Charlemagne on his blog, says:
What are British voters meant to hear [from William Hague's remarks about loss of British vetoes today]? The same thing that Czech voters are meant to hear [from Pres Klaus's statement on signing the treaty]. That something very grave—the loss of Czech sovereignty, the “loss of British national vetoes” has taken place—but that their political leaders are powerless to prevent it. What are they supposed to feel, other than blind rage?
These are very serious words, being used in a self-serving, unserious way. A British voter could easily think that all British national vetoes have now been lost, under the Lisbon treaty, though this is not true. A Czech voter could be forgiven for thinking that his country was no longer sovereign. That is also not true.
Mr Klaus and Mr Hague are indulging in irresponsible talk. And given that the same political leaders talking about the end of the world are not proposing to do anything about it, what are voters meant to think, but that their democracy is coming to an end? I find it depressing when I read the comments on various British news websites about the EU, and find that large numbers of them accuse the government of high treason, or talk of the “EUSSR”, preparing to punish all who dissent. But when political leaders play the same games of rhetorical inflation, who can blame voters for following suit?
I’m drawn to some other profoundly unserious politicians, on the other side of the pond, who are pandering to the most extreme and ludicrous of their constituents by supporting the claim that Obama isn’t a natural-born American.