Final Word from Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Bohuslav Sobotka said in HN yesterday that if ČSSD has enough support from the voters, he will seek reelection next spring as party chairman and will want to lead the Social Democrats into the 2017 parliamentary elections. If Parlamentní listy had interpreted this to mean that Sobotka will step down as chairman if ČSSD doesn't win the regional and Senate elections, it would have been written off as pro-Zeman propaganda. Instead, it was HN itself that distorted Sobotka's words (at least based on the written text). Sobotka subsequently denied that he plans to resign if ČSSD doesn't win this fall, but the damage was done. Miloš Zeman has been trying for months to instill the belief that Sobotka should step aside if this fall's elections go badly for ČSSD (remember the Kalashnikov comment?), and now HN has done it for him. Who would ever expect Zdeněk Bakala's ČSSD-friendly publishing house of conducting a reverse Lány putsch? [Czech Republic Economia]
Glossary of difficult words
reverse Lány putsch - meaning that the Lány-like putsch is being conducted unintentionally or by someone who would normally be expected to support Sobotka;
to distort - to give a misleading or false account or impression of;
to instill/instil - to gradually but firmly establish (an idea or attitude) in a person's mind.