Shorter Stephen Harper ...
"Buck-buck-buck-buck-bu-GaWK!"
Update:
Shorter Layton and Duceppe:
"Gravel and Grubs, gravel and grubs!"
Is there anyone out there who really thinks that this election is about democracy and fairness, rather than a naked lust for power?
I have never been so glad I quit the NDP as I am right now.
You know, I may not spoil my ballot, I may vote Green out of spite.
Labels: Bed-Wetting Conservatives, Bloc, democracy, liars, NDP liars
posted by Mike @ 8:47 PM
16 comments
16 Comments:
so much for advertising "All Candidates Forums"...
...or should that be "fora"?
I posted my response to this. I disagree with the decision to oppose her participation, but there is a real validity to the argument that this would give the Liberals two representatives on stage. A single representative each of the Conservatives, Bloc and NDP and a tag team of two representatives from the Liberals.
I still think she should have been allowed - but mostly to expose just how chummy and undemocratic this little partnership between the Libs and their junior adjunct the Greens is.
Cliff,
As long as its not a fringe party attempting to cure Canada's ills with yogic flying, why not let them in regardless of any relationship with another party?
The standard last time was having MPs. The Greens have that. In some areas of Canada they poll higher than the NDP. Hell, Gilles Duceppe doesn't even run candidates in most of Canada, but he's in.
There's no way to polish this turd Cliff. This is bald faced exclusion based on arbitrary rules pushed by cowardly parties who don't really believe in democracy.
I can't think of a better way to demonstrate the absurdity and patent unfairness of our so-called democratic system.
This is why I won't participate and will try to ignore every law they try to pass.
I am honestly at the point where I really don't give a damn who wins. Maybe the Cons ought to get their majority and run this country into the ground. After Harper and his thugs get the Mussolini treatment, maybe we'll get something that works.
As I noted on another blog: the oly honourable way is to invite the party leaders--all of 'em--and then hold the debate with the folks who show up.
Anything else is just exactly what Mike says it is. And I fault the folks who are holding the debate every bit as much (maybe more) as cowards as I do the folks who tried to manipulate the debate by refusing.
Its that damn Liberal media Ron, always cow-towing to the Cons and the NDP like that...
;)
Ron, you're right. Cliff, you need to see the Conservative ballot on my latest blog post. You're parroting Harper BS.
Even a stopped clock can be right twice a day.
Again, I don't agree with excluding her - but I half agree with the reasons.
But this has blown up enough that all of the parties will back down. By this time tomorrow May will be back in the debates. Bet on it.
Cliff,
Too little too late...both the Cons and the NDP and the media whores (with all due apologies to honest sex workers) have already revealed the kind of people they are and the kind of oligarchical government we really have.
I noticed Layton couldn't be bothered to say so himself - he sent a minion out to give a quote to the press, and then called the Greens a one-issue party. Obviously they haven't spent any time going through the 160 page Vision Green policy document, updated a couple of months ago. It covers a whack of issues. (And I mean whack).
Voting Green now as a protest vote. At the very worse maybe we'll get a few in office and use them as a PR campaign to show rest of world we give a shit.
*None* of the majors want minority candidates out in the public field during an election.
Minority candidates make things unstable, take up coveted time, introduce a wider range of issues than the majors want to answer for--and worst of all, they spilt votes in wildly unpredictable ways.
You think a minority party candidate has trouble getting respected or heard? Try being an minority of one, an independant individual candidate.
With a little luck, lefties and righties in ridings which are not full on battlegrounds, can vote Green and push Ms. May over 10% of popular vote.
A loud, proud, fuck you Canadian elites....you don't speak for me, or to me for that matter.
Ron,
I don't disagree and that's just another reason this system, this "social-contract" is a total sham.
Jay,
Damn straight.
It's over, just as we hoped it would be; Layton and Harper have relented - http://cameronholmstrom.blogspot.com/2008/09/playin-dominos.html
This probably does not bode well for Ms May, who not only loses her chance at martyrdom, but will have to defend her party's policies in front of a national audience.
However, I am still angered at the notion of an NDP leader attempting to exclude other viewpoints from the political landscape - it's one thing to talk about electoral and parliamentary reform, it's another to put it into practise. From Harper, this is nothing out of the ordinary; from Layton, it is near inexcusable.
Layton will be the leader of the opposition before the dust settles on this election. You goofs don't see it coming.
"You goofs"?
Oh dear, another partisan bore who thinks I and many of the poster's in this thread are Liberals.
Hot flash from the news room - myself and at least two others in this thread are libertarians and while I can't speak for the others (see if you can identify them), I really don't care who is the leader of the official opposition. They are all just thieving social engineers in my book.
But nothing lays bare the elitist, authoritarian nature of the system than this incident - everyone that changed their mind did so not out of conscience or principle, but because they thought it would get them votes (or at least stop votes slipping away).
And what difference does it make whom will become leader of the opposition when this story is really about undemocratic behaviour and fear of facing an opponent?
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