...then refer you to a spot-on rant from Gerald Caplan:
The government has lost any inclination to actually introduce policies, beyond satisfying its base with regular law-and-order bollocks.
[...]
The NDP will hold a big national convention where the only faux-excitement will be an elite-led attempt to change the name to the Democratic Party. To this fine state has the party of Tommy Douglas and David Lewis descended, at a time of multiple crises with the democratic left virtually moribund. No new public policy ideas will be introduced.
And on Iggy, he states clearly what I am gradually starting to think myself--the gaffes are coming back:
As for the Liberals, they must rein in their virginal leader or see their potential for growth dissolve in smoke and mirrors. It's sad to see a man aspire to high office before he has successfully learned to fake sincerity. And it's mind-blowing that a man with no experience whatever of the political game has been given so much unilateral power to make crucial decisions for his party. He is not equipped.
If you're at a picnic with Iggy this summer, keep him away from the BBQ. I don't want to see pictures of him on CTV with his tie on fire.
(PS. Don't let him near the salad table either: he will mess with it until he's done.)
I liked this part the best:
ReplyDeleteN.B. to all political reporters: Take the summer off. Nothing meaningful will happen, even though millions of words will be spoken by our political leaders. Some will be true and some trite. Those that are true will be trite. Those that are not trite will not be true. Trust me.
Summer, hell. Take the rest of the year off, hacks. Y'know...to learn a trade or to get those bodies in shape for your future careers in the adult entertainment industry, or something.
It looks like we've seen Barack Obama's first great accomplishment... making the NDP want to share the same name as an American political party.
ReplyDelete"The NDP will hold a big national convention where the only faux-excitement will be an elite-led attempt to change the name to the Democratic Party... No new public policy ideas will be introduced."
ReplyDeleteYeah, except Caplan doesn't know what he's talking about.
Fits, the leadership of the NDP hasn't taken any position either way on renaming the party.
Second, this is a POLICY CONVENTION--lots of policy.
But there are always plenty of people like Gerry Caplan who think the NDP is most relevant when it's nothing more than a debating society.