Monday, October 13, 2008

Take some responsibility for Christ's sake!

So the predictable wails and gnashing of teeth are coming from the predictable spots in the Liberal blogosphere; their impending electoral spanking is once again all the NDP's fault you see.

It's the NDP's fault that Liberals have alienated progressive Canadians through constant betrayal, the NDP's fault that the Liberals have an uninspiring leader, a platform that hasn't clicked with the public and a record of malfeasance that has eliminated their base in Quebec.

But of course all of that's really the NDP's fault and we should all be very ashamed.

Complaining that the party that does oppose the government is sustaining them is just insulting. You asked the Canadian people if they were going to believe you or our lying eyes - and you're going to get your answer tomorrow.

Here's some free advice, which I don't mind giving because Liberals are so unlikely to take it. Tomorrow night, when the results are in and we discover we have much the same parliament we started this campaign with, Stephane Dion should go on TV and say that Stephen Harper can't expect the feeble acquiescence of the last almost three years to continue; That the Liberal party won't sustain Harper through another 43 confidence votes while feebly complaining about how radical he is.

Dion should announce that if Harper wants to make every grotesque piece of legislation he brings forward a confidence vote than he should be prepared to go right back to the polls, in a new economic environment that will continue to eat into his support long after this campaign is over. Dion should announce that his candidates will stay in place and his party will be ready to fight this fight again - immediately if necessary.

Yes I know the Liberals are massively in debt, but that's because you don't inspire the kind of donations that the Tories and NDP do - think about that, think about why.

And because I will probably get multiple comments asking this, sure I'd prefer a Liberal minority with a Conservative opposition to a Conservative minority with a Liberal opposition. But those are not our only options.

Increasing numbers of Canadians are seeing that and Liberals, that's nobody's fault but your own.

6 comments:

Oxford County Liberals said...

Er..I'm not.. Who have you seen doing that?

Cliff said...

Well we've got your party leader farcically claiming that a vote for the NDP is a vote for Harper, Steve V at Far and Wide highlighting a Green blaming the NDP for Harper's lead which Queer Thoughts also noticed, Liberal Arts and Minds calling for New Democrats to switch sides at the last minute or they must really like Harper, John Laforet still obsessing over a party leader campaigning nationally rather than just in his own riding, Big City Lib putting on his tinfoil hat and claiming the NDP are trying to throw ridings to the Conservatives and lots of Liberals eagerly highlighting Elizabeth May's recent attacks on Jack Layton for calling for people to vote for his own party rather than somebody else's.

I didn't even bother checking in on Cherniak but you have to admit NDP hate is one of the central themes of his blog in or out of a campaign.

Come on Scott - unless you are studiously ignoring your fellow lib bloggers, which I could certainly understand, you know I was identifying a real theme among them.

EvilIncoherent said...

You're right. A third option is a Conservative majority with a much smaller Liberal opposition and a bigger NDP third party. Oo. How exciting. I know I'm just all a-shiver about that prospect.

Let's be honest, no way in hell Layton is going to be Prime Minister, and but a snowball's chance that he'll make Leader of the Opposition. Maybe next election if he manages to shore up significant support here, but it's doubtful. Canadians are leery of NDP promises to make their employers pay additional taxes.. because they know that one of the first things that gets sacrificed when money is shorter is their own raises.

The reason the Liberals don't inspire donations like the conservatives and NDP is because it's supporters tend not to be furious radicals from either side of the aisle. Playing in the mushy middle mean even your supporters don't agree with you all the time, and that doesn't help donations.

Plus, another reason that the Liberals are massively in debt is that they're the only party that's had to undergo a full leadership convention since the new funding laws came into place. It'll be interesting to see how the other parties do once they have to suffer through one of those.

Cliff said...

Your third option isn't one as the Tories have maxed out their support. The best they can hope for is a minority - lets be clear here, the best they can ever hope for is a minority.

The NDP on the other hand keeps winning more seats every election, a trend they will continue tomorrow. More and more soft Liberal supporters every election, dissatisfied with broken promises and self destructive infighting drift towards the NDP. A tipping point is imminent. Not this election agreed, maybe not even the next one. But I wouldn't bet against it.

And the NDP aren't calling for new taxes on big business, just canceling new tax cuts that haven't been applied yet and freezing the corporate rate at the level it was at when Paul Martin left office - considerably below the American corporate rate as it happens and well in the middle of the pack for industrialized nations.

Meanwhile we're proposing a tax cut for small and medium sized businesses - where most of the jobs are actually generated.

The whole 'low taxes for corporations increases productivity, adds jobs and increases prosperity for all off us' canard is bullshit Reaginism. It's voodoo economics that has been disproven over and over again. Canadian corporations have been taking the huge tax cuts they've gotten over the last several years and used them to pay ever more swollen executive compensation. You're arguing for increased wages all right: seven and eight figure wages for the top 1% of the population or less while the rest of us watch our real income drop every year.

Oh and the NDP usually comes out of its leadership conventions in the black as energized members take the opportunity to make their donations. I understand if energized members seems like an alien concept for a Liberal...

b_nichol said...

Heh.
Well put, Cliff.

pilgrim said...

They only have themselves to blame.

I'm sure their carbon tax proposal has something to do with it.

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