Friday, August 24, 2007
Campaign 2008 - Wrap-Up - Updated
Allow me to put the satire aside for a second and talk about this election campaign. It has been a gob-smacking affair on a number of fronts.
One. While this is as unpleasant for me as eating liver stuffed with brussel sprouts, I must concede that Stephane Dion has run an intelligent campaign. Not so much intelligent from the strategy perspective - that hissy fit in the final minutes of the english debate certainly confirmed voters' fears that he hadn't the chops to run a country. But aside from that, he presented reasonable - might I even say Conservative - policies and debated Stephen Harper as if he understood how smart a man our Prime Minister is. The Prime Minister, meanwhile, was sure-footed, even-tempered and confident for the entire 36 day run.
Two. The sideshow of Elizabeth May doing her best to play North Korea to Jack Layton's South Korea might have given us all good belly laughs, but sadly for their parties, signalled to the country that if alternatives were sought from our two big parties, neither of these groups could do it. You don't see this kind of animus and venom unless you're at a curling club's annual general meeting. Petty, petty. And like Mr. Petty, they're both free falling.
Three. The last polls continue to show an unprecendented number of undecided voters. This isn't just people waffling between right-leaning Gritss and left-leaning Tories, these people are treating "not decided" as if it meant "none of the above". As a loyal Harpermaniac, its baffling. For a Prime Minister, we have the perfect combination of Muhammed Ali, Albert Einstein and Charlemagne. Who wouldn't want to keep that good thing going? But that's just me. Afterall, Taco Bell does well and I can't stand Taco Bell.
Anyway, if I were to put my analyst hat on and eschew propaganda for a second, I would say the tipping point - the moment when so much of Canada swung into the "none of the above" column - came last summer when yet another chunk of Montreal infrastructure came tumbling down. Like a virus, every day, more people began to question the political culture of this nation. A culture which, for decades, used infrastructure to create jobs without regard for public safety. A bureaucracy that worried more about its pension and holidays than the sacred trust given to them by tax payers. A political establishment so fixed on announceables, it ignored deliverables.
Of course, our Prime Minister is the antedote to the mess the past generation created. But even the great Stephen Harper should pay attention to the spreading anger in this country over how our entire public sphere operates.
For now, I'm still betting that the undecides will break the Tories' way and by midnight tomorrow, we'll be looking at a Tory majority. That goal achieved, this blog can finally retire after a political marathon that began just weeks before the 2006 campaign.
Update: My analysis of the facts on the ground seem to run in line with James Bow - again, I'm loath to agree with a Liberal, but.....
One. While this is as unpleasant for me as eating liver stuffed with brussel sprouts, I must concede that Stephane Dion has run an intelligent campaign. Not so much intelligent from the strategy perspective - that hissy fit in the final minutes of the english debate certainly confirmed voters' fears that he hadn't the chops to run a country. But aside from that, he presented reasonable - might I even say Conservative - policies and debated Stephen Harper as if he understood how smart a man our Prime Minister is. The Prime Minister, meanwhile, was sure-footed, even-tempered and confident for the entire 36 day run.
Two. The sideshow of Elizabeth May doing her best to play North Korea to Jack Layton's South Korea might have given us all good belly laughs, but sadly for their parties, signalled to the country that if alternatives were sought from our two big parties, neither of these groups could do it. You don't see this kind of animus and venom unless you're at a curling club's annual general meeting. Petty, petty. And like Mr. Petty, they're both free falling.
Three. The last polls continue to show an unprecendented number of undecided voters. This isn't just people waffling between right-leaning Gritss and left-leaning Tories, these people are treating "not decided" as if it meant "none of the above". As a loyal Harpermaniac, its baffling. For a Prime Minister, we have the perfect combination of Muhammed Ali, Albert Einstein and Charlemagne. Who wouldn't want to keep that good thing going? But that's just me. Afterall, Taco Bell does well and I can't stand Taco Bell.
Anyway, if I were to put my analyst hat on and eschew propaganda for a second, I would say the tipping point - the moment when so much of Canada swung into the "none of the above" column - came last summer when yet another chunk of Montreal infrastructure came tumbling down. Like a virus, every day, more people began to question the political culture of this nation. A culture which, for decades, used infrastructure to create jobs without regard for public safety. A bureaucracy that worried more about its pension and holidays than the sacred trust given to them by tax payers. A political establishment so fixed on announceables, it ignored deliverables.
Of course, our Prime Minister is the antedote to the mess the past generation created. But even the great Stephen Harper should pay attention to the spreading anger in this country over how our entire public sphere operates.
For now, I'm still betting that the undecides will break the Tories' way and by midnight tomorrow, we'll be looking at a Tory majority. That goal achieved, this blog can finally retire after a political marathon that began just weeks before the 2006 campaign.
Update: My analysis of the facts on the ground seem to run in line with James Bow - again, I'm loath to agree with a Liberal, but.....
Labels: I can't decide what this label should be - ha ha
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It is absolutely true that more and more people are looking at all of the alternatives and saying "none for me, thanks" - just as even the good that is being done is overcome by the sense that everyone is perpetuating a system that is no longer working.
This is why I think the Prime Minister and his Cabinet need to be far more visible in the next few months, getting on top of events in public, carrying on a dialogue with Canadians. The odd gaffe and the steady drone of dreck from the Opposition parties and the media that will accompany this is all right: we are strong enough to withstand that. But getting on top of the so-called "undecided" is critical. Being seen to do something when a chunk of a city is suddenly closed is essential. It's not a money thing, it's a sign of care and concern - or the impression that this is yet another Bush post-Katrina will emerge.
Visibility, dialogue, facts, arguments. There are choices we need to make about what to do with ageing infrastructure, dying economic underpinnings, and the like. Some risks must be run for the prize to be won.
This is why I think the Prime Minister and his Cabinet need to be far more visible in the next few months, getting on top of events in public, carrying on a dialogue with Canadians. The odd gaffe and the steady drone of dreck from the Opposition parties and the media that will accompany this is all right: we are strong enough to withstand that. But getting on top of the so-called "undecided" is critical. Being seen to do something when a chunk of a city is suddenly closed is essential. It's not a money thing, it's a sign of care and concern - or the impression that this is yet another Bush post-Katrina will emerge.
Visibility, dialogue, facts, arguments. There are choices we need to make about what to do with ageing infrastructure, dying economic underpinnings, and the like. Some risks must be run for the prize to be won.
I think that Bruce Stwart is onto something when he writes the following:
"Being seen to do something when a chunk of a city is suddenly closed is essential. It's not a money thing, it's a sign of care and concern - or the impression that this is yet another Bush post-Katrina will emerge."
The facts are however, that we in Canada generally speaking from coast to coast to coast have been much better at protecting and maintaining public infrastructure than has been the case in the US. For one thing, we have spent more money to design "redundency" into a great many of these roads, bridges, damns and railroads, which is the main reason that we read stories of "cracks" rather then collapsed bridges. To be sure our public officials have done the right thing by taking no chances and even if inconvenient, the early response to repairs and major renovations has protected the lives of the Canadian Public.
It will not go unnoticed that all this conservative breast beating however is now taking place against the wild cries from that same party when Prime Minister Chetien as one of his first acts, passed legislation authorizing over $6B to address critical infrastructure needs when he first came to office. Had the Tories been in power then, and had their "neocon" ideology been in place, then this $6B would have never been applied, the money would have been pissed away in the Canadian counterparts to Halliburton and Bechtel (to wit, Boeing), and today we would be reading stories in the press not about cracks and closure, but about mass casualties in Montreal.
THAT IS WHAT LIES AT THE HEART OF THE CURRENT "undecided voter" support for parties in Canada and Quebec today.
The right wing groups want to paint Stephen Harper as another "northern magus", but in fact he really is a "southern dalphin" where the powers behind the throne are such Republikans as Ted Morton, Jason Kenny, Tom Long and Rod Love. And what is at stake is nothing less than the future of Canada itself.
I want no part of their "neocon" agenda and their fascist notions of "governance".
There is a coming series of by-elections in Quebec, and my hope is that the FLQ/Parti Quebec get wiped out, and that the Conservatives win the seat held by the separatists. And I hope that the other two seats are returned to the Liberals, who perhaps more than any other party deserve credit this week for avoiding a major infrastructure disaster in Montreal.
That is how I see these events. Far from being a "failure", its a success story because there was no loss of human life. Unlike the complete disaster in the "neocon" ideology that drove the Amerikan response to Hurricane Katrina, the Canadian response in Montreal was far more robust and it was that way because Prime Minister Jean Chretien had the wisdom and the foresight to make major infrastructure investments when they were needed.
Indeed the "neocons" in Alberta and elsewhere were crying about "pandering to Quebec politicians" and yet here we see for clear thinking Canadians the fruits of our Parliamentary system of government at its finest.
And it really ticks me off when right wing whores like Springer from the manure pile in Lethbridge, comes here and says that Chretien should not have spent these funds and that Quebecers as a consequence should have died as a consequence.
One of the things about fascists like Springer, they never accept responsibilities for their decisions.
"Being seen to do something when a chunk of a city is suddenly closed is essential. It's not a money thing, it's a sign of care and concern - or the impression that this is yet another Bush post-Katrina will emerge."
The facts are however, that we in Canada generally speaking from coast to coast to coast have been much better at protecting and maintaining public infrastructure than has been the case in the US. For one thing, we have spent more money to design "redundency" into a great many of these roads, bridges, damns and railroads, which is the main reason that we read stories of "cracks" rather then collapsed bridges. To be sure our public officials have done the right thing by taking no chances and even if inconvenient, the early response to repairs and major renovations has protected the lives of the Canadian Public.
It will not go unnoticed that all this conservative breast beating however is now taking place against the wild cries from that same party when Prime Minister Chetien as one of his first acts, passed legislation authorizing over $6B to address critical infrastructure needs when he first came to office. Had the Tories been in power then, and had their "neocon" ideology been in place, then this $6B would have never been applied, the money would have been pissed away in the Canadian counterparts to Halliburton and Bechtel (to wit, Boeing), and today we would be reading stories in the press not about cracks and closure, but about mass casualties in Montreal.
THAT IS WHAT LIES AT THE HEART OF THE CURRENT "undecided voter" support for parties in Canada and Quebec today.
The right wing groups want to paint Stephen Harper as another "northern magus", but in fact he really is a "southern dalphin" where the powers behind the throne are such Republikans as Ted Morton, Jason Kenny, Tom Long and Rod Love. And what is at stake is nothing less than the future of Canada itself.
I want no part of their "neocon" agenda and their fascist notions of "governance".
There is a coming series of by-elections in Quebec, and my hope is that the FLQ/Parti Quebec get wiped out, and that the Conservatives win the seat held by the separatists. And I hope that the other two seats are returned to the Liberals, who perhaps more than any other party deserve credit this week for avoiding a major infrastructure disaster in Montreal.
That is how I see these events. Far from being a "failure", its a success story because there was no loss of human life. Unlike the complete disaster in the "neocon" ideology that drove the Amerikan response to Hurricane Katrina, the Canadian response in Montreal was far more robust and it was that way because Prime Minister Jean Chretien had the wisdom and the foresight to make major infrastructure investments when they were needed.
Indeed the "neocons" in Alberta and elsewhere were crying about "pandering to Quebec politicians" and yet here we see for clear thinking Canadians the fruits of our Parliamentary system of government at its finest.
And it really ticks me off when right wing whores like Springer from the manure pile in Lethbridge, comes here and says that Chretien should not have spent these funds and that Quebecers as a consequence should have died as a consequence.
One of the things about fascists like Springer, they never accept responsibilities for their decisions.
Chucker
Once again Joe Green competes for the sublime.
I'm
thinking you might want to change the name of your site to CC and Retards or possibly The Only Site that Suffers Dementia.
Just a thot.
Syncro
Once again Joe Green competes for the sublime.
I'm
thinking you might want to change the name of your site to CC and Retards or possibly The Only Site that Suffers Dementia.
Just a thot.
Syncro
If May is just a side show, what will that make Peter MacKay when she beats him tomorrow? The media may not have given her a spot in the televised debate, but the local media gave her a fair shot in Central Nova, and I think you'll be down one former Progressive Conservative leader in the new Harper minority government.
May in Central Nova? I will get a pedicure and paint my toe nails lime, enviro-green if that happens.
I don't get it - is there a by-election coming?
Bruce Stewart is right - Harper is no longer seen as the "man of action", he and Cabinet *must* be more visible.
Of course, our Prime Minister is the antedote to the mess the past generation created. But even the great Stephen Harper should pay attention to the spreading anger in this country over how our entire public sphere operates.
I don't see him as any antidote to anything - no ordinary man in the street possibly could see him that way. He's the Invisible Man - if he has a message, it's not getting out. Period. And he ain't ever going to win a majority if he doesn't start to try to inspire and connect with Canadians. He may go down as a quite successful PM (he already is one, I think) but a majority? Don't make me laugh. He has no story to tell Canadians -- and all successful leaders have a story to tell their people. If he has one, he isn't sharing it. Whatever, it's his loss if he doesn't smarten up.
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Bruce Stewart is right - Harper is no longer seen as the "man of action", he and Cabinet *must* be more visible.
Of course, our Prime Minister is the antedote to the mess the past generation created. But even the great Stephen Harper should pay attention to the spreading anger in this country over how our entire public sphere operates.
I don't see him as any antidote to anything - no ordinary man in the street possibly could see him that way. He's the Invisible Man - if he has a message, it's not getting out. Period. And he ain't ever going to win a majority if he doesn't start to try to inspire and connect with Canadians. He may go down as a quite successful PM (he already is one, I think) but a majority? Don't make me laugh. He has no story to tell Canadians -- and all successful leaders have a story to tell their people. If he has one, he isn't sharing it. Whatever, it's his loss if he doesn't smarten up.
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