07.03.2012 09:04 PM

Point, missed

The point – in this column, and the poll it examines – is entirely missed. Voters have always been progressive. It’s only journalists who thought they were becoming conservative.

The point is this: what’s been changing isn’t voters’ views of conservatives – it’s conservatives themselves who have changed. They have a smaller base of voters, but they’ve adapted to that. They have become way, way better at campaigning than progressives.

They’ve done that by stealing language, and values. Buy this if you are as interested in why as I was!

31 Comments

  1. Sean says:

    Damn right. To all card carrying, naive conservatives: these lying sleazebags will never change any laws re. abortion, never change any laws re. gay rights, never reform democracy. Government funded abortions continue at pace, gays are still getting married, the senate is packed full of money grubbing, thieving conservative cronies. They are preying on your stupidity and assume you will keep sending them cheques. The CPC is the Televangelist Party of Canada. All talk / blizz blazz, halleluiah on high…. but ahem… no product.

  2. It’s not Canadians who’ve gone to the right, just their media.

    “Lawrence Martin has written several articles about the Canadian media’s rightward migration. In a January 2003 column headlined It’s not Canadians who’ve gone to the right, just their media, he quoted an unnamed European diplomat saying “You have a bit of a problem here.

    Your media are not representative of your people, your values.”

    Too many political commentators are right of centre while the public is in the middle, the diplomat continued. There is a disconnect.”

    http://pushedleft.blogspot.com/2009/11/under-stephen-harper-we-are-no-longer.html

    ……………………….

  3. JamesHalifax says:

    I agree, Warren,

    If today’s conservatives were of the REFORM variety, I would be inclined to vote Liberal. (But you have to get rid of Denis Coderre before that ever happens…I think the guy’s a little too sleazy)

  4. Cynical says:

    Will the book be available as an e-book?
    Could not find your other one in a bookstore. Had to special order and it took forever. Did you do something to annoy Heather?
    Cheers
    G

  5. Dan says:

    And therein lies the problem for Conservatives.

    They have a base of voters who are demanding “action” on abortion, gay marriage, even capital punishment.

    But if they want to keep winning those blue Liberals and old PCs, they can’t do anything. And they don’t.

    Of course, the Liberal party didn’t exactly stick their neck out for gay people when they were in power. And prominent Liberal MPs still debate whether women have the right to choose. Over the past few years, there are virtually zero difference between the two parties. Neither of them are pro or anti anything. They’re not even the middle, which is largely progressive. They’re just mushy.

  6. fred says:

    “A clear majority — 57% — disagree with the statement that “Canada is doing enough to protect the environment”

    McGuinty cannot afford to lose any votes, and he’s pissing off Ontario voters by hiding the altering of environmental protections in his budget.

  7. Mom says:

    I’m a Liberal who was upset at the changes to the Endangered Species Act included in the recent Ontario omnibus budget (that schedule was actually pulled I believe, for later discussion and not part of the final bill that passed – probably more to do with the Environmental Movement than the NDP) Perhaps the changes made sense, but as the Environmental Commissioner noted, they should be out there for public discussion which I hope they will be. I have a green bent and joined the liberal party because I thought they have the best chance at keeping Ontario sustainable from both an environmental and economic point of view, I hope they will continue to keep my hopes up. Until we can get the whole country thinking that Dion’s Green Shift really was a great idea, McGuinty is still the best we have. If he doesn’t keep protecting the environment, I can see votes going to the NDP and the Ont Greens.

  8. Kelly says:

    Mulcair is getting some traction because he’s calling the Cons out for the frauds that they are. He can do it with a clean slate. The Liberals have a harder time of it because they campaigned on the left and governed from Bay Street and this eventually positioned them as elitist. The cons claimed “Liberals think they’re better than you…smarter than you” they campaigned tribally in order to get people to vite against their own interest. This is why Oda was so dangerous — McKay and Clement and Bernier, too; they exposed the Cons as a bunch of phonies.

    The best part about the Liberal party is they can be trusted on social issues, rights, etc. and national culture. I think the Cons misread the country and think most Canadians identify mainly with their province when they don’t. Harper is all about creating a loose confederacy rather than a nation so that monied interests can run amok. They simply don’t believe in equality. They’re OK with money equating to power when that is the core problem with lassez faire capitalism. Money is arbitrary. It often has little to do with one’s work or contribution to the greater good.

    I think the Liberals need to focus on equality and universality. The Conservatives want to cut you loose to the wolves. Liberals want us to work together so we’re all better off. Cons believe if you don’t have money you’re a loser.

    Proportional representation would fix the phony conservative patina.

  9. JamesHalifax says:

    On another note…….I see that things in Egypt are progressing just as expected.

    http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/04/224442.html

    It’s starting.

    • Jason King says:

      What is “it” that you claim is starting. Heck, summer just seems to have started today in Vancouver.

      It’s starting.

  10. JamesHalifax says:

    or…better yet…..pick one.

    http://www.google.ca/search?q=Egyptian+attack+Coptic+2012&hl=en&gbv=2&gs_l=hp.3…1578.7563.0.7938.26.18.0.0.0.0.453.782.3-1j1.2.0…0.0.aqJgXgigZqE&oq=Egyptian+attack+Coptic+2012

    • smelter rat says:

      Be afraid, James…the brown people are coming.

      • JamesHalifax says:

        smelter rat….Egyptians aren’t brown…for the most part.

        And I’m not afraid for myself…..I’m afraid for the Egyptians who are NOT islamic….life is about to become even harder for them.

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          James,

          As you well know, the Coptic Christians, in addition to certain non-Christian minorities, have long been persecuted in Egypt. It was taking place under Mubarak. However, no question it will increase to some degree. The question is, what are Morsi and the Military Council’s Field Marshal Tantawi prepared to do about it????

          • JamesHalifax says:

            Ronald, if the speeches given by the Muslim Brotherhood folks are any indication….I’d say that what they are prepared to do about it is already happening. They’ll continue to incite violence……that’s all they know.

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