tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post665404067556256252..comments2023-10-20T18:03:01.821+09:00Comments on GlobalTalk 21: Hey, I’ve Got an Idea, Why Don’t We All Sit Out the Revote?Jun Okumurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00291478225274759649noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post-41859905485359465492008-05-01T10:27:00.000+09:002008-05-01T10:27:00.000+09:00I am of course aware that the DPJ leadership is bl...I am of course aware that the DPJ leadership is blaming the LDP for the boycott. But Ozawa is no longer an LDP member, and some of the DPJ leadership and most of its rank-and-file never were. If there is an unreasonable approach to lawmaking in all this, it has been bipartisan.<BR/><BR/>The DPJ not only boycotted the session but prefaced it with old-school strongarm tactics reminicent of the WWE-esque LDP-Socialist matches of yore. I don't think that's a reasonable approach to lawmaking, nor have the DPJ been blameless in contrast to the LDP over the last 60 days. The desire, the need for change is one thing; to exonerate the opposition or overlook its own shortcomings because of it is totally another. Substnace and procedure are two different things.<BR/><BR/>The DPJ (and the Socialists)could do what it did because they correctly saw the gasoline taxes as a far more evocative issue than the refueling operation. It obviously figured greatly in their calculations. <I>(I should have given that as the context; I BUIed--I rarely do that, and really shoudn't.)</I> But I stand by my undocumented accusation that the decision was driven by the need to close ranks.Jun Okumurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00291478225274759649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post-20309228199890356422008-05-01T08:51:00.000+09:002008-05-01T08:51:00.000+09:00okumura-san - When you write "See, if everybody’s ...okumura-san - <BR/><BR/>When you write "See, if everybody’s offside, then nobody’s offside." you have captured the essence of the difference the battle over the extension of the Indian Ocean deployment and the fight over the reimposition of this tax.<BR/><BR/>In the earlier case, the stated reasons for opposing the Indian Ocean deployment were opaque and seemed to make sense to Ozawa alone. The rest of his party just had to go along with the old man's strategy. That is what made his skipping out at the last moment so infuriating.<BR/><BR/>This time around, everyone knows why the DPJ leadership and most of the DPj rank-and-file oppose the reimposition of the gasoline tax. Boycotting sessions en masse is also a recognized form of Diet protest. That opposition members chose to boycott the session was a reasonable response to an unreasonable approach to lawmaking.MTChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.com