He died this morning it seems.
In a car crash. This one’s going to fuel conspiracy theories for his party that will last a thousand years.
I saw a piece on him on CNN this morning, and he was a very snappy dresser for a politician. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Wow… reading about his BZO: a reasonably conservative party with an understanding of government’s necessity for education and environmental protection.
Can I pray Herr Haider gets reborn in an American body?
Read a little more before you make that wish. There’s a reason this is in the pit.
I am fairly suspicious myself, I must say.
Quite surprised he was driving himself!
Oh, you wacky Americans. The guy was practically a Nazi. That’s not hyperbole, either; it’s a statement of fact.
Yeah, please don’t wish for Herr Haider to be reincarnated as an American politician. Eurgh.
He was not a good man. I’m not happy he’s dead, but I won’t shed any tears for him.
I know the Austrians have a thriving far-right movement, but I don’t know the details, or Haider’s part in it. Anyone care to fight some ignorance?
We don’t need him we have David Duke. You’re not real bright, are you?
He led the largest far-right party for a while cullminating in it iirc getting approx 24% of the vote back in the day (a few years ago)… then he split off from that and started his own which at the last election got around 11 or percent while the other right wing party got maybe fifteen. I’ve made those numbers up because I cannot remember the figures but they’re about right.
I can easily see EU types having him bumped off. The EU supports democracy up to a point, if you get my drift.
On the other hand, 99% chance this was an accident purely because this sort of thing almost always is. But assasination is in no way implausible.
The numbers were 11 and 18 per cent.
These were really worrying - here in Germany there is currently no sign of any right-wing party anywhere near the 5% minimum for getting seats. But while the EU officials certainly are no neo-nazi fans, imagining an assassination planned by them seems quite laughable, pimms.
By the way: It is nice to see the international makeup of the dope taking an interest in our area here; reassuring that some people care about Europe as well when everybody is so interested in the American election.
News stories I’ve read state that he was driving alone, because his driver was off-duty, apparently way over the speed limit of 70 km/h in order to get to his mother’s birthday party; he attempted to overtake another car, hit a concrete divider and flipped the car several times; and the driver of the other car called the cops. Also, he’d been in a very similar accident in the same spot 15 years ago, so his driving habits seem to not have been the most careful. While “EU secret police (who?) plot assassination of right-wing politician” seems thrilling, “speeding driver makes bad choice on road and pays for it with life” is sadly quite a bit more commonplace. I wouldn’t really go for the assassination angle this time.
That’s what they want you to think!
Oh you wacky Europeans. What you consider Nazi would be considered center-right in the United States.
:smack:
Well, no. And I didn’t actually read the party description of his former party… or the bits about honoring the SS and praising the employment tactics of the Third Reich.
Maybe he had some businessman buying his suits for him, like our local Senator Norm Coleman.
It’s nothing to be proud of.
Always good to see a neo-Nazi bite it. I have to agree that he was a snappy dresser, though.
So I read the bits about him not being considered a nice guy, and that his parties both turned into cults of personality, and the whole thing with him being a dick about bilingual signs. But all in all, Wikipedia was actually kind of frustratingly vague. What were his party’s platforms?
I’m pretty sure that was a joke, based on Boozahol Squid, P.I.'s leap to judgment.
ETA: Um, you don’t actually think that’s true, do you? That neo-naziism is okay in America?