» Harper’s “Gaffe”
Don’t believe the hype. There’s no way Harper’s “secret” speech was supposed to be secret. The Conservatives are becoming Republican-style experts on media control and the ubiquity of recording devices means that, unless Harper is a raving incompetent, he expected his remarks to hit the national stage.
He’s floating the coalition fears — again — to see if they still hold water. Clearly they do, though I don’t know why. A Liberal minority supported by the NDP and Bloc sounds awesome to me, but I guess that’s why we have elections. I’ve never been in sync with popular opinion.
Our two leading parties are stalemated. This seems to be a combination of the regionalization of politics and polarization of left-right political opinion. We might need a third option, or a unifying Liberal leader.
For the record, I’m very against Harper’s Conservatives at the moment. I like their stance on Northern sovereignty, but that’s it and that’s not enough for my vote. I think the rest of his platform is anti-Echo, so I’m voting with the Tribe.
I don’t see the big deal about this particular video. Harper would prefer that the Conservatives got a majority, and he called the Democratic Socialists / Social Democrats “socialists” and the Quebec Block “separatists” – quelle horreur!
Don
10 Sep 09 at 8:46 pm
Word, I feel the same. It’s not shocking in the least. I think it’s more something to talk around than to talk about.
Ignatieff’s line is that the vid “shows contempt” for the other parties — Yeah, it’s just something to spin.
Jack
10 Sep 09 at 8:59 pm
Bad move, Iggy. Not only is that exactly what Harper said you’d do, you should have just ignored him.
Vowing not to form a coalition ties your hands while gaining you no advantage.
Jack
11 Sep 09 at 12:18 pm