When the newly created Palikot's Movement won 10 percent of the vote in the 2011 parliamentary elections, the party was hailed by many social liberals as a breakthrough on the Polish political scene.
Janusz Palikot, an eccentric politician and former Civic Platform MP, had managed to establish a party which now had the third-highest number of MPs in parliament despite supporting the legalization of marijuana, the sanctioning of civil unions, easier access to abortion and the cessation of religious lessons in Poland's classrooms.
To many on the left, Mr Palikot seemed a breath of fresh air, a taboo-breaker who deserved the support of Poland's enlightened. Few politicians can match the rate of Janusz Palikot's media appearances in recent years.
But the controversial politician's run may now be over, as he is being criticized by the very people who used to sing his praises.
Close to history
Last week, Palikot's party was on the verge of making political history by proposing Poland's first transsexual MP Anna Grodzka to be its deputy parliamentary speaker.
Tradition has it that each party in parliament is entitled a deputy speaker and so when Palikot's Movement said it was withdrawing its support from Wanda Nowicka, who had been its deputy speaker, in favor of Ms Grodzka, many progressives saw an historic opportunity.
Janusz Palikot said that Ms Nowicka, a prominent feminist, had secretly received a z³.40,000 cash bonus from the parliamentary speaker without informing the party. Thus, she had compromised its principles and had to go, reasoned the RP leader. Unfortunately for him, Ms Nowicka refused to resign, standing her ground and saying she had done nothing improper.
Left and right against Grodzka
As expected, the conservative opposition Law and Justice party was against Ms Grodzka's candidacy.
But more surprisingly, the ruling center-right Civic Platform and the Democratic Left Alliance, a rival of Palikot's Movement on the left, combined to vote for Ms Nowicka to stay on as deputy speaker, despite the fact that she had lost her party's support.
Civic Platform voted to keep Ms Nowicka because it wanted to avoid a troublesome vote on Anna Grodzka. The party leadership simply didn't know how its conservative MPs would react to her candidacy. And Prime Minister Donald Tusk did not want his party to be perceived as responsible for having blocked Ms Grodzka from becoming deputy speaker.
The Democratic Left Alliance, on the other hand, did not want Palikot's Movement to be able bask in the glory of having made progressive history by making a transsexual MP deputy speaker. That would have given a serious boost in popularity to Palikot's Movement among progressive voters.
So Palikot had a problem on his hands. But instead of trying to outmaneuver Ms Nowicka off camera, the controversial politician made a terrible blunder on air.
Nothing surprising
Frustrated at Ms Nowicka's insistence on clinging on to her deputy speaker position and defying his will, Mr Palikot said, “It may be that Wanda Nowicka wants to be raped, but not by me. I'm not the type of person who is suited for that type of work.”
As could be expected, the controversial politician has been on the receiving end of a firestorm of criticism since then. Meanwhile, Polish conservatives are rejoicing. Not only was Anna Grodzka not made deputy speaker, but the leader of the party considered social progressives' hope is now being labeled a chauvinist as well.
Personally, I was not surprised by Mr Palikot's statements.
The man's political career was built on insults and derogatory comments, which he continually makes about his conservative political opponents. Liberals made the mistake of embracing him, adopting the “my enemy's enemy is my friend” rule.
But Janusz Palikot has always been a chameleon. He was once the publisher of an ultra-conservative socio-economic weekly only to turn around and start portraying himself as Poland's leading social liberal.
He has made homophobic statements while at the same time maintaining he supports gay marriage. This is a man who will say anything to get elected. Don't be surprised to see him at an Opus Dei meeting if he felt that would benefit him politically.
Mr Palikot is not a worthy leader of the progressive cause in Poland. It is time progressives realized that and started fishing around for someone who will push their postulates due to shared values, not political opportunism.
Mr Palikot is a nihilistic opportunist and it is time he is cast away by the progressive movement in Poland. There must be a better progressive leader out there somewhere.
