying to kill the messenger.
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