Irony! Oh, no, no, not since the Stasi packed it in

Reds or Greens? No, not Christmas in Germany, but politics;

For those hoping for verbal fireworks in Germany's lower house, Gregor Gysi is a dream come true. Known for sparring with Chancellor Merkel, he might soon come to the apex of his power - and comic, rhetorical potential.

His humor honed in East Germany;

Gysi is in possessions of the rare political gift of irony. It wasn't an accident that the Verband der Redenschreiber deutscher Sprache (VRdS), or "Organization of German-language Speechwriters," named Gysi the best speaker of the 2013 elections. 

....But also haunting Gysi is the shadow of his alleged work with the East German Stasi, or state security apparatus. In 1998, a majority of Bundestag parliamentarians saw reason to believe that Gysi had engaged in unofficial activities for East Germany's secret police. Gysi, in turn, fought back and accused his critics of having "no idea what the life of a lawyer was like in the GDR." 

Now that's ironic!