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When your approval rating is only 10%, isn’t it really time to go?

Kurt?

Hallo?

Kurt Beck is Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate and Chairman of the SPD, the socialist partner in the grand coalition at national level.

In the latter position, he has first right of refusal when it comes to the SPD’s candidate for chancellor in the 2009 elections.

The SPD’s currently at 22%, down from 35% at the last election.

Not looking good, Kurt, especially when your own party gives you 16% approval.

And especially when 46% of your own party wants Angela Merkel as their next chancellor.

Maybe it’s that people are tired of your “homespun ways and rustic accent”, as the Economist kindly puts it.

Maybe it’s the way you betrayed the party faithful and tacitly accepted a opportunistic dirty deal with the (“so-called”, as he puts it) Linke party at state level and promptly fell on your face.

Maybe it’s your constant brain farts.

Or maybe it’s your recent announcement that you and Hans-Walter Steinmeier, the Foreign Minister and Deputy Chairman of the SPD would “come to an amicable agreement on the chancellorship candidacy question” and that you “wouldn’t hang around where you’re not wanted”.

Now why on EARTH would we think that you were having second thoughts about your candidacy?

How could we come to that conclusion?

No, we’ve all got the wrong end of the stick and we’re misinterpreting you as usual.

Kurt, you really are such a prick….

Kurt Beck, SPD, Angela Merkel, brain fart, Steinmeier, Linke Partei, German elections