Ever voted for more than one political party? Never purchased a party membership card? Ever refused to vote, after having come to the conclusion that “none of the above” is the best choice? Have “conservative” views on some issues, and decidedly “progressive” views on others?

If you answered yes to those questions, congratulations: You are part of the majority. You are part of the biggest political demographic there is — the independent voter.
In the U.S., independent voters have held sway for years. The Democrats and Republicans can generally count on their own partisans to come out and vote. But to win, they need to capture the support of the millions of Americans who call themselves “independent,” and who make up the largest and fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate.

In Canada, it hasn’t always been that way, but it’s changing. In recent days, a series of polls have been released showing many Canadian voters turning away from the traditional two-party alignment of Conservatives and Liberals, and indicating support for New Democrats. A Harris-Decima poll published late last week showed the NDP is now favoured by 34% of voters, to 30% for the Cons, and the Libs’ 20%. More than 2,000 Canadians were polled near the end of April by Harris-Decima. Their numbers closely reflect those published by Ipsos, Forum Research, Leger and CROP.

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Some of us suggested the Harper Reformatories would come to profoundly regret messing with Canadian seniors. Dance with those that brung ya, etc. Looks to be happening.

I’ve never been a fan of CARP – they became rent-a-grassroots-lobby, a few years back – but this seems consistent with gen pop data now kicking around. Governments defeat themselves, someone once said, and someone was of course correct.

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…they’re playing the Phoenix in August. Want to see them, a lot. But you know what, Ticketmaster? I WON’T PAY MORE THAN SIXTY BUCKS A TICKET AND IT IS A DISGRACE THAT YOU GUYS ARE CHARGING THAT MUCH.

There. That feels better. Put it on a loop, add tons of distortion and echo, and it’ll be as good as being there.

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I am a war room guy, and I look at the world through a war roomer’s eyes.  That’s why, for instance, I favour total warfare against political enemies (i.e.. always making sure the response is lightning-quick, using every means at your disposal, and twice as painful as the initial strike).  It’s why, for example, I look at Bob Rae with a war room guy’s perspective (i.e.., his tenure as NDP Premier of Ontario is too much of a disaster to erase from the public record, and he is therefore a wholly unsuitable candidate for Liberal leader).

Which brings us to the Democrats’ moves this week.  I was communicating with one of their top guys in D.C. yesterday, and they’ll never admit what I strongly suspect was the play this week.  But here’s what I observed, in Hegelian terms:

Thesis:  Obama announces on Wednesday afternoon, after an agonizing delay, that he now favours same sex marriage.  For a guy seeking re-election in a very conservative nation, that statement is not without considerable risk.  The story is everywhere.

Antithesis:  On Thursday morning, just hours after Obama’s statement – which the Dems knew the G.O.P. and their putative presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, were certain to denounce – a story appears in the Washington Post, detailing how a younger Mitt Romney was a vicious, gay-hating bully.  He led an attack on a student he believed was gay, hacking off his hair with a pair of scissors.  He used anti-gay slurs. The story goes viral.

Synthesis:  Obama is high road; Romney looks like a creep. Americans are much less indifferent to equal marriage than Canadians.  There, public opinion is split.  My hunch is that Obama decided when and how to make his historic statement – but he also turned to his Democratic war room team, to ensure that the gay-hating Romney stuff came out in the same news cycle.

Their calculation had to have been this: not every American favours gay marriage.  But most Americans oppose terrorizing, and bullying, gays.  The takeaway would have been: You may not like gay marriage.  But you dislike what Romney did even more.

On-point, swift and deadly: that’s good war room work.  And they’ll never admit they were behind it, which is also what a good war room does.

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Shot at a gig in Texas a few weeks ago.  Lyrics below.  And absolutely amazing.

Maybe I was wrong about AM not going on.  Maybe they will.

 

Her words, or what they seem to be:

Your tells (?) are so obvious.
Shoulders too broad for a girl.
Keeps you reminded,
Helps you remember where you come from.

You want them to notice,
The ragged ends of your summer dress.
You want them to see you like they see every other girl.
They just see a faggot. They hold their breath to catch the sick
Washed up on the coast, I wish we could’ve spent the whole day alone
With you

You’ve got no c**t in your strut,
You’ve got no hips to shake.
You know it’s obvious, but we can’t choose how we’re made.

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I love it when an opponent is, you know, honest.  My hat’s off, therefore, to putative star Ontario PC candidate Jeff Allan, who candidly admits Tim Hudak’s Tea Party North his heading towards the Electoral Valley of Death in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election:

“Jeff Allan, the populist talk-radio host for 570 News (he hosts a very entertaining call-in show called The Hour of Rage) had publicly mused about running for the Conservatives, so I checked in with him.

Allan likes to talk, as you’d expect from someone who makes a living from barely pausing for breath. He talked about how he would have to take a leave of absence from his day job if he ran. He had just decided, five minutes before I called him, that he wouldn’t try for the prize after all. “I don’t know if I’m mature enough!” he said. “I don’t know if this is a winnable seat right now. I’m not going to give up everything I have, to be — humiliated!”

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What does this poll – which is consistent with many others, recently – mean?

In my opinion, the rise of independents. Lots and lots of citizens no longer see themselves attached to any single ideology. They’re now the biggest single demographic, and they’re growing.

Dippers will claim it means they are most popular, but that’s superficial and ultimately false. The Cons and Libs are simply the most familiar choices: the new independents are looking for newer choices.  The Occupiers, Tea Party and non-voters are all part of this: they are turning away from the traditional alignments.

I think something big is happening, here. What do you think?

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…so, if you’re starting to get the impression that Ornge was a run by a network of Conservative lobbyists, lawyers and hacks, you’d be right.

“Potter testified he first met Mazza in 2005 when he was asked by Kelly Mitchell, of Pathway Group, to become a board member. Potter also told the hearing he is a lifelong member of the Conservative party and ran as a federal candidate in Thunder Bay. Mitchell is also a prominent Conservative.”

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It is one of the best ten albums ever made, and the song itself ends the darkest Against Me! record.  Regular reader Chris pointed me to the lyrics which I have heard, and thought about, many times:

But you knew all along,
went on pretending nothing was wrong,
you said I will keep my focus, till the end.
And in the journal you kept,
by the side of your bed.
You wrote nightly in aspiration,
of developing as an author.
Confessing childhood secrets,
of dressing up in women’s clothes,
Compulsions you never knew the reasons to,
Will everyone, you ever meet or love,
be just relationship based on a false presumption?
Despite everyone, you ever meet or love,
in the end, will you be all alone?

A few years back, I interviewed Tom Gabel at the Phoenix before a show.  He and other AM members were battling colds. I remember two questions distinctly.  I asked him if he’d rather do something else.  “Yes,” he said, right away.  “Write novels.”

And I asked him who Searching For A Former Clarity was about.  He shook his head, holding a bottle full of chicken soup.  “I’d rather not say.  Sorry.”

Was it about him?  We may never know.  Either way, it’s trite, but I hope she has clarity now.

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