More on the Leadership election and the left

Well it seems from the comments below that some feel that the fiasco of the last few days may be a positive, there may be a silver lining.Its given the campaign publicity and a platform. Hmm, well so would one left candidate declaring on Thursday. It may have flushed out Meacher supporters to nominate McDonnell. Well lets hope so. The worry of course is how many Meacher really had or how much his feverish ego imagined them. Of course some , and its been rumoured for the last few weeks on the blogs, may have been Brown supporters stirring. They may though still back him if they want a debate, or to quote the ever optimistic Osler, 'thrash him'.
Oh well speculation, speculation. Mean time lobby the Labour MPs .

I must admit I am somewhere between the 'Its a political earthquake' of Owen (see comments on Dave's blog) and the little ray of sunshine that is Osler :-0.

I really hope John makes the ballot, but if not its important to look beyond the leadership campaign and build on the momentum amongst the left in the Labour Party and the unions. It has kicked the corpse into life , but what happens next is crucial, as I have discussed elsewhere.

What is most depressing is the 'debates' on the whole issue on parts of the blogosphere. Check out the comments here and here. Lots of bickering and name calling on the sidelines. Its easy of course to sneer from the comfort of the Internet, but McDonnell had the guts to put his name forward and to stand on socialist (if reformist) principles. Instead of sniping away being oh so politically pure he has worked tirelessly to build a left grassroots campaign. He is standing there in front of the hostile media gaze defending left principles.
What do much of the group lets and so called revolutionaries do, well snipe and sneer as per usual . They will probably say I told you so if he does not make the ballot.

Who needs enemies when you have comrades like that.