Portugal Repeats Spain's Bum-Tossing Elections

Nationally, Portugal is going through what Spain went through locally.  The ruling Portugese Socialst government has been toppled by a center-right party, just like Spain.  But this does not mean what the Tea Party GOP think it means.  And The Economist agrees with me.  Buttonwood at The Economist writes

A crisis that most people believe was caused by the banks has not led to a massive shift to the left in electoral terms; instead voters have tended to punish the incumbent government, regardless of its political inclinations.

I blogged exactly this back on May 23rd when I said that the losses in the Spanish local elections constituted less a shot at the Socialists for being Socialists, but rather a shot at the Socialists for not being Socialists.  This was a vote against austerity and the domination of the financial sector by private banking interests which trashed the economy with access to cheap money.

This was clearly a "throw the bums out" moment for Spain.  Portugal has done exactly the same thing.