Otto Schily exited office in 2005, fifteen years ago. While he is a law-and-order hardliner himself, he's not relevant for any recent discussions. Since then the office was filled by hardline authoritarians (Schäuble, Maiziere, HP Friedrich, Maiziere, Seehofer).
But if Schily is any indication (and why not?) it doesn't help to have a different party fill that position. Just like it took Nixon to go to China (because he wasn't at risk of being mistaken for a friend of communism) other partys can't afford to look much "weaker" than the current folks - and then have _anything_ go wrong.
> But if Schily is any indication (and why not?) it doesn't help to have a different party fill that position.
I agree on that one. There aren't many progressives in interior politics aside from Left and Greens, the rest is all authoritarian/law-and-order hardliners. Frankly, it's disgusting.
By association Otto Schily wasn't a conservative and yet...