Sister Sage's Musings

Posts Tagged ‘Election campaigns’

How the hell does Harris-Decima come out with a poll that has Steve bouncing back overnight–So soon after Ipsos-Reid releasing their poll having Harpercon and Liberals’ numbers much closer together?  How could Stevie spiteful be already on the rebound? Not like Steve’s changed his mind regarding the census or his big assed private prisons to house unreported criminals or those who play nickel and dime poker games or the poor girl receiving ‘guests’ in the privacy of her own home. Allan Gregg of Harris Decima has a rather feeble explanation:

“What you see is an ongoing resilience in the Conservative support base,” he said. “If they get a little period of relative quiet, their vote comes back quite quickly whereas the Liberals have a very, very hard time getting any sustained traction.”

Translation: tea-baggers of the North and Sun Media loyals like Brian Lilley always on the ready to slam the Liberals. Liberal derangement syndrome. However, even Gregg had to admit the Liberals have improved and that if an election were held today, Steve would probably still win, but his minority would be significantly reduced. Whatever seats they may have had in Quebec would be wiped out and they could lose seats in Ontario. That alone should get us to get the opposition to an election.

Gregg is also saying neither party wants an election at this time. Well, folks, like my previous post asks, can we try to fix that? I mean, let’s get the opposition to be more enthused with an election with cooperation from the NDP?  Let’s do it before there is no return?  Let’s at least, cripple Steve’s power.

Both EKOS and the usually Harpercon friendly Ipsos-Reid polls have Harpercon numbers slipping and those of the Liberals rising somewhat bringing them to a near tie with, of course, the Harpercons  hanging on to a slight advantage.  If Steve was really planning to get an election off the ground this fall, his plans for that backfired and now is backing off this idea. In fact, even his rabid pit-bull, John Baird, Steve’s newly minted Government house leader called for more cooperation with the opposition parties on TV last week. Well, logically, every opposition party should come out and say too little too late for that, except their polling numbers don’t permit them to do so.

Frank Graves of EKOS is of the opinion, that in spite of the Liberals’ low numbers, they may well attempt to trigger an election, while John Wright of Ipsos Reid disagrees:

Mr. Wright does not believe there will be an election any time soon because no one can win a majority government at this time. “The reality is that if everybody knows that all you’re going to get is a minority you can take your time.”

The Bloc is just too strong in Quebec to free up seats necessary for either the Conservatives or Liberals to form a majority government, Mr. Wright added.

But Mr. Graves has a different take: “Wow! To be blunt, I was concerned about our poll, as it came in the summer, and it was a pretty abrupt shift,” he told The Globe on Tuesday morning.

“The Ipsos poll suggests that our poll did catch a major shift in voter sentiments. What is remarkable about this shift is that it comes in the midst of the summer, a period when the public are typically blissfully unconcerned with politics. This might suggest that the negative effects of the census decision on the government may be muted to this point.”

If this is true, he said, the chances of a fall election “have now shifted to more likely than not.”

And that is because the opposition could sense that this “new shift for the PM” could represent a “critical mass of frustration within the electorate and in particular a growing fatigue amongst the more educated portion.”

Tricky; very tricky indeed and one where the opposition, particularly the Liberals must tread carefully, given their poll numbers and what happened last year when Iggy attempted to drop the gauntlet and act, well, oppositional. Remember when Iggy said that he was no longer going to be supporting the Harpercons last September? All the Timmy Hortons’ Crowd crying and screaming “I don’t wanna go to the polling stations again!”   Steve launched a poison pill in a ways and means motion that Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe ended up swallowing and Canada was saved from a Harpercon majority.  And remember, Stevie spiteful’s numbers shot up well within majority territory and Iggy’s plummeted.

In fact, since then, there would be a number of times Stevie spiteful’s polling numbers from any given polling firm would hover around majority territory, thus, those who blame the strong presence of the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec for preventing a majority government for either party; their argument falls right there. Majorities are still possible, in spite of the heavy Bloc presence in Quebec. It just simply means that they have to fight harder in Ontario and British Columbia.

What is scary is that some polls in the past year has shown that Canadians want a majority government and more than likely, if they believe one is not possible, good ol’ Canadian trademark apathy will take hold yet again and stay away from the polls, which does contribute to a Harpercon majority as well. It worked for Jean Charest and his Liberals in the Quebec election in 2008. Low turn out largely contributed to his majority.

Iggy could well still be gun shy from last September’s reaction to his dropping the gauntlet.  A few ridings still need candidates. A friend, Pascal Zamprelli is running for the nomination in Jeanne Le Ber in the south west of Montreal, currently held by the Bloc. Of course, Peter Milliken’s will also need to be filled amongst others. They’re going to need to hurry up to fill those nominations.

I believe Steve will also put out a budget this fall. What will he do? Will he attempt to pull the per vote subsidy for political parties again? Will he play Santa Clause? Or will he attempt another hard shift to the right yet again? Perhaps a combination of all of the above, which I find most likely, given his precedent (hello Bill c-9); those poison pills Steve is so well known to serve up.  A frightening thought.

Also, there is the NDP, who more often than not, will do just the opposite of whatever the Liberals do.  If the Liberals support the Harpercons, the NDP go against it and vice-versa.  And of course, the Bloc continue doing their own thing if it plays to the agenda of Quebec’s good according to the vision of Gilles Duceppe or to Quebec sovereignty which is now back on the front burner these days.

Iggy would most certainly want to wait until he thinks Canadians would be willing to vote out the Harpercons; to wait for his numbers to go up further.  His bus tour helped, I think.  Yes, there were critics who felt he was not being himself. But I think those are the same people who may have the ridiculous notion that Iggy won’t even open his front door to pick up the newspaper without putting on a suit and tie first. Whether or not he was himself (let’s face it; on some level, every politician plays a role; uses some form of method acting); he did something every politician should do and that is, going out in the country he wishes to govern and meet the people; real people and to hear their concerns and questions. I’m sure it must have helped him, his party and his confidence on some level, but I don’t think it’s enough for him to want to trigger an election by voting against whatever Stevie spiteful is cooking up next.

Then, there is Stevie spiteful, himself.  If there is no election, he and his flunkies have more time to sell his little utopia with no StatsCan; no census.  Stevie is down right now, but he has a propensity for bouncing back as he has demonstrated in the past.   This makes holding off a federal election a crap shoot. One Stevie could probably win given his numbers are still, however slightly, in his favor.

Progressives out there, whether you’re NDP or Liberal supporters, it’s time for us to take action. Write your MPs (provided of course, you’re not living in Harpercon riding; if so, then try to write the NDP and Liberal candidates if you know who they are; if there are candidates at this time; or write both Iggy and Jack Layton).     Now is the time to vote Steve out of office, or at the very least, reduce his minority significantly.  If Steve needs two or even all three parties to get anything through instead of just one party right now, not only is Steve’s power significantly reduced, but the games of  one opposition party doing something simply because another one isn’t would perhaps cease; it’s not helpful.

Many bitch and moan when the Liberals have propped up the Harpercons, but no one supported them neither, their polling numbers had reflected that. Iggy says that Canadians don’t want an election. When we hear the Timmy’s crowd screaming and whining about going to the polls, it’s hard to ignore.  They are loud, particularly about protecting their own apathy as that whole demonstration against prorogation last winter proved.

So, the only way for us to prove to both Iggy and Jack that we do indeed want an election sooner than later is to write them and their MPs and if we can find their candidate’s emails or find them on Facebook, Twitter or another social networking site to let them know this; to urge them to cooperate with one another (I did say cooperate not coalition); not that usual game where Jack goes and does the opposite of what the Liberals do; but working together toward a common good and vote to bring down whatever bill, motion or budget (most likely this Fall) Steve brings to the table, regardless of how much good there will be in it, because as we all know, there will be poison pills packed into them.  It is time for us to take action.

The group, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Harper is still coming up with ads and raising funds to put these ads in the newspapers.  Keep up the good work!

Catch 22 is also working at unseating Harpercon MPs.

Apathy doesn’t cut it. Waiting for Iggy to go or waiting for better candidates isn’t going to cut it.  Time is a luxury we don’t have and now is our window of opportunity.   Let your MPs know you want an election, NOW!

Some Liberals are showing their desperation as the next federal election announcement looms closer. Some scrambling the rumours of coalition governments to be built haphazardly. Something that won’t end well.

Now, there are even rumours of asking Jean Chretien to come back, an even worse idea.  For openers,  Harpercons and their cheerleaders are already shoving the ghost of ADSCAM down the throat of Iggy who wasn’t even in the country when it all occurred. It’s one thing to honor Chretien with a portrait and rehash the good ol’ days at some overpriced rubber chicken dinner, it’s quite another can of worms to ask him back to lead the Liberals even temporarily. Jim Travers (also mentioned that Alf Apps, the President of the Liberal party is stepping down?? That could definitely change things. Do I dare hope,perhaps for the better?)  To best summarize Jim Travers’ latest column as to why the quick fixes of coalition with NDP and/or bringing Chretien back are bad ideas.

Chrétien was arguably his generation’s most shrewdly intuitive politician and at 76 is still impressively vigorous. But retreating to the future would be as risky a Liberal solution as abandoning its brand.

A nostalgic Chrétien honeymoon would soon be cut short by nagging Conservative reminders of his Quebec sponsorship fling. And Liberals seduced by the idea of uniting the political left are forgetting that that their party wins when it controls the policy centre Harper is shifting right.

This brings me back to why I changed my mind about a coalition. The Liberals owned the center because they offered something for everyone. They have always had  a mixed bag of MPs the fiscal conservatives, the progressives,  centrists and yes, even  devout Catholic Socons.  They attracted a range of voters from the fiscal conservative voter who also stood for social justice to the those to the left who don’t vote NDP because they know they will never lead. A coalition could gain new voters but there would be a bloodshed to the Harpercon camp. Like corporations looking for political parties to back, Jane and Joe Centrist like winners. Coalition now is admitting defeat.

I had to face a reality that I think Progressives who fear a Harpercon majority as much as I do would do well to face up to. Denial isn’t going to help us any. The fact is that the majority of Canadians are centrist. They always have been. They’re Jane and Joe Centrist who like to hang out Timmy Hortons. They generally don’t like to try thinking for themselves. They are content simply swallowing the kool-aid du jour which of course favours Steve and the Harpercons. They don’t like to think outside the box, nor do they like anyone correcting their info when it is erroneous. That is construed as ‘elitist’ and ‘patronizing’, which is how they view Iggy or most from the Left for that matter. That is thanks largely in part to bombastic wingnut talk radio hosts like Chuckles Adler (remember how we’re latte  sipping, quiche eating armchair quarterbacks who don’t care about our country or our troops?). Yes, folks, the majority centrists are shifting rightward. And those are the folks that have to be pandered to (voters that is; don’t get me started on corporations, big oil and banks). Steve (with the invaluable help of corporate media, naturally)  knows how brainwash…pander to those folks. Jack to some degree, except his party, no matter how far to the center or even right of center his party goes, will always seem to carry the indelible, grossly misused term, “soshalism”. Iggy can’t seem to make any traction with these people. Odd, because Trudeau was exactly that type of  aloof, anti-social intellectual as well but he somehow resonated with the center. I guess this is further evidence of change throughout the generations.

It is that same Timmy’s crowd who reacted violently to the proposed coalition of 2008.  They won’t vote for it if they know about it prior to election. When you have Steve using simplistic, sophomoric language  like ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, just like high school cliques doing their thinking for them, there is no use proving to them that the coalition was perfectly legal and democratic because each of the coalition members would have mathematically represented the country.  Ask your neighbours why they vote for a particular candidate to represent their riding come election day and they will tell you it’s because that MP is in the party of their favourite leader. That is their intent. And intent is more important than fact. No, I daresay more will shift to vote in Harpercon.

My father used to say that the federal party who will win a federal election in Canada always campaigns from the left, even if they govern from the right.

There are those who say that the Liberals not going back to what they stood for in the old days is not a good thing.

If the majority centrists are headed rightward, perhaps the party campaigning from too far left of center would be a bad idea. I think we should just concentrate on at least, slowing this trend somehow.

Another thing is that the blue grits within the liberal party will never sign on to be members of a new coalition with the ‘soshalists’. They would more than likely lose their contituents and would sooner cross the floor to the Harpercons rather than lose them. Steve, salivating more and more by the day over that majority, will welcome them with open arms; more seats he doesn’t have to earn.

So what can be done?   As Travers says:

Ending the current panic begins with recognizing that Chrétien’s return is a flat joke and that restoring the party is slow, hard, serious work.

Is Travers saying that we should let the next election yield a Harpercon majority thus leaving the Liberals more time to rebuild?  Even many progressives entertain this idea. However, I also say that these progressives are underestimating Steve and his “we’re not going to recognize the place once he’s done it” and that once they get this majority, “all bets are off”.   Steve has proven to be a PM like no other we’ve ever seen in history and give him his majority, it will be a totalitarian regime. Furthermore,  we can’t assume Steve “de l’action; pas d’election” will even hold elections… he sill surely implement parliamentary reforms…in his favour.  If that sounds far fetched, then how about this: he will surely end up doing what he’s been salivating to do for a dog’s age: eliminate that 1.95$/vote subsidy, thus not only opening the flood gates for that corporate influence like U.S. Congress, but would also financially cripple the other parties who would not be able to afford the election campaign war chest without it. Elections would be nothing more than symbolic with Steve always winning anyway.

So the Liberals are all we have as is and as for the rest of us: accept there are no more progressive parties in Canada anymore; not even the NDP with its’ swing to the center nowadays.  There are no more progressive parties because the majority of Canadians aren’t all that progressive. There is Harpercon with his evangelicals and cuts to all universal social programs with no doubt, criminalize everything, and corrupt private prisons that cost far more than the long gun registry,  permanent war alongside the U.S in the Middle-east or we elect  a center liberal party. As far as calling the Liberals “harperlite” , even that is the far lesser of the evils by a longshot.

Yes, the Liberals are also too corporate friendly, but hey, we’re almost like Americans with that Corporate influence over government. Think how much worse things would be without that per vote subsidy.

A few things the Liberals can do and frankly, don’t understand why they don’t do them.

1) why don’t they ask both Jack Layton and Steve about the two of them forming a coalition with each other? The precedent exists from 2004.

2) Steve will tout himself as the hero of the ‘fast improving’ Canadian economy. Why don’t they bring up that it is largely in part to Paul Martin and his  strict regulations and that if Steve were given a majority, he would have done everything Georgie and Dickie would have asked/told him to do. I realize that Paul Martin may not be a popular person for the Liberals right now, but it’s time to put personal feelings aside and call a spade a spade; to take credit for the good economic shape we’re in.

3) They’re going to have to find a way to climb out of ADSCAM. It is clear that no matter who leads the party now or in the future is going to keep inheriting this. Even if they paid the money back, I don’t think it would be forgiven that fast. If it were that simple, I think some efforts would have been made by now to put the money back. Again, falls under the heading of no easy answer, but Steve won’t let this go away. Nor will the Bloc Quebecois for that matter. The Liberals are going to have to keep the sponsorship scandal where it belongs; dead and buried and/or in the history books.

Honestly, even the way they are today is far less terrifying than the alternative. Something to think about.

Oh, and those who are thinking of the good ol’ days: Were Canadians ever really that progressive? Think about this one, lyin’ Brian Mulroney won not one but two massive majorities and Ed Broadbent, a much stronger leader than Jack Layton and his NDP still couldn’t break out of third place finish. Something to think about.

Remember this slogan from the November 2009 by-election; a hint at what a Harpercon majority would feel like. Is that a chance we really want to entertain?

After hearing about that miserable budget and the latest developments on investigation torturegate, and of course, the ongoing blunders of Jason Kenney and other of St-Stevie’s Harpercon flunkies.  I have rethought my position since I posted To Call or Not To Call an Election This Spring. The more I read and hear about lately, the more I agree with Frank Graves, that an election must be called this spring and not in the fall, but I have somewhat different reasons for it. I realize many have expressed that a spring election would only yield the exact same results as the last time. They would more than likely be right, barring any other surprises between now and say sometime in April or May if an election were called. However, some new action would be occurring; the face of parliament would eventually change. Not having an election now doesn’t motivate any true action.

Waiting til the Fall would be another disaster: a Harpercon majority. St-Stevie does have a talent for resilience. Many are of the belief that the economy will be recovered by then. I don’t think so; especially not when there are pundits and economists who cry fear at the aging baby boomers seaking government resources ‘in droves’.  I am also skeptical because, the U.S. keeps digging themselves deeper and deeper and like it or not, they are our neighbours and if they sink any deeper, they could well take us down with them, but I digress.  It doesn’t really matter what I think of the economy. In fact, as we have learned, it doesn’t matter if the economy has recovered or not and by how much: it all depends how well the Harpercon media serves up that Economic recovery kool-aid.  Given the speculation of economic recovery by the fall, I will guess that the Harpercon media will sell this.  It also tells me that, as Jean Lapierre speculated to Ricky P right after the budget, this budget is going to set the stage for a fall election. This is, once again, St-Stevie controlling the agenda. Result of that?  St-Stevie comes out the hero, yet again, this time for having ‘saved’ the economy, whether it’s true or not.

As for Iggy, well, I agree with Frank Graves, he just isn’t going to get any better. He gave it the college try during prorogation. So much he could have capitalized on and in all honesty, with the anger toward St-Stevie’s prorogation; for stripping our democratic rights away and the hard backhanded way he did this in, Liberals’ numbers should have gone up even more; they should have soared far above the Harpercons, and they could well have under a different leader. No, Iggy had his chance to shine during prorogation and to keep it going throughout the olympics, even. After all, if one reads their history, the Liberals were the ones who bid for those ‘gold medal winning’ olympics in Vancouver. Also, ‘Own the Podium’ was started in 2005; when the Liberals were still in power. This info isn’t  really important, except for many Canadians giving St-Stevie credit for the record breaking medal wins at the 2010 Olympics. No, Iggy just isn’t going to get any better. However, the Liberals don’t have anyone else and they can’t really justify a new leadership campaign right now, due largely in part to Iggy not having gone through the ultimate test: a federal election. We can pretty much predict that outcome without money spent, but perhaps it needs to be formalized.

The Bloc Quebecois and the N.D.P. really have nothing to lose or gain. Neither will ever govern, unless, of course, they join a coalition. The raison d’etre for the Bloc Quebecois is very much alive and well; will for Quebec sovereignty or not. For them, it doesn’t really matter when they go to an election, give or take a few seats, they’re not big game changers.

It would appear that St-Stevie’s olympic lustre is dulling and that now the heat is turned up on torturegate and his MPs continue to make total asses of themselves from Jason Kenney’s bigotted and idiotic immigration guides to  MP temper tantrums in public places to the village idiot of parliament giving insane speeches. For those reasons, the best St-Stevie can hope for in a spring election is another minority government; same as 2008, right? Pointless excercise?  I think not. For openers, after a third minority, his party will have read the writing on that reformatory bathroom wall; St-Stevie will never yield a majority for them if he hasn’t done it by now. I can see them pressuring him on out that door. I suspect there are plenty of cons of varying degrees; inside and outside the Reformatories who would love to take his place. I already mentioned Jean Charest, but there are others. In fact, I’m sure there is no shortage of Conservative leadership hopefuls to throw their hats into the ring.

As for the Liberals, no doubt, Iggy would lose now.  He may well be right in saying ‘Canadians don’ t want an election’ and I think one of the Liberals’  problems is that they’re still gun shy from reactions when Iggy threw the gauntlet last September; he was lambasted from being oppositional. Guess what? Canadians will get over it. In fact, the Liberals’ reaction to the latest Harpercon budget is simply giving them the image as whimps. Yes, they could offer alternatives and yes, it should happen sooner rather than later. However, more importantly, if the Liberals go all out and join the NDP and the Bloc and vote against this budget, they may well garner more respect than even Peter Donolo could imagine. Like it or not, this is the perfect political crisis for Iggy and the Liberals to throw down the gauntlet.  That said, St-Stevie would still, more than likely, win another minority government, but probably a smaller minority. Clearly, that result would justify the ousting of Iggy.

A new leader would have to be selected.  The only thing that would worry me about a new liberal leader selection would be yet another coronation. Bob Rae, simply because he’s itching for it and he’s part of that old boys’ network. Bob Rae as leader would be suicide.  Neither Quebec, nor Ontario would support him. As for Gerard Kennedy, I don’t see it neither; not in Quebec anyway. No, I think what’s best is no more leaders from Toronto for the time being, especially after that whole Denis Coderre fiasco.  Another reason is that the Liberals are now wearing the brand o the ‘Toronto party’.

Then, there is the minority government itself.  Right now, as things stand, all St-Stevie needs to swim through confidence motions is just one party to keep him afloat. It’s also what keeps St-Stevie’s games of Divide and Conquer so successful.  No one in the opposition is motivated to attempt to work with one another; to find common ground and work together. I believe that a spring election could well yield a  smaller minority for St-Stevie, so instead of needing only one party to keep him swimming, he would need two or all three of them to keep confidence motions afloat. Opposition parties would probably be even more motivated to work together and St-Stevie’s little Divide and Conquer games would be even less successful. Especially, since St-Stevie’s days as PM and leader of the Reformatories would be numbered and a new leader chosen. The opposition parties would also be more motivated to find common ground and perhaps even form a coalition or, take a page from the St-Stevie playbook and merge.

Now, since Iggy doesn’t want that spring election as he knows that will be the end of his tenure and more than likely, his political career, I wonder if  the Liberals will have back bone and show up in droves to vote against that budget? Peter Donolo, show us you still have that midas touch everyone keeps talking about and advise the MPs to vote in droves against the budget. After all, when it comes right down to it, you were hired to help the whole Liberal party; not Iggy, alone.

What say you all?

After reading that title, anyone scared? You should be, that is, unless, of course, you are a neo-con and even then, much like the tea-baggers south of the border, they are only swallowing what today’t corporatist media is spoon feeding them. Like their tea-bagging friends, most don’t have a clue what they’re signing up.

Yes, today’s right slanted corporatist media, owned by Harpercon friendly corporations and individuals are running the show. They would only hire and publish or allow on the airwaves like minded writers, hosts and pundits. They are great at not only spoonfeeding what they want their audiences to swallow, but to brainwash them into thinking listening, watching or reading anyone else would be dangerous: anybody outside their media outfits are nothing more than crazy lefty liars and/or elitists. How else did ol’ Steve have a ‘great 2009′ as columnists from National Posties and Grope and Fail (don’t remember who came up with that one, but I like the term) say he had? How else did Stevie’s numbers remain within majority grasp in spite of his transgressions?

Columnists and the Blogging Tories are all touting ol’ Stevie as THE man of the year; the politician of the year. L. Ian Thompson of the Montreal Gazette, not be outdone by his brethren at the other  Harpercon friendly bird cage liners, goes in so far as to call ol’ Stevie the politician of the decade!

Years ago, we would have been outraged at the allegations of torturing war detainees, no matter how bad they might have been. We would have been even more outraged at the cover up. We certainly wouldn’t have allowed a sitting Prime minister to prorogue parliament over some unpleasantness they’re confronted with, or at the very least, we would have put up the good fight.

Nowadays, the corporatist media just simply feeds us the typical party line: why should we care about what happens to the Terrible Taliban? They through acid in girls’ faces: they’ve repressed women for so long. Most, like the screeching blogging tories, run with this. Never do they stop and think  about the fact that torturing detainees is in blatant violation of the Geneva Convention: it breaks international law.   These right wingnuts claim to love Steve and the Harpercons because of  their ideas for maintaining law and order. Well, what kind of example do our leaders set when they, themselves break the law? How would they like to see their precious Uncle Stevie before the international tribunal in The Hague? I know that I would and so would many of my friends.

Stevie’s latest proroguation is far more sinister and evil than last year’s. What’s more outrageous about this latest proroguation is that it was done over the phone!  All the columnists and pundits are out. The Blogging Tories are blogging away with glee. Funny how they whined about the coalition being undemocratic but this proroguation is perfectly ok by them.

Last year, it was about not losing power. This year, it’s about setting the stage for the next federal election and getting the right slanted media to get Canadians to not only like it, but to embrace it.  He is worse than a schoolyard bully. He knows he has the numbers within majority grasp, but he must keep pummelling it would seem.With the Liberals at an all time low in disarray, he is coming up with a poison pill for Jim Flaherty to hand down, like to stop whatever stimulus spending was left to be done, cut all social programs, perhaps even sell off crown corporations to private enterprises (no doubt, heavily deregulated; caused the recession  but who cares, because greed must prevail, right?).  Basically, ol’ Stevie’s message in typical schoolyard bully form is:

…put the Liberals on notice that they must either accept that his government will act as though it has a majority, or be prepared to drop the government on the next budget. This only hours after Mr. Ignatieff felt obliged in year end interviews to stand down from his strategy of election mongering that had squandered so much of his credibility last year.

The Liberals appear to be without a leader these days. Iggy is incognito for the most part with the exception of a few appearances and year end speeches. Whatever speaking is happening, is coming Bob Rae and other members of the Liberal Party. One can only think Iggy is on the way out and the Liberals are regrouping and attempting to plot new strategy yet again.

Even Norman Spector, another useless hack, is now predicting an April election. All are in agreement he is planning his majority. More than a majority, but a totalitarian regime, it would seem.

Now, with the help of a video from Pale Cold of  A Creative Revolution: here is a little reminder as to who Stevie and his nasty little ”friends” are:

Yes, also let’s be reminded of another dangerous thing about ol’ Stevie: his membership of that Evangelical far right Christian sub-culture. You know, that sub-culture that is anti everything and everyone? That very same sub culture that boast a membership with the likes of See Sawah run, Georgie, Dickie and Mike Hunckapee?

Earlier, I saw a blog  discussing this latest and very sinister proroguation from the Jurist from Accidental Deliberations.

Sure, Harper’s prorogation once again made a mockery of our democracy. But since we can’t be bothered to do anything about it, we’ll chalk it up as a win for him.

Discouraging? Absolutely, but more than that, we should be terrified. Here’s why. When even now, fans of Harper such as columnists and opinion writers from the Grope And Fail criticize this proroguation as underhanded and undemocratic and when an Asper paper such as the Ottawa Citizen are allowing musings about ol’ Stevie’s aspirations for turning Canada into a dictatorship, this should send alarm bells to all, yes, even so-called centrists or small ‘c’ consevatives (if they even exist anymore).

Speaking of whom, ever notice how easy it is to push them to Stevie’s far right these days? Wasn’t hard to do: threaten evil socialism and the evils of Joseph Stalin did it. Corporatist media machine again over using and misusing the evil ‘S’ word.  Well, one way to swing them further left is to perhaps bring up General Pinochet’s Chile and other Military Junta regimes.

The Jurist is sadly right here; our complacency is one of the reasons why we’re inching closer and closer to an American styled health care system. It’s why we have become a laughing stock on the world stage. No L. Ian Macdonald, lay off the meds, ol’ Stevie is not a great force on the world stage (L. Ian really does think he’s a force on the world stage; read it to believe it!).

It is time for the Liberals and the NDP to get more aggressive. Hell, it’s time for them to merge already.

I have another question that I’m hoping a blogging tory can answer or someone like that: How come it’s only ok for ol’ Stevie to use dirty political tactics, prepare election calls and to be undemocratic but it’s not ok when the opposition parties do it??

It is time for us to learn from previous generations of activists and take action. Ol’ Stevie wants to be left in peace to enjoy the  Olympics? Let’s not  give him peace. He is counting on issues like climate change and torturegate to go way; let’s keep it alive and well.   I also don’t mean just with our blogs. We have to be more creative than that. Let’s come up with some ideas. Now that we have the internet with such networks like Progressive Bloggers, we can communicate ideas to each other far more easily and quickly amongst ourselves.  Let’s take back our Canada, they we knew it to be before Stevie completely turns this country into a banana republic; a dictatorship; a dictatorship perhaps even mimicking that of General Pinochet era Chile (ok, maybe a bit extreme, but I’ve learned that today’s neo-cons are that  extreme). Yes, today’s Right Slanted Corporatist media provides an unfair advantage for Stevie and the Harpercons, but it doesn’t mean we have to allow them to steamroll over us. It is important to not leave ol’ Stevie in peace. He is already the operation of flushing Canada down there:

Fuck off Stevie! Stay gone this time! Flush yourself down that Conservative toilet why don’t you?