CBC At Issue: Talks at the highest levels begin on Liberal/NDP coalition/merger

Mon, 2010-05-24 14:30

Sean in Ottawa

North Report -- I'm fed up with your arrogant know-it-all attitude that supposes that every other opinion that does not conform to yours is somehow defective, that of a traitor or someone drunk on kool aid.

That kind of attitude is hardly worth engaging as a second opinion identical to yours is a waste and if it is not identical you will just be insulting so you and George Victor can just duke it out between yourselves and may the biggest, fattest ego win.

Between the two of you the experience on this board for me anyway this last while has hardly been rewarding but apparently the moderators don't seem to have a problem with either of you being demeaning and personal about your insults. Frankly I am fed up with what you have done to this place so I figure I should do something else for the day.

I am sure you will feel grateful for the rest since now you can be secure in your smug purity for whatever length of time it takes for me to want to take your shit again.

And Fidel, you speak the truth and I have never seen you sell out -- we need more principled people who can recognize that there are more ideas out there and sometimes you can't have all you want but you work with that and you can still hold on to what you are. There are some who as New Democrats want to behave as if they have a majority when they are not even a government. Kind of hypocritical when they criticize the Cons for governing like they have a majority but go all holy water and purity if you suggest that they gave to compromise anything to deal with others who are elected to the parliament they say they believe in.

Mon, 2010-05-24 14:57

#103

remind

Sean, do not take Northern Report seriously in rerspect to labelling you or anyone else as anything, he has been labelled a CONservative himself in fact.

Hell Jacob Richter told me of all people, that I was a Liberal.

Having said that I do not believe Redrover is NDP, however I have never doubted that you were.... ;)

Mon, 2010-05-24 16:33

#104

KenS

Red Rover: you threw out as a proposal, the business about the NDP and Liberals not running candidates in many ridings. I have criticised that proposal specifically, but you answer as if you people are criticising the hope for more cooperation in general. You have never addressed the specific critisims of why your proposal is a non-starter. At most giving another oblique answer about "I'm not proposing a merger". That wasn't what you were critised for.

If you actually did only talk about "more cooperation" you wouldnt be getting all this disagreement.

Mon, 2010-05-24 17:42

#105

KenS

RedRover wrote:

If I thought the Libs and NDP would have enough combined seats to form a coalition after the next election, then I wouldn't dare propose something this drastic.

Leaving aside the point already covered that you propose something more than just drastic... The Liberals and NDP combined do not need a majority to govern any more than does Harper.

Making it actually happen is of course not without obstacles... but neither is what you propose, so why should you sweep it away as 'not happening'?

Mon, 2010-05-24 17:57

#106

remind

continued over here

Mon, 2010-05-24 18:23

#107

Tommy_Paine

Okay. We can quibble over how we define "progressive". I don't think Glenn Pearson is progressive by any means, though he likes to wear progressive toggs. Same with Dion.

But, in a moment of extreme charity I will accept them as "progressives."

Um, where are they now in the Liberal Party?

"It was fascinating to look at the Liberal team during this exchange. They looked ashamed of themselves. They also looked defeated and powerless. How many times during their recent decade in office, I wondered, had elected Liberals had expressions like that on their faces, while staff and bureaucrats chanted neo-con blather? Permanent tax cuts for wealthy individuals and business were “investments.” Help for poor families was “structural spending.”

From Brian Topp's account of the negotiations. I don't count six cabinet posts-- none of them senior-- as significant enough in return for what the NDP was giving them. The NDP undervalued their position, and the Liberals overvalued theirs.

Thankfully, the Conservatives rescued us from ourselves.

Tue, 2010-05-25 02:15

#108

JKR

NorthReport wrote:

The Liberals are the enemy of the NDP just as the Cons are. Some folks here have a difficult time grasping this simple fact.

Then why don`t people ever consider a NDP-CON coalition?

Tue, 2010-05-25 04:00

#109

Doug

While it's not impossible that the Conservatives might make a better coalition offer to the NDP than the Liberals, it's not extremely likely. Also, it's not likely that NDP supporters will be too happy with a coalition deal that sustains Stephen Harper in office.

Tue, 2010-05-25 04:14

#110

Fidel

In my opinion the Liberals betrayed Canadians a number of times during their twelve-year dictatorial rein. But the outstanding betrayals for me as a socialist were NAFTA in 1994 and the terrible federal budget of 1995. Reflecting on those two sometimes has an effect which causes me to remember lines from that Clint Eastwood duster entitled Unforgiven, and my left eye lid twitches rapidly, like just now.

Tue, 2010-05-25 06:29

#111

Slumberjack

Deserves got nothing to do with it?

CBC At Issue: Talks at the highest levels begin on Liberal/NDP coalition/merger

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