Best-laid plans

Peretz's ego trip falls apart.

The Shas committee of Torah sages led by the party’s spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef on Monday ruled that the religious faction will recommend Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the premiership.

It seems the other parties are following suit:

Earlier Monday, both the Pensioners Party and Meretz recommended Olmert for the post of prime minister.

Sorry, Amir. But maybe there's a lesson here somewhere: the voters don't like assholes. (C.f. Metzger.)

Last Thursday, Shas leader Eli Yishai met with Labor leader Amir Peretz to discuss the possibility of forming a "social front."

But Labor decided to pursue the possibility of an alternative governing coalition with right-wing parties, in a bid to circumvent Kadima and see Peretz appointed as prime minister.

However, [this] failed and the plan has been abandoned. Shas apparently understood this and decided to recommend Olmert.

Why Amir, you sneaky little fuck. You're just lucky that mustache works for you, or I'd be rather teed off right now. You get one free hit, goober. No more funny stuff.
Oh, and this was cute:

Likud representatives are expected to tell the president they view Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu as the best candidate to form a government, but in light of the political reality that has been created they will not be recommending anyone.

Putzes.

Edit:

A7 has some very interesting pseudo-commentary from yesterday on the "possible realignment" a Labor-rightwing coalition would do to Israeli politics:

Labor’s preference for reaching a negotiated settlement with the Palestinian Authority, rather than making unilateral withdrawals from territory, may provide the raison d’etere for the nationalist right’s rapprochement with Labor.

With the Hamas in power in the Palestinian Authority and the chances for a negotiated settlement based on territorial compromise looking more and more remote, many right wing leaders reason they have nothing to lose by hooking up with Labor. Labor’s platform, moreover, calls for implementing the U.S. backed road map plan, which was accepted in principle by the nationalist right.

Up until the mid-1970’s, Labor’s calling card was providing infrastructure for settlement throughout the country, including Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Yesha). The founders of Gush Emumim, the movement that spawned most of the settlements in Yesha, originally looked for backing among leaders of the Labor party.

Such support was not in short supply. Veteran party leaders, including Shimon Peres (now in Kadima), spent millions setting up numerous communities in Yesha, such as Kfar Darom and Netzarim in Gaza, and Kiryat Arba, Ma’ale Adumim, Gush Etzion, Ofra, in Judea and Samaria, as well as a half dozen agricultural communities in the Jordan Valley.

Unlike the Likud, which destroyed Jewish communities in Sinai following the peace treaty with Egypt, and last summer in Gaza and northern Samaria, Labor has never taken down a single Jewish community in the land of Israel.

Wow, these guys MUST be getting desperate. At the same time, though, Peretz's behavior does highlight a tendency of Labor MKs (like most politicans, sadly) to basically do whatever they have to if it means staying in power. Let's hope Peretz is more like Mitzna than "hey, portfolios!" Peres.