Getting into bed with Liberals looks bad on May; conceding a seat not so flattering to Dion either
What with all the women coming and going, the Liberal Party of Canada is starting to resemble one of those French farces, replete with slamming doors, hastily-contrived explanations for people being where they shouldn’t, and general déshabillé. Or perhaps I’m thinking of a Benny Hill sketch.
If it weren’t for the unfortunate coincidence that both Belinda Stronach and Elizabeth May are women, I might say something to the effect that there must be a reason why no society has ever completely eliminated prostitution. Oops, I guess I just did. I hope the fact that I am a woman will lessen any sexism that might be inferred from the observation.
Anyhow, this is only partially about May. Mostly it’s about Dion. It seems the Conservative party’s ads that say “Stephane Dion is not a leader” were so effective, they convinced even Dion himself. A leader of a so-called national party does not concede any seat before all the votes are in. Dion has done so even before an election has been called.
As for May, her détente Liberale will put in her the awkward position of having to defend the federal Liberals’ sorry environmental record (psst – that’s a hint to the Conservatives and NDP). But if she thinks Dion was such a good environment minister, and would make a good prime minister, then why doesn’t she run as a Liberal?
Also posting on this:
Dissonance and Disrespect
Adam Daifallah
Dust My Broom
Canadian Jedi
7 comments:
We could start a rumor that May will defect to the liberals? (real conservative)
a bit off-topic, but have you ever noticed...
Elizabeth May, on abortion:
let's all sit down, have some tea and coffee and a big warm group hug and think this over thoroughly - there's no need for radical talk...
Elizabeth May, on the environment:
MUST KILL CLEAN AIR ACT KILL KILL KILL!1!!!!11! (need i provide any link here?)
i suppose we're all guilty of one kind of bias or another at one point or another, but - i dunno, man. her facades infuriate me.
it would be nothing less than justice to see her (and Dion) humiliated in the worst way possible. although... this outcome is by no means guaranteed.
Kind of an upgrade (both in the looks and the policy department) don't you think?
Wow. My hands almost fell off typing that bit of sarcasm.
The Green Party has been especially prone to internal strife in the past, and this will do nothing to help. The True Believers who dominate the party's activist base will be apoplectic over the prospect of their leader hopping into bed with an evil mainstream, establishment party. Doing a backroom deal like this sure doesn't do much for Elizabeth May's desired image of being a fresh, above the fray voice in public life.
As for Dion, not only does this make him look weak, but it further cements both his drift to the left, and his continued inability to establish any other theme other than the environment. Stephen Harper has to be delighted over the fact that three parties will be duking it out for the left of centre vote next time, leaving the centre-right all to him.
The Liberals won three straight majorities in the 90s by moving a couple of steps to the right on fiscal issues, thus marginalizing the Reform/Alliance and making it hard for the PCs to find any ground. Paul Martin, and now Stephane Dion, move the Liberals back to the left, and they start floundering. Gee, what a coincidence! Perhaps one day someone in the Liberal Party with some brains will figure this out, but until that day they have given Stephen Harper a clear road towards consolidating Conservative gains with mainstream voters.
Dion is desperate for females to display, and the Liberals had a program to bring strippers into the country - females brought to Canada for display purposes!
It's a perfect solution - Dion should appoint those strippers to represent the Liberals!
Bonus is that they still wouldn't know a lot about Canadian politics, they wouldn't be all uppity like a female Liberal lawyer hired for display, so Dion could fill their heads with talking points to parrot.
This is exactly what the Liberal party has been looking for, it's the perfect solution.
And since Dion appears to be smoking crack - he May just go for it!
My question is, why doesn't Dion join the Greens? He has one issue, they have one issue, its the same issue...
This is a little bit of manna from heaven. Joan T. is right that this is a bad move for a "national" party; Totally Tory is right that this will inflame the already schismatic Greens. In hockey, they would call this the trade that hurts both teams.
You could also mention that the constitution of the Liberal Party demands that the party run Liberal candidates in every federal riding. Stephane and his brain trust (snort) blew that one off. Something to remember the next time they're bloviating about the sanctity of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Post a Comment