While we are at that, Kaczynski was an odd figure - right wing on social issues and social-democratic (if not left wing) on economic issues (e.g. welfare state.) This put him at odds with the younger and college educated generation that tend to be neo-liberal both socially and economically. As I understand, his main power base was comparable to that of Sarah Palin - downwardly mobile lower middle and working class, petit bourgeoisie - especially in less economically developed regions in Eastern Poland - and parts of Russophobic and xenophobic intelligentsia.
He lost popularity for a large part because of his abrasive populist style (akin to that of Bush jr.) that appealed to his domestic power base but was an embarrassment to more cosmopolitan audiences.
Wojtek
On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 4:50 PM, James Heartfield < Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> There is breathtaking hypocrisy over Lech Kaczynski in the press here in
> the UK. All the newspapers that were slagging him off as an unreconstructed
> homophobic nationalist are now praising him - and in the self-same breath
> saying that his death is a great opportunity for Poland to 'move on'!
>
> If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would conclude that he had been
> assassinated by the European Union.
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