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LIBERALS OOT?
Things were looking pretty good for the Conservatives in Canada’s elections. Then the Guardian—Bush could lose! Blair could lose!—had to weigh in with one of its history-altering predictions:
Canada looks poised to take a turn to the right on Monday, when elections are widely expected to end more than 12 years of Liberal government and bring to power a Conservative leader, Stephen Harper, known for his opposition to the Kyoto accord on global warming and his support for George Bush’s missile defence scheme.
Harper’s lead might just be large enough to overcome this. Imagine what a Harper win might do to John Chuckman:
I hadn’t realized until recently that Stephen Harper was using “God Bless Canada!” as a tagline for his speeches.
Some may think this a harmless, or even beneficent, expression for a politician to use, but for those with knowledge of history, nothing could be more frightening.
I do believe we all know to whom Harper is tipping his hat with these words. George Bush, author of two wars which have killed more than a hundred thousand innocent people and the champion of an ugly set of repressive laws in the United States, says “God Bless America!” every chance he gets.
This possibly reflects my ignorance of history, but I can think of several things more frightening than Harper’s subliminal Jesus messages to the US President (off the top of my head: a malnourished PETA gal freezing for no purpose in Wisconsin, the poetry of Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Nazi-like security guards working the luggage check at Legoland International Airport). Chuckman—he thinks “the United States is almost certainly the worst example possible in the advanced world of a civil and cohesive society”—should raise his fright-o-meter.
Or widen it, so that Michael Moore will feel less conspicuous. The Michigan Moomin has issued a statement slamming his Canadian pals:
Oh, Canada—you’re not really going to elect a Conservative majority on Monday, are you? That’s a joke, right? I know you have a great sense of humor, and certainly a well-developed sense of irony, but this is no longer funny. Maybe it’s a new form of Canadian irony—reverse irony! OK, now I get it. First, you have the courage to stand against the war in Iraq—and then you elect a prime minister who’s for it. You declare gay people have equal rights—and then you elect a man who says they don’t. You give your native peoples their own autonomy and their own territory—and then you vote for a man who wants to cut aid to these poorest of your citizens. Wow, that is intense! Only Canadians could pull off a hat trick of humor like that. My hat’s off to you.
Canada’s no longer funny? Mike would know. Follow the election via Mark Steyn and Damian Penny, both of whom have lots of election news already posted—plus, at Penny’s, how Springfield would vote.
This is hideously cruel and unfair. I love Moomins.
Posted by Susan Norton on 2006 01 22 at 11:07 AM • permalinkBwahahaha! And soon the Liberals will be rounded up and sent to our camps in the frozen north!! Rebecca, be careful not to tip our hand too soon, know what I mean?
Actually, I think we should take up a collection for him to go live in Iran. His assignment: stay for one year, then tell us if indeed there is nothing more frightening that the US.
Michael The Moor still thinks his opinion matters, eh? Dream on, fool.
As for Chuckman….I love this gem from his screed:
Canada’s arguing between provinces seems civilized compared to the dangerous pressures in American society where a President can be impeached for a dribble on a dress or where a boy washed ashore can be kept from his loving father and home in the name of freedom.
The entire column is a study in moral relativism, but this gem really stands out. Chuckman rants for several paragraphs about Bush = Hitler and Religion Is Evil™. Bush wearing an American flag on his lapel, and Marines praying before battle is wrong, but Clinton’s antics while is office (including taking a young child at gunpoint in order to send him back to Cuba) is perfectly acceptable.
I look forward to reading reports about Chuckman emigrating from Canada should Mr. Harper win election. Unless his head pops first, of course.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 01 22 at 01:03 PM • permalinkThose interested can check out the Canadian blogs Tim has links to although here’s everything at a glance:
http://tinyurl.com/9fqm3
(Remembering that our Liberals, nicknamed the Grits, are liberals, unlike Oz’s.)And Harper has only ended one speech with “God bless Canada”; and it was such a minor appearance, and not a major policy speech or the like, that I don’t know the context. (And it would hardly be out of place in addressing a meeting at a Royal Canadian Legion, for example.) But I guess that got past the multiple-layers of fact-checkers at the NYT.
http://tinyurl.com/8xftn
(scroll to top for story)And what’s so amusing about all of this, especially in re. to Moore’s spewing, is that politics in Canada is so far to the left that in U.S. terms evil, scary Stephen Harper is probably the equivalent of a conservative Democrat or of a Sen. McCain (without the lobbyist money) when it comes to policy. Not a full RINO like some U.S. senators, but not Ronald Reagan either. (I wish!)
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 01 22 at 01:14 PM • permalinkAnd what’s so amusing about all of this, especially in re. to Moore’s spewing, is that politics in Canada is so far to the left that in U.S. terms evil, scary Stephen Harper is probably the equivalent of a conservative Democrat or of a Sen. McCain (without the lobbyist money) when it comes to policy.
Gives you a pretty accurate idea of the type of governments that BDS sufferers like Moore want to see though, when a wishy-washy social democrat kinda guy like Harper is tagged as an incarnation of devilish fundie-style conservatism.
Chuckman’s certainly got an active imagination, I’ll give him that.
Whenever I read an exercise like this in hyperbole, projection and dubious equivalency, I’d love to take the snotty little poseur who wrote it along with me to the police states and Hobbesian hell holes where I’ve spent way too much time in my life, just to watch their weak-knee’d reaction the first time they come face-to-face with real oppression, real misery, real fear, real violence and real evil.
He sounds like a naive teenager with a good vocabulary attempting to get a rise out of his parents.
From Damien’s site: apparently it’s OK in Canada for the ruling party to question people’s patriotism and crush dissent:
Don Lindsay’s self destruction continued when club member and Canadian Veteran George Tompkins stood to ask the candidates his question. “If the handgun ban goes forward. What plan would your party offer to compensate those of us who legally own the guns that would be confiscated?” To which Lindsay replied “Sir America is our neighbor not our nation, if you elect a society that talks about that kind of perspective I suggest that perhaps you go there!”
(Bonus points for gratuitous anti-Americanism)
PS to Canadian gun owners - don’t ask, “Will I be compensated for the guns that you take?” Say instead, “Hands off my guns.” Then you won’t have to worry about compensation.
Dave S.,
And that distinguishes him from every other left-winger how…?
The “good vocabulary” part, judging by the “enlightened” comments at Daily Kos and Democratic Underground, where four-letter obscenities are considered brave and poetic.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 01 22 at 02:20 PM • permalink(Remembering that our Liberals, nicknamed the Grits, are liberals, unlike Oz’s.)
andycanuck - our Liberals could be liberals in the true (classical) sense of the word, even though they’re currently quite conservative. Liberal does not equal left. That’s a corruption of the definition that the Americans created and the Canadians aped.Posted by James Waterton on 2006 01 22 at 02:24 PM • permalinkYes, James #18, your Liberals (I’m assuming that you’re Australian) stayed true to classical liberalism, as far as I know (which ironically enough makes them conservatives to the MSM today), just like Canada’s were up until the late 1960s. Then the liberal-left Trudeau became P.M. and in the 1970s liberal-leftists began taking over the civil service when the WW2-era ones began retiring; all combined with the era’s big-government ways turning our Liberals into liberals.
I believe that a fair portion of today’s Canadian Liberal vote comes from older people who believe it’s still the party of pre-1968, especially when rural candidates/MPs espouse socially-conservative views that they may genuinely believe but have no chance of being accepted by the Party and Cabinet even on those rare occasions when free votes are held.
Re. the gun issue: in the Toronto Sun paper of the first link above there’s also a column today by Mark Bonokoski about further abuses of firearms’ owners and how big-time criminal gangs are undoubtedly using government-mandated ammunition sales records to target large collections of legally-owned firearms for theft or have perhaps hacked the C$2-billion firearms’ registry for owners’ addresses and weapons’ lists.
(My apologies if this ends up double posting.)
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 01 22 at 03:00 PM • permalinkGo Tories Go!
Go Tories Go!
Go Tories Go!John Chuckman is a typical Liberal Shithead.
Unfortunately, this is the level of political discourse in Canukistan.Its probably very familiar to Aussies though.
Posted by Go Canucks on 2006 01 22 at 03:31 PM • permalinkStatement from Argentina (AP) —
“Ve not prepared are to your filthy North American liberals accept, Candian unt Amerikanishen…er… amigo.”
And a word of warning to Australia. When they start showing up at your airports DON’T LET THEM IN. Build bigger camps if you have to.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 22 at 03:35 PM • permalink>Where will the enlightened go if Canada falls to the Nazis? And what of the brave Americans who flocked to the cold-in-climate, warm-in-heart land of the free? I can see the VW bus caravan headed south to Argentina, spreading love and clogging toilets at gas stations along the way.
I figure the American lefties will head for Venezuela or Boliva.
Gives you a pretty accurate idea of the type of governments that BDS sufferers like Moore want to see though, when a wishy-washy social democrat kinda guy like Harper is tagged as an incarnation of devilish fundie-style conservatism.
Not only a pretty accurate idea, PW, a pretty chilling one as well.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 01 22 at 04:32 PM • permalinkPeople who admire that fascistic Commie Castro and cheer on the genocidal antisemites of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have a lot of damn gall calling other people “Nazis”.
Cosmo #13 you hit the nail on the head. I’m afraid though that even such a tour would not penetrate the thick skulls of such people, unless they were thrown into jail themselves. Look at Robert Fisk, mouthing inane apologies for the thugs who beat him up on the Afghan border. These lefties are too stupid to comprehend the world. If they did not live in a privileged, hothouse environment, they’d vaporize.
As for the mnisuse of the word liberal, it was a deliberate theft by a bunch of socialists in New York during the 1930s. They named their party the Liberal Party, and gained a major influence on the Democrats. Thus the word became associated in the USA with socialists, such that the New York Times during the 1980s could refer to Angela Davis, lifelong Communist, perennial Commie candidate for VP or President, and recipient of substantial payments from Moscow every year (for what services I wonder?) as a liberal.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 01 22 at 05:30 PM • permalinkMichael Lonie — remember, that’s one of mad bad old Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: they do not owe you honesty. Lefties get taqqiyah with their mother’s milk.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 22 at 06:51 PM • permalink“I, for one, welcome Canada to the Imperialist, Anti-Galactic-Alien, Hallibushburton, Nazizionist, RWDB Conspiracy! Our Lord Darth Rove will attend on you shortly.—Posted by RebeccaH
Oh crap, not another country turning rightwing. Karl will need to appoint a henchman as a RWDB liason to Canada. Oh, I hate cold weather. And snow. And the 15% value added tax. And Rick Mercer. And people constantly saying “eh”.
I think I’ll cleverly drop Stoop Davy Dave’s name to Karl. His goat fur should keep him warm.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 01 22 at 08:30 PM • permalinkwronwright — Can you say Hudson Bay?
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 22 at 09:46 PM • permalinkIt’s not so bad Wronwright. He won’t make you live in Churchill, Manitoba, where the polar bears migrate every year. Well, not permanently at any rate. You won’t have to shovel your own snow, you’ll have a minion to do it for you. Rick Mercer and the VAT are problems, admittedly. There is no rose bush without some thorns.
Still, if you prefer it I’ll whisper Stoop’s name to the higher ups as well. Think of all the babes who will be after him when they learn of his powerful position and high status in the Great Neocon Conspiracy.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 01 22 at 10:26 PM • permalinkThink of all the babes who will be after him when they learn of his powerful position and high status in the Great Neocon Conspiracy.
Oh yeah, right. That’s been a reaaallll babe magnet for me. To the full members that assign out tasks, “powerful” can mean a high powered wax buffing machine.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 01 22 at 10:55 PM • permalinkI get all my Canadian election
derisive contemptinformation from good ol’ skippystalin (probably NSFW!). Which says more about me than I should probably admit in public.Anyway, he’s both fascinating and funny, kinda like a clown-car wreck. You just can’t look away…or stop smirking.
No, really, he’s good!
PW: Not exactly. Harper really is a small-government man, but the electorate’s so thoroughly bought off by entitlements that he’s become (in David Warren’s words) “a convert to incrementalism”. People will have to see the benefits of getting out of those money pits.
One item of bad news: the Conservatives have internalized the idea of “fiscal imbalance”—the idea that every province pays more into the country than it gets back, a mathematical impossibility. Means big cheques for free-spending provincial governments, pleases provincial premiers, hurts taxpayers.
Andycanuck: I have to differ; the rot started with Pearson, not Waterhole. And the Libranos’ dislike for democracy, and willingness to subvert it to keep power, traces all the way back to King.
Wronwright: GST is 7%, and will drop to 6% in the next budget if the Conservatives come in (presuming promises are kept). Provincial sales taxes make up the rest; looks like you travel to Ontario or the Atlantic.
Andycanuck: I have to differ; the rot started with Pearson, not Waterhole. And the Libranos’ dislike for democracy, and willingness to subvert it to keep power, traces all the way back to King.
Fair enough. But I’ll have to discuss it with a portrait of my mother first. 8^)Wronwright: GST is 7%, and will drop to 6% in the next budget if the Conservatives come in (presuming promises are kept). Provincial sales taxes make up the rest; looks like you travel to Ontario or the Atlantic.
Too true; it’s the Gouge and Screw Tax here, combined with the local PST not a VAT. (That’s Vampire Added Taxes, isn’t it?)Posted by andycanuck on 2006 01 23 at 07:52 PM • permalinkThink of all the babes who will be after him when they learn of his powerful position and high status in the Great Neocon Conspiracy
wronwright—Well, Helen Thomas looked interested…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 01 24 at 09:48 PM • permalink
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Not one of the things Michael Moore thinks are good for Canada, and should be saved, were ever allowed to be approved or rejected by a public vote. Maybe, just maybe, Canadians, like most people, would like some say in how things go.