Newfoundlander_Labradorian wrote:Yeah, but how many of those seats he has are from Quebec?Stephen Harper's French a few years ago was considered to be on the level of Dewar's and he now has a majority government.
When his French was considered poor he took 25% of the vote in Quebec. Now that Quebeckers see his ideology they've turned against him. Are the NDP only concerned about Quebec now?
I'm not sure what "test" Kennedy passed. I remember distinctly that his leadership campaign went into free-fall when it became clear that his abilities were highly over-rated and that his French was actually very sub-standard.
The Liberal Party made each candidate do a test to see if they were bilingual, Dion in English and the rest in French. His campaign probably went into "free-fall", which I don't know if it did or not, probably because he came out against recognizing the Quebecois as a nation, a smart move. Had Kennedy supported the motion he probably would have beaten Dion on the second ballot and went on to win.
No. You're getting paranoid. He has usually been wrong, and is just trying to be sassy. Some people think he's backing Topp, some people think he's backing Cullen, some people think he's backing Mulcair. I think he's just trying to be controversial, which seems to be the mandate of that awful show.
I think the example you are looking for is a guy named Gerard Kennedy when you are asking why run when you can't meet basic criteria beyond huge hubris.
Chisholm has a wealth of experience and smarts. On every other criteria but language he certainly deserved to be in the race if he wanted to be. It may simply be the pressure to have an eastern candidate was so strong he felt he had little choice after a few others stepped back and under-estimated how over-ridingly important that single criteria was. It should have been obvious, but given his clear strengths in other areas he may have thought it would balance out. Memebers clearly sent him the message it was far more important than he thought and to his enormous credit Chisholm heard the message and did the right thing.
I think Chisholm showed real leadership today, and if there had been more time on language training for him you can see how he could have been a very crediable leadership contender if we hadn't had to have this race so soon.
With respect nicky you can't make the case that there is an Anyone but Tom movement no matter what Capstick says. Capsticks job is to get noticed, nothing more. He doesn't have deep roots in the party across the country so he has zero way of know much of anything. (This is true of most pundits to be fair, especially in a OMOV situation where all ballots, regardless of region count as much as any others.) You get noticed by making such unfounded statements that's all Capstick is doing.
I have to say you also get noticed as a campaign if you try to make this kind of case. It is not at all helpful for your candidate to whine and cry and pull your hair out.
I know a lot of people who are supporting various candidates. Many of them have Thomas Mulcair in their top 5 choices from what I understand (at least at this point). This thing is going to be won in 4-5 ballots I expect. Playing the woe is we card for a campaign will not help in those 2nd, 3rd and 4th ballots as it will turn folks off. I would put this card back in your deck.
I had the pleasure of meeting him recently and he struck me as very sincere with experience and a strong presence, and even charismatic. He emphasized his opposition to a merger, joint party nominations in Conservative ridings, and moving closer to the centre - that social democratic policies, such as public health care and public health insurance, appeal to the majority of Canadians and by emphasizing our policies and values, that's how we can attract more voters to the NDP, by distinguishing ourselves as social democrats, and not as a Liberal-lite.
Kennedy was bilingual, what other criteria did he not meet?
Those conclusions are just your opinions, which you're certainly entitled to.
That's just how you choose to spin it. No one is really being singled out.
Unfortunately, Topp has no electoral experience and has never held any public office. I wish he would run in a by-election first. If he ran in a riding near me, I would probably volunteer for him.
http://www.themarknews.com/articles/7695-an-active-government-for-a-fair-economy
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/2011/12/11/peggy-nash-nets-ndps-top-endorsement-laytons-finance-critic?page=0%2c0
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/12/14/pol-peggy-nash-profile.html
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/04/john-ivison-seven-things-we-learned-from-the-first-ndp-leadership-debate/
Andrew Coyne thinks Peggy Nash will win:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXLTbUE7pPs
CTV's Craig Oliver praises Nash:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111028/peggy-nash-ndp-leadership-race-111028/
(on right hand side under "CTV News Video", click on "CTV News Channel: Nash changes race dynamic"
Kennedy was NOT bilingual. His french is on par with Dewar at best and was often completely cringable.
Well he passed a bilingualism test during the leadership race. He may not be fluent but that doesn't mean he is not bilingual. Chisholm could not communicate in French.
Gerard Kennedy certainly was not bilingual. I agree with BA, Kennedy was roughly parallel with Paul Dewar.
OO#51: I don't just think Capstick supports Topp, I am basing it on what he said himself. If you listen to the link, Capstick stated back in August that he is looking to someone from outside the caucus who could "pull the party together"; and that neither Muclair nor Libby Davies should run.
As far as that show being awful, I could not agree with you more. A serious journalist would have confronted Capstick with his past statements, and asked him how he could claim to be "neutral" in the race. But I know I have too high expectations for Solomon... As a result, viewers are left to devise various theories...
I guessed the test he passed was rigged then.
Kennedy was not trying to lead a party that had a majority of its caucus from Quebec.
You sure seem to have a lot invested in the poor, poor Liberal Mr. Kennedy. Just go back and review tapes. His French is not crediable for someone running for the leadership of a national party. Upon sorting through my memories I would in fact say it does a disservice to Mr. Dewar as Kennedy's french at the time he ran for the leadership was in fact quite a bit worse. But of course Liberals like Debater just like to ignore such things when they make their little digs. It does though have about sweet nothing to do with the NDP leadership campaign.
Stephen Harper's French a few years ago was considered to be on the level of Dewar's and he now has a majority government.
So you consider Stephen Harper and Gerard Kennedy to be roughly equal? Whatev, but even I wouldn't go that far.
My point was that Kennedy passed a test on bilingualism during the 2006 leadership race, so I don't know how you can compare him to Chisholm who couldn't understand questions in French.
Yeah, but how many of those seats he has are from Quebec?
I'm not sure what "test" Kennedy passed. I remember distinctly that his leadership campaign went into free-fall when it became clear that his abilities were highly over-rated and that his French was actually very sub-standard.
Not sure what that gratuitous shot was about, but let me just point out that, so far as I am aware, no Ashton supporter has said squat here about the Dewar video.
FWIW, I thought it was well conceived and well executed. A little surprised by the length, but it didn't seem long watching it. I'd've probably included some voiceovers of Dewar endorsers (no need for it to be profile endorsers particularly), but that's just me.
As I always say, any poll tells you what it tells you - but that's all it tells you. It was nice for us that Niki was ahead of most of the field - even if its pure optics because the gap was so narrow and the margin so huge.
Is it predictive? Probably not.
What I think is more interesting is the way Ivison apparently screwed up (or misrepresented?) the numbers, doubling Dewar's actual standing and implying a lower standing for Niki. Since his column was practically a plea to support Dewar . . .
I thought it was a gentle josh, Malcolm. With all the gushing about the momentum of Niki's campaign in the preceding posts, I was sure we'd be seeing one before long.
Yes, that was weird, I agree.
The sad thing about Bob Chisholm is that, apart from language, one could make a good argument that he would have been the ideal leader of the NDP in the current circumstances. Not only did he have actual leadership experience from Nova Scotia, the situation of the NSNDP through the latter part of his leadership was startlingly similar to the current situation of the NDP: a former marginal party now on the cusp of power.
I think the departure does add to the pressure on Dewar to demonstrate his improved French. However you finesse his second language skills, he now has probably the worst French of the candidates who would seem to have any credible shot of winning.
Well, Malcolm, I think the pressure was always pretty intense to do so. You're talking about a man who has been underestimated before, and is not naive about the dynamics here.
Well, I don't think the party can or would hand over the information to a third party who commisions the poll. It's true that the party could commision a poll themselves and publicly post the results, but I highly doubt they'd do that.
These two tweets by Akin, less than an hour apart from each other = hilarious:
That, my friends, is a neat summary of what mainstream journalism has to offer us.