-- PROBABLY 85 DAYS TO ELECTION SILENCE! -- TERLECKI ON RAINBOW PSL, SCHETYNA ON LISTS IN A WEEK - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/07/18/ -- PIS SHEDS LEPEROUS GARB - JERZY HASZCZYŃSKI IN RZ: “This time, PiS did not rise to the occasion with honor and punish Angela Merkel for the fact that parties over which she lacks sufficient influence have humiliated former Prime Minister Beata Szydło twice during votes in the European Parliament. They behaved rationally and pragmatically, even strategically. (...) https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/307179922-Haszczynski-PiS-zrzuca--szaty--tredowatego.html -- MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI EXPLAINS IN RZ WHY THE POLITICS OF LOVE PAYS OFF FOR PIS: “PiS wants to be wiser than in 2007, when the election campaign involved escalating conflict, which effectively mobilized its opponents. A similar effect was seen in large cities in the recent local elections – especially in Warsaw – where the radicalism of Patryk Jaki (though he himself assures it was different) effectively mobilized Rafał Trzaskowski’s voters, which to some extent is why he achieved a record result. And here we come to the second reason why softening and proclaiming a politics of love is beneficial for PiS. Opposition voters want to vote for it more out of dislike for PiS than out of great love for Grzegorz Schetyna or Włodzimierz Czarzasty.” -- PIS DRESSED IN THE GARB OF A GENTLE LAMB WILL LOOK LIKE A VICTIM OF POLITICAL BRUTALITY - SZUŁDRZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “If PiS declares a truce, and the opposition begins to strongly attack PiS, a kind of role reversal may occur in the opinion of some voters – the opposition will become the aggressor, and PiS, suddenly dressed in the garb of a gentle lamb, will appear as an innocent victim of political brutality. This is therefore a political trap – PiS can gain from it, and the opposition can only lose.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/190719462-Michal-Szuldrzynski-Lagodny-jak-prezes-Jaroslaw-Kaczynski.html -- AT LEAST THREE OPPOSITION BLOCS - ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ IN ONET: “Not all together, as Schetyna wanted. Not in two blocs, as Kosiniak-Kamysz claimed. Everything indicates that the opposition will go to the elections in at least three coalitions. Platforma with Nowoczesna – that's one. The second is PSL – maybe with Kukiz, maybe with other smaller conservative parties. Some left wing under the leadership of SLD – that's the third.” -- PO FEARS COALITION WITH POST-COMMUNISTS - STANKIEWICZ CONTINUES: "Since there is no PSL, there cannot be SLD alone" – I hear in the inner circles of Platforma. Why? Because the leaders of PO fear a coalition with a post-communist party, especially since Czarzasty intends to field SLD dinosaurs like Joanna Senyszyn, Marek Dyduch, Tadeusz Iwiński, or Jerzy Jaskiernia in the elections. This is unacceptable for a significant portion of PO politicians – who, after all, come from anti-communist backgrounds. So today – after Schetyna announces he's giving SLD the cold shoulder – Czarzasty will announce the building of his own left-wing list.” -- STANKIEWICZ AMAZED BY OPPOSITION'S DIVISION: “It is astonishing that the anti-PiS opposition – which has shouted in a unanimous chorus for over 3 years that the Constitution is being violated, democracy is threatened, and the country is in decline – is today as divided as never before. And completely unprepared for elections, the date of which – if one knows how to count to four – has been known for years.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/newsletter-onetu-andrzej-stankiewicz-beda-trzy-bloki-opozycji-na-wybory/g7dpysy -- PM MOST POPULAR POLITICIAN - SURVEY FOR ONET (by Ibris): “Prime Minister Morawiecki is trusted by 45.8% of respondents surveyed by IBRiS. 40% of respondents were of the opposite opinion. Thus, Mateusz Morawiecki overtook Andrzej Duda in the leading position. The incumbent president enjoys the trust of 44.9% of respondents. Along with the prime minister, they are the only politicians whom Poles trust more than they distrust. However, compared to the June survey, the number of negative responses towards Andrzej Duda increased by 5 percentage points.” -- KACZYŃSKI IN THIRD PLACE AMONG THE MOST POPULAR – AHEAD OF TUSK: “Jarosław Kaczyński took the last spot on the podium. The Law and Justice leader is trusted by 36.7% of respondents, while 47.2% hold the opposite opinion. Donald Tusk came in fourth. The outgoing President of the European Council enjoys over 35% trust. 53.2% of respondents spoke negatively about the former prime minister.” -- SCHETYNA WITH A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN POPULARITY BUT STILL BEHIND: “The opposition politician who ranked behind Donald Tusk, who is outside Polish politics, is the head of PSL, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, in seventh position. He is trusted by 31.9% of all participants in the survey. This is an increase of 6.1 percentage points compared to the June poll. Far behind his political rivals is the leader of Civic Platform, Grzegorz Schetyna – he is trusted by 20.9% of respondents, while 57.1% hold the opposite opinion. Despite such a large difference, Schetyna recorded a significant increase – 5.0 percentage points in positive responses. https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/nowy-sondaz-ibris-dla-onetu-komu-ufaja-polacy/t8ecpcp -- KRZYSZTOF MAZUR ON WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LEFT – IN HIS LATEST PODCAST: “The votes of blue-collar workers are represented today by Law and Justice. It was PiS that proposed a language that allows for describing the poor economic situation of the working classes. When talking about the West, they use neocolonial language. In their narrative, powerful international corporations exploit Polish workers. There is no place in Poland for a left-wing party in the economic sense, because PiS fulfills that role. The only thing left for the new left is the language of a worldview revolution. Exactly the kind that Civic Platform uses today.” https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2019/07/17/mazur-lewica-zdradzila-robotnikow/ -- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE POLISH PEASANT – PROF. MARKOWSKI IN AN INTERVIEW WITH WIADOMO.CO: “After analyzing data from polling stations, more can be said, but it is certainly puzzling what happened to the Polish peasant, who voted in such large numbers in the last two, three hours before the polls closed. This is a novelty and some changes must have occurred; perhaps the pulpit had an effect, or perhaps some personality changes…” -- THE RESULT FOR ALMOST JUST PO IS A FAIRLY GOOD RESULT AND IT CAN BE ASSUMED THAT ANOTHER POLL COULD GIVE EVEN OVER 30% FOR KO – MARKOWSKI CONTINUES: “In the case of such a left-wing bloc, I have no doubt they could achieve around 15% if the campaign were well thought out. If the left-wing bloc achieved about 15%, and another around PSL – although I have greater doubts here, as I don't see a partner for PSL in this bloc – but if it existed and also achieved around 13-15%, then the additional 25-27% for Civic Coalition could be a very good result even with the D’Hondt method. The most important thing in these elections, however, will be not to waste votes on parties that will not be in parliament. In 2015, this was almost 17% of the votes, although in the previous two elections this figure was only slightly over 4%.” -- THE RESULT OF THE EUROPEAN COALITION WAS VERY GOOD AND IF SOMEONE HAD TOLD THEM BEFORE THE ELECTIONS THAT THEY WOULD GET 38%, THEY WOULD HAVE TAKEN IT WITH A SMILE. HOWEVER, THE RESULT OF PIS IS EVEN MORE UNEXPECTED – SAYS MARKOWSKI: “In any case, this matter deserves careful attention. It can certainly be said that the result of the European Coalition, with a weak campaign and omissions, is a sensationally good result.” -- IN WARSAW, THE MESSAGE FROM THE ŻOLIBORZ LETTER TAKES TWO WEEKS TO REACH WOLÁ, BECAUSE THE POST OFFICE HAS TURNED INTO CHURCH-SIDE SHOPS – MARKOWSKI CONTINUES: “There are always several biographies of John Paul II there, church newspapers, cookbooks by nuns, or their advice on how to use herbs. A state institution is turning itself into a church bazaar, and the biggest problem is that no one reacts to it. The problem is that no one reacts to it, and PSL politicians (and probably many from PO, and even SLD) simply believe that this topic cannot be raised. A mixture of opportunism and conformism on this matter has permanently settled into the convictions of Polish politicians of various kinds. Probably election fear stands behind it, and wrongly so, because deep down (not declaratively) a large part of Poles wants to restore the civilized status of this institution. For the other part – contrary to appearances, a very numerous one – for whom reason, rationality, Enlightenment tradition, and scientific knowledge are important, the current Polish public sphere is an insult to their deep convictions. What’s worse, I – because I belong to this part – cannot defend myself against the flood of narratives insulting my reason (and institutionally confirmed assessments of the accuracy of my scientific beliefs about the world), while we constantly hear about the offense to religious feelings through criticism of these unverifiable worldviews, and even increasingly, many willingly take matters to court. https://wiadomo.co/prof-radoslaw-markowski-co-sie-stalo-z-polskim-chlopem/ -- RAFAŁ WOŚ DEFENDS CIVIL SERVANTS – as he writes in Tygodnik Powszechny: “Nothing irritates me more than the ritualistic complaining about the 'army of bureaucratic loafers' who 'devour billions of our taxes.' Please, oppose this unfair witch hunt whenever you have the opportunity. Let the moral of this story be a practical piece of advice. Let's react when we believe our civil servants are unjustly attacked. Let's defend their dignity against those who mistake an administrative employee for a serf, on whom they can vent their neuroses and frustrations without any consequences.” https://www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/bronmy-urzednikow-159647 -- IN CRITIQUE, A POLEMIC WITH RAFAŁ WOŚ – HOMOPHOBES DON'T NEED GUNS. WORDS ARE ENOUGH – JAN RADOMSKI: “In relatively few places in the world can one still encounter formalized, physical, and government-approved homophobia. However, claiming that homophobia does not exist is absurd. On the contrary. Homosexual men and women encounter manifestations of violence every day. Starting from symbolic, through systemic, which causes them to live in informal unions on the fringes of society, to street aggression. It must be said openly that in contemporary realities (the end of the second decade of the 21st century, membership in the European Union and the legal norms in force within it) our government simply does not have many options to be even more homophobic. Rafał Woś claims he hasn't seen a 'smoking gun.' I am surprised. Because I see it every day.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/homofobom-nie-potrzeba-broni/ -- BIRTHDAYS: Renata Beger, Anna Milczanowska, Marek Plura, Radosław Lubczyk.