Stardate 20021020.1450

(On Screen): Oh, well.

I honestly had hoped that the Irish would turn down the Nice treaty again, in part because I object on principle to the idea of holding an election a second time on something without changing it, so that the government says, "Sorry, you didn't give us the right answer. Try again." The point of an election is for the government to find out what the voters want, not for the government to get a rubber stamp on what it's already decided to do even if the voters don't want it.

And I also confess that I was looking forward to seeing the consternation and spinning on the continent if the Nice treaty had turned to ashes. It would not, in the long run, have actually made any difference in terms of letting more nations into the EU; they would just have found a different way to do it.

I was tentatively constructing an article in my head that I'd write when the Irish turned the treaty down a second time, and then they had to go and pass the thing. Sigh, such a wonderful opportunity for gloating wasted.