NDP Leadership # 113
Comments
Got a call from a robopoll. They wanted to know if I was a member, my gender, and my top three choices. Traced the number to a call center.
Judging by the level of media coverage, I'm guessing that people are just *starting* to pay attention now. There's a huge number of undecided voters, and there's time for only one or two last big plays before people go with a "default" option.
What does Thomas Mulcair want to do with the NDP? http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/27/what-does-thomas-mulcair-want-to-do-w... "He wants to make the NDP into a party of the centre, not the left. " That's exactly what many of us have been saying all along. Thanks for the link!
Well the Conservatives must be scared of Mulcair...
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1139549--tim-harper-...
It begs the question: how stupid to they think we are?
Seems like Mulcair refused to commute to Ottawa and make less than $150000. Yet, he agreed to work as NDP QC lieutenant (did the NDP pay him more than $150 000 from party coffers?!), travel the province, commute to Ottawa, e.t.c... All the while, he had no guarantee of being elected. Only Conservatives could make this up.
josh wrote:You realize you're quoting a Liberal hack who has repeatedly claimed that Mulcair would destroy/betray the party in a clear attempt to convince New Democrats not to elect the candidate, Mulcair, who he obviously thinks would be best for the NDP, right?
What does Thomas Mulcair want to do with the NDP? http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/27/what-does-thomas-mulcair-want-to-do-w... "He wants to make the NDP into a party of the centre, not the left. " That's exactly what many of us have been saying all along. Thanks for the link!
Robert Silver may be a Liberal hack, but he's basically correct. Mulcair is using pretty much the same language that Third Way modernizers have used in the past, but somehow...Mulcair doesn't really mean it, he's just trying to fool the voters with more centrist language and then will govern on the left. Besides Silver has a good reason to fear Mulcair, as he's trying to compete for the same space as the LPC, except the NDP "brand" is much less tainted than the Liberal one.
Well the Conservatives must be scared of Mulcair...
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1139549--tim-harper-...
It begs the question: how stupid to they think we are?
Seems like Mulcair refused to commute to Ottawa and make less than $150000. Yet, he agreed to work as NDP QC lieutenant (did the NDP pay him more than $150 000 from party coffers?!), travel the province, commute to Ottawa, e.t.c... All the while, he had no guarantee of being elected. Only Conservatives could make this up.
That is a good retort...I agree that it seems curious that the Tories would be trying to undermine Mulcair now, rather than waiting until after he wins the leadership.
Well the Conservatives must be scared of Mulcair...
You all really not to stop congratulating your candidate, or yourselves, that the Cons do any of this stuff because they particularly want to get Mulcair.
They'll throw all the muck they can find. It sticks on us, they aren't fussy about where in particular.
ETA: They do it now because its a distraction: at least for coverage and public observation of the race; and if they are lucky, stirs the pot inside the NDP. And if they wait till after and Mulcair does not win, it has no value to them. While if he wins and they do it now, they can do it lots more in the future. Also, when you circulate stuff like this, they never know what else of benefit to them it may turn up that they did not know about.
Robert Silver may be a Liberal hack, but he's basically correct. Mulcair is using pretty much the same language that Third Way modernizers have used in the past, but somehow...Mulcair doesn't really mean it, he's just trying to fool the voters with more centrist language and then will govern on the left. Besides Silver has a good reason to fear Mulcair, as he's trying to compete for the same space as the LPC, except the NDP "brand" is much less tainted than the Liberal one.
I wouldn't trust a pundit. They're always wrong. Especially Liberal ones.
But even he says that's not his read on the election:
And then he claims he has no idea what Mulcair would change about the party to appeal to centrist voters. I think that's pretty much everyone on Babble.
The truth is we already changed the policy of the party under Jack, maybe earlier. Who was the last New Democrat to call for nationalizing industry? What candidate wants to go further than trade reform, to outright withdrawal from NAFTA?
It's easy to point to how Mulcair's policies would be different from the CCF's policies, but then I could constrast Saint Tommy with any of the current candidates. I'm still waiting for one of the Mulcair critics to point to a real policy difference between the candidates.
Other than Topp's/Cullen's tax policy, a gaping void on Palestine's UN bid , and an argument about the voting status of affiliated members that was already settled a few years ago, we have nothing.
AnonymousMouse wrote:josh wrote:You realize you're quoting a Liberal hack who has repeatedly claimed that Mulcair would destroy/betray the party in a clear attempt to convince New Democrats not to elect the candidate, Mulcair, who he obviously thinks would be best for the NDP, right?
What does Thomas Mulcair want to do with the NDP? http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/02/27/what-does-thomas-mulcair-want-to-do-w... "He wants to make the NDP into a party of the centre, not the left. " That's exactly what many of us have been saying all along. Thanks for the link!
Robert Silver may be a Liberal hack, but he's basically correct. Mulcair is using pretty much the same language that Third Way modernizers have used in the past, but somehow...Mulcair doesn't really mean it, he's just trying to fool the voters with more centrist language and then will govern on the left. Besides Silver has a good reason to fear Mulcair, as he's trying to compete for the same space as the LPC, except the NDP "brand" is much less tainted than the Liberal one.
Mulcair has more stuff lying around to use- either real or made up and plausible. And he's the front runner.
There is less stuff available to throw at Topp- he hasnt been a public figure. And it would have to be juicier to get the same notice as tossing something out about Mulcair.
Well the Conservatives must be scared of Mulcair...
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1139549--tim-harper-...
It begs the question: how stupid to they think we are?
Seems like Mulcair refused to commute to Ottawa and make less than $150000. Yet, he agreed to work as NDP QC lieutenant (did the NDP pay him more than $150 000 from party coffers?!), travel the province, commute to Ottawa, e.t.c... All the while, he had no guarantee of being elected. Only Conservatives could make this up.
They aren't afraid of Mulcair. They arent afraid of any of us or our party. They'll attack with whatever they can- and all the better if its the front runner.
Unless they were sure we were headed for a choice that is great for them- which is just a hypothetical possibility- they will attack most whoever is out front.... not the one they least want to see win.... if they even invest a lot of energy in sussing that out in the first place.
doofy wrote:Well the Conservatives must be scared of Mulcair...
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1139549--tim-harper-...
It begs the question: how stupid to they think we are?
Seems like Mulcair refused to commute to Ottawa and make less than $150000. Yet, he agreed to work as NDP QC lieutenant (did the NDP pay him more than $150 000 from party coffers?!), travel the province, commute to Ottawa, e.t.c... All the while, he had no guarantee of being elected. Only Conservatives could make this up.
That is a good retort...I agree that it seems curious that the Tories would be trying to undermine Mulcair now, rather than waiting until after he wins the leadership.
Interesting that whole threads were started on Mulcair donations... but not a single one started on Brian Topp's connections to a Rob Ford money man. Funny, that. I'd start one if I thought anything of it with regard to Topp but I don't.
Yes more evidence that babble is biased against Mulcair supporters.
I've said many times I find Topp's "left turn" to be insincere.
Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into "who" the Conservatives are attacking, or say they think we should pick, or we shouldn't pick. No matter what they do -- praising a candidate, criticizing a candidate, linking them to their base, linking them to the center -- it's always to plant seeds of chaos and infighting.
The smartest thing we can do is not take the bait.
Ignore what Conservatives say about the race, and use your own common sense.
Its an interesting thought project- could a candidate be "taken out" with a sufficiently big scandal
But for me, even hypothetical thought projects require some basis in reality. And it would take something so dirty to take out a candidate that its compelling nature would mean no one would really need to promote it.
All that the stuff of Tim Harper's article amounts to is nuisance chatter. Worth the Conservatives tossing out there because its so effortless- but of marginal tactical value in itself.
If I was disinterested and I had to bet a $1,000 on who would win and I had to pick one candidate, I'd go with Mulcair. If however the bet was whether or not Mulcair would win I'd probably go against.
My odds would probably look something like this:
Mulcair 40%
Nash 25%
Cullen 10%
Topp 10%
Dewar 8%
Ashton 6%
Singh 1%
Oh, but Mulcair's odds are certainly helped by the Party adding another 1,721 members in Quebec.
maybe, i don't know though. it seems to me that if mulcair wins, it'll be because - like jack - he has deep support across the country.
and i'm just really impressed by the bc numbers, wowwo:
Electoral roll per province:
AB - 9800
BC - 39859
MB - 11,991
NB - 946
NL - 974
NS - 3904
NT - 124
NU - 24
ON - 36,965
PEI - 262
QC - 13,987
SK - 11,243
YK - 747
Oh to be sure Mulcair cannot win on the votes of Quebecers alone and he would not be the frontrunner right now if he wasn't also doing very well coast-to-coast, but it's an open secret that he's cleaning up in Quebec. The larger the share of the pie that Quebec represents the better for his campaign.