Sorry for taking a break for a few days but I just had to take a step back to get a handle on the situation.
If I hear one more vile Conservative talking point based on a lie and reeking of desperation (eg. the Liberals and NDP are trying to overturn election results, the Bloc would hold the balance of power, Canadians have rejected the coalition because the polls say so, the coalition MPs' deceased family members would be "turning in their graves" blablabla) it might just send me over the edge. How low can these f@#$ers go? Sorry for the expletives but this is out of control. Misleading and scaring Canadians to hold on to power is unacceptable.
This will be an historic time studied by political scientists, historians, and constitutional scholars, but indoctrination enthusiasts should take note as well. The Conservative machine has pulled out all the stops. They are knowingly spreading falsehoods about what is going on (I say knowingly because I am sure that they paid enough attention in high school social studies to know how our parliamentary democracy works). They are doing all sorts of tricky stuff that flies under the radar. Like calling conservative supporters, inciting their anger, and then connecting them with an NDP or Liberal MP.
But what worries me the most is not the Conservative machine. Call me naive, but I have faith in Canadians' ability to eventually wade through the BS and scare tactics and figure out that a coalition government will give them what most of them desperately want right now: a stable government where Harper is not the PM. Conservative supporters will still be angry about losing power, but we all know (especially Harper) that true Conservative supporters are the minority of the electorate.
No, the biggest threat to the coalition is the Liberal Party. I won't put all Liberals in the same boat here- there are obviously some that have realized that Harper can't be trusted to put Canadians before his partisan games. These are the same Liberals who were dissatisfied, and at times embarrassed, with how the Liberal caucus propped up the Harper government for years. The same Liberals who were so stoked when their party grew a pair last week and stood up to Harper, that they organized online and on the ground to build support for the coalition.
I feel pretty terrible for these principled Liberals. First John Manley came along and rained on their parade and now a few MPs, like Ujjal Dosanjh (really, how many times is this a@$hole going to turn on the NDP in his political career) are sowing the seeds of doubt about the future of the coalition.
It must be really demoralizing to be one of the principled Liberals right now. To come so close to taking out Stephen Harper, who has been the worst threat to progressive politics that our country has seen in decades, only to be thwarted by indecision and in-fighting; that would be rough.
The Liberal party is in dangerous territory right now as they decide how to select their leader. They stand to alienate a lot of their members and supporters if they don't let their membership have a say. If they opt for the caucus and national executive deciding on the leader, they will probably get away with it because of the urgency of the situation. But if on top of an undemocratic leadership selection, they decide to prop up Stephen Harper for a few more budgets, they will pay the price (the Liberal brand can only do so much without people to fly the flag). For a party whose membership and leadership contenders are all talking about rebuilding and renewal, this is a very strange direction to be heading.
If the Liberals decide in January to prop up Harper, they will be saying that it's okay to play partisan games instead of dealing with the economy; that it's totally acceptable to risk causing a national unity crisis with highly charged, divisive rhetoric; and that subverting the democracy of our system of responsible government is an effective method of staying in power.
18 hours ago
Posts
10 comments:
And that scares the crap out of me. I hope liberals don't do that.
Don't worry (well, ya worry, it is the LPC after all) but many Liberals are pissed.
Here's my issues with the Libs:
Rae wins: will continue with the coalition idea and take down Harper in Jan. Unfortunately, if Jean goes to an election (perhaps, she hasn't proven that she has a backbone against Harper yet), Rae will be accountable for all his mistakes in Ontario (under our flag). While Harper can make mistakes, they won't let anyone else.
Iggy: Likely to give up on the coalition, then attempt to revive it whenever he feels the Libs are about to poll enough to defeat Harper without us. I can see him being a use and dispose the NDP kind of leader.
LeBlanc: too bad he dropped out.
I agree with your post in its entirety except for this: "But if on top of an undemocratic leadership selection, [the Liberals] decide to prop up Stephen Harper for a few more budgets, they will pay the price (the Liberal brand can only do so much without people to fly the flag).
I'm afraid WE will all be paying a price. By the time the man behind the Harper machine has finished with reforming Canada's political landscape, we wouldn't give a hoot, not because we wouldn't care anymore but because there's nothing we'll be able to do about it.
There is a quote that I keep on my blog and it's from former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray. He writes: “The thing with tyranny is that, if you don’t try to fight it when it starts, it very quickly gets too strong for you."
Everyone knows Harper must go, including the Liberals. The only question the Liberals have is who should lead the party if the coalition fails and there is an election.
Harper must go, that is not the question. Harper is gone, he only bought some time.
Too much time has already been wasted, we need to put together an economic plan now. It doesn't matter who puts in place. But we already know the Conservatives will not do so willingly so they are OUT. Harper instead can only think of playing politics during the great economic correction. He is a BASTARD!!
We need something like change.gov. Don't need to copy it we just need some place to start collecting complete ideas with individual and social cost benefit included, over reasonable time "5yrs".
Ideas how to start this?
The major beneficiary of an Iggy coronation will be the NDP. There is a massive strategic opportunity shaping up here that the NDP must work very hard to capitalise on.
So-called progressive voters have been whipped up by Harper and they are looking for a vehicle. But they will have a difficult time supporting Ignatieff after a hypocritical party process that shows little respect for democratic process.
Not to mention that his stands on torture and the Iraq invasion are repulsive.
But that's ok. Layton can continue to hold his feet to the fire, knowing full well that this will be the best strategy if:
1. Ignatieff ditches the coalition and supports the Harper budget in January;
2. A confidence vote leads to an election in which the NDP needs to justify running a complete set of candidates;
2. A confidence vote topples Harper and the NDP needs a legitimate reason to support the Liberals WITHOUT entering government.
The only party that looks good after this will be the NDP. And maybe the Conservatives. Oh well. It's a long-term game.
Ignatieff has been an apologist for Bush (and his evil war policies), and for himself. Give me one reason why he wouldn't add Harper to the list if that were to be the political expedient thing to do?
It'll be interesting to see what happens when the budget comes up (on the 27th of Jan, I think). The odd thing I noticed was that after the events surrounding the economic statement, polls showed that the Liberals remained stagnant, the NDP lost about six points, while the CPC gained six points. Strange. I haven't seen any recent polls, though. Anyway, I still hope that the gov't will be defeated over the upcoming budget, and the coalition will take over.
Just to update my previous post, I saw a very recent poll that showed the NDP back to where they were last election, the CPC down a bit, and the Libs now tied with the CPC (the resurgence in Lib popularity is expected, given that they've just gotten a new leader--in fact, this also happened right after Dion was chosen. Ignatieff, I'm guessing, will have more staying power).
Any mention of the coalition has been removed from both the NDP and Liberal websites, though. Admittedly, one error I felt the coalition made was being open about their intent BEFORE they had the confidence vote. For an analogy, when playing poker, if you've got a strong hand, don't advertise it, or else your opponent will simply fold.
I'm hoping that they (the coalition partners) are playing low key now, but still intend to defeat this obviously untrustworthy government (and, preferably, rather than another costly and time consuming election, they will be awarded power).
Post a Comment