11.27.2010 12:05 AM

Power and Politics: the by-election edition


The full Monte, plus me and Peggy.  About 25 minutes in.

9 Comments

  1. George says:

    Can’t get the clip to run on this link WK. That might explain the no. of comments here. What say you to this?
    http://www.bluelikeyou.com/

  2. Whether or not the Liberals win Vaughan, I think the Liberals needed to put more focus on the differences between Ignatieff and Harper.

    “Ignatieff is a team player; Harper is a one-man autocrat who won’t listen to his own cabinet minsters. If he won’t listen to them, why would he listen to the voters?” Mind you, Ignatieff had a difficult time managing the Afghanistan extension issue with his Liberal team of Bob Rae et al.

    “Harper is a big wasteful spender; the Liberals will watch and prioritize spending.”

    Julian Fantino should not have been the focus of the Liberal by-election campaign; Harper should have been the focus.

    • Namesake says:

      Geez, Gord, what would your Party’s new BFF Don Cherry have to say about this? What’s with this sissy, European-style neutral zone trap defense you’re holding out for Harper (esp. coming from such a fan-boy of strong U.S. Presidents — what happened to “The Buck Stops Here”?):

      “I can’t be blamed, because the coalition made — or let — me do it.”

      Come on: ‘as if’ they weren’t already running deficits well before the stimulus spending; and as if they couldn’t have stuck by their principles & “intelligence” & refused to do that stimuls spending no matter what the G20 or Libs said, since they said it wasn’t needed for the recession that wouldn’t come to us; and as if the Libs’ reluctance to trigger more pointless expensive elections over every over-stuffed omnibus bill is tantamount to endorsing everything within; and as if there’ve been no wasteful discretionary spending by the Cons. that goes well beyond what the Opp. may have reluctantly agreed to in principle… like:

      – the ballooning the PMO & advertising budgets; and,
      – having GPS signal-equipped signs & signing ceremonies for every piddly EAP project; &
      – hosting the fruitless G20, esp. in TO., w. all the porkbarreling & haste & lack of oversight that went with that; and,
      – leasing the ‘good to go’ Russian helicopters indefinitely for an undisclosed amount for the Afghan war — instead of just buying them, instead of the Chinook ‘helos which are going to cost at least 6 times more each and have been delayed for years because they lack the ‘winterized’ features the Russian models ALREADY have
      http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2010/11/speaking-of-things-that-fly.html ; and,
      and,
      – jumping into buying the wrong kind of fighter jet for our needs for what’s going to be way too much money and with far less reciprocal contracts than if they hadn’t been such rubes; and,
      – doing ill-considered reforms of the penal system that is going to cost both levels of gov’t billions more and still endager public safety once the convicts are eventually released after longer sentences in over-crowded institutions without receiving appropriate rehabilitation; and,
      – that’s just off the top of my head, from what’s emerged in the press in the past six months or so.

      As for wanting evidence of Harper’s being autocratic, well, it’s hard to believe you’re being serious in maintaining that’s an unfounded allegation, but if you are:

      look no further than the testimony of his former MP Inky Mark, who was:

      – put out by his heavy-handed handling of the Canadian Wheat Board, among other things, http://www.savemycwb.ca/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1185543284&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&

      – and who condemned the Party’s handling of the nomination process to replace him (bypassing the local riding association’s preferences) as undemocratic http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/former-mp-inky-mark-blasts-tory-nomination-process-as-undemocratic-106555758.htm

      … something that’s been happening with your other supposedly great grassroots loving party, too, BTW — the Wildrose Alliance.

      http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2010/11/26/16324891.html

      http://www.thepolitic.com/archives/2010/11/25/little-bow-wildrose-alliance-constituency-association-resigns

  3. Warren says:

    Gord, wouldve never figured you for an iPhone guy.

    • allegra fortissima says:

      A Luddite is someone “who is incompetent when using new technology” and “who fears or loathes technology, especially new forms of technology that threaten existing jobs.” I am a Luddite, not a Conservative – and always appreciate the educational aspect of this blog.

  4. Namesake says:

    Hmm, very convincing; so, can we hire you to run the next fed. campaign for the Conservatives, then, Gord? I can almost hear your radio spot in Ronnie Rayguns’s dulcet tones you so favour:

    “Sure, we New Conservatives spend billions more on programs each year than the Liberals, even before the recession, and billions less on servicing the debt, http://www.fin.gc.ca/frt-trf/2010/frt-trf-1001-eng.asp#tbl1

    And, yes, we did dismiss that consultant who tried to save us billions of dollars in public works purchases (David Rotor); and, golly, it turns about a third of the total value our public works contracts are sole-sourced — 50% more than was the case most recently under the Liberals http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-canadienne/201011/22/01-4345310-un-milliard-de-plus-en-contrats-sans-appel-doffres.php

    And, true, we still waste millions in advertising and public relations and ever-expanding Ministerial and communication budgets….

    But rest assured, those peccadilloes are positively picayune in relation to our total expenditures — which now top well over 200 billion per year, you’ll be glad to know. And, really, what’s a little artificial lake or some silly little glowsticks here or there when we’ll be running billion dollar deficits for at least five years? Let’s keep it all in perspective, now, shall we?

    Thank you for tuning in. Next week, I’ll explain how the best way to keep us safe from poor people and new immigrants is to make them into permanent felons. Good night, and God Bless!”

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