Good for Dion on calling this dance that Harper is having with himself and who he thinks are Canadians, a charade.That is precisely what it is of course and it's time to call the nonsense the PM puts out for what it is.
It's Labour Day of course, so I doubt too many are yet listening, but you can be sure that tomorrow will bring with it a flurry of speculation, spin and chatter.
I wonder how Canadians will react? Are they the dupes that Harper hopes they are? I don't think so but it's important, imho, that spin be countered quickly and forcefully.
Yes, all parties spin, but there is a difference in trying to enhance your message and out and out lying. The Conservatives tend to rely on the latter, in part I think because they are rarely challenged on it. Faithful scribes write down what they are fed and that is what gets reported. Unless you follow this stuff as closely, as we do, how would you know to question the assertion? That's what they, the Con's, count on. Their Dream
Team indeed is the current media.
So what happened today?
Dion met with Harper for about 20 minutes. Harper asked for a blank cheque. Dion pointed out that Harper's request was a joke. Harper mentioned that Dion's agenda was opposed to his, so the country could not move forward. Again Dion laughed and said that his agenda for the country has always been at odds with the Con's so why now is this suddenly a revelation? Indeed.
Is it possible that our PM is so deep in his bunker, and so high on his new role of arrogance that he forgets what the Official Opposition is meant to do? Does he dismiss how our democracy is intended to work?
Apparently he does.
Anyway, the scrum was about Dion putting his mark on the charade that Harper has conducted. Would I call it spin? Of course, because that is the parlance of our time, but I'd also call it a stance. The difference here is that Dion is basing the party line on honesty and the PM is using deception as his platform and that will be an issue in this election. Trust, honesty, etc.
Shortly after Dion's departure, Kory Tenycke, (Harper's comm. guy) came out to tell us, oh so woefully, that Mr. Dion had not shown Mr. Harper that he had faith in his government.
He also mentioned, a few times, that Dion had broken a promise. You know, the promise not to impose a Carbon Tax. What he didn't emphasize however was that Dion said that in a Leadership run up, not an election to be the leader of the country, like ummm the, I'll never tax Income Trust's, promise made by Harper.
He obviously didn't highlight how Dion has spoken to this issue and explained how he evolved in his thinking. Why would he? Harper is stuck in a mould so old, the country should collectively be holding it's nose at his notions.
I'll stop the picking apart here. The rest of the detail can be found on line. The point is however, how Harper has manipulated every detail of our democracy to play his own game. I know this is all fun for some, but we are talking about almost 3 years of chipping away at our democracy.
I don't consider that fun, nor a game at this point. This election matters and what elates me more than anything, is the fact that Harper is ignoring large groups who have come out against him.
Oh, I know there is a new poll coming out tonight and I'm sure SteveV will be on top of it.
It's time to rally people.
To use Zorpheous's line.
Harper is a Mis-Leader.
I like it and I'll use it because it's accurate.
10 comments:
Dion looked good today. His English has improved a lot. He looked um Prime Ministerial.
Still, Harper is a leader. It says so in the commercials.
I can't wait to go to the polls and vote for Dion.
I've been voluntarily paying more for my gas, in anticipation of the Green Shift (I just can't wait).
Of course, I jest. Harper called the bluff of Dion wanting to float a totally ridiculous academic theory of raising taxes to save the planet in order to trump up his "lack of vision" problem,
and now Dion will have to face the voters. There will be some die hard Liberals who will vote for Dion (mostly in downtown Toronto), but the rest - who care about the cost of their [transported] goods will not go for higher prices on everything.
As for Dion's English, I take it you haven't seen him unscripted lately - he looks like a blabbering, bumbling bookish nerd.
Easy Harper majority.
Dion knows this, which is why he's been publicly humiliating himself in begging to hold off on an election.
Gawd, that commercial is sad. He actually manages to look creepy at the end.
Sweater vest? I didn't know they were even being made anymore.
2008 apparently has to run backwards to catch up to this guy.
A BCer in Toronto has the scrum video on his site. Dion had some fire for sure.
here
Anon @ 8:31.
Kindly tell me where the Con plan end's up putting a price on carbon, because it does. Do you know what it is? Do you realise that you'll get no relief, in terms of tax cuts?
Somehow, I think you do but remain prepared to support the liar who currently leads this country.
Astonishing.
As was pointed out in the scrum, Dion said there would be no carbon tax, and then he goes ahead and proposes a carbon tax. Dion is a Loss-Leader.
Anon is an idiot' on, to think the price of fuel and especially diesel fuel will not continue to rise astronomically is absurd. The price of gas has risen how much in the last two and half years, since Steven Harper cheated his way into a minority government. Oil companies are out to make huge profits, period! The "Green Shift Plan" is simple, tax the things you don't want like pollution and fossil fuels that create pollution, and use that money to give a huge tax break for the people who can't afford the increased cost of living! The various industries will in turn adapt to selling more fuel efficient vehicles and the industries that rely on those fossil fuels will make changes to how they conduct their operations, i.e. truck drivers using bio diesel that possibly could be bulk bought and sold to operators, or they the trucker, farmers, fishermen could be subsidized or given more of a tax advantage by a Liberal government. The fact remains that the world is in agreement on, even the United States, NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL FROM OUR GOVERNMENT! Today I spent time making my own "VOTE LIBERAL" signs for my neighbourhood, and I am going to donate another hundred dollars as well. TIME FOR AN ELECTION!!!
THE EMP-ERROR IS PISSED!!!
marta
knb wrote:
"The point is however, how Harper has manipulated every detail of our democracy to play his own game. I know this is all fun for some, but we are talking about almost 3 years of chipping away at our democracy."
He is doing a smaller version, because we are a smaller country, of what Bush & Cheney have done to the U.S. And in their 8 year power trip they have done a lot of damage & taken away a lot of rights with their Fisa, spying on the people, wiretapping, etc. That's just a miniscule part of the many things that have been changed there. Again, they are strong supporters of big oil & big business as is our PM. They basically sneered at anything democratic - as is Harper. Working with the other parties is a non-existent conception in the Cons way of doing things. It's authoritarian, totalitarian. Just like Steve's telling Dion he has to agree completely with the Con agenda or he's going to an election.
The gall of this man is astonishing & I hope it ALL comes out in the campaign. The Libs have to push - & push hard.
The Strategic Counsel poll that just came out confirms what I've been thinking all along: this government was weak and in dissaray during the Bernier scandal and we shoulda pulled the plug then. The Cons have appeared to have bounced back.
Dion's got about another 6-7 weeks left and then he'll be a dead man walking.
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