I noticed that the mainstream commentators were contemptuous of the drumming intro for Mulcair (to say nothing of how dismissive they were of his presentation - the excessiveness of the response revealing a mix of hatred and fear of the Mulcair option)... To those who are familiar with protests in Quebec, and with the massive student strike happening now, the drumming is a direct nod to Quebec and those students (the drummers were wearing red, the colour of the Strike). And this style of drumming - far from that of "a marching band", as one ignorant pundit put it - comes from a combination of Latin American music and protests and many marches over the years in Montreal (and elsewhere in QC) in which organised groups of street drummers liven up the scene.
NDP Leadership Race #137
When Mulcair wins, he has to come out and act graciously toward Broadbent and Topp. He needs to be very deliberate in addressing them and thanking them for their contribution to the party - both past and future. He needs to address the comments they made, and be clear that those comments were not taken personally, and rather from a point of understanding of how important this decision was, and he needs to extend the olive branch toward them.
And they need to accept it.
AAAAHHHH!!!!
God, I hope Mulcair humiliates the hell out of Topp and Brioadbent in the end. I regret saying this, but I'm pissed off.
· Open
4212 people registered for #ndpldr convention as of right now and people still signing up! Nearly 700 members of the media accredited. Wow!
20h 
politweets @cka_politwit
New stats page comparing NDP leadership candidates usage of Twitter http://politwitter.ca/special/ndp_leadership_stats #ndpldr #cdnpoli
17 Mar 
Peggy Nash @PeggyNashNDP
My call for respect for Canada's democracy. Please take a moment to watch and to share: http://youtu.be/gklktztQ6rk #NDPldr #cdnpoli
Christopher Mcmillan
@mcmillan_ndp
NDP Candidate Calgary Mountain View Having an open mind is valuable, but means your opinions will shift from time to time
4m Christopher Mcmillan @mcmillan_ndp
I wonder if Alexa is intrstd in the soon-to-be vacant role of elderstatesperson in the party? #ndpldr Whatever happend to good ole uncle Ed?
10m Christopher Mcmillan @mcmillan_ndp
Mr Broadbent, stop digging, you're not doing yourself or your candidate any favours #ndpldr #pnp
14m Christopher Mcmillan @mcmillan_ndp
@kady join the club
“Economic issues are a home run for the NDP,” Lyle wrote. “Almost seven in 10 Canadians want the government to take action to close the gap between rich and poor.“Two thirds (66 per cent) want government to raise taxes on the rich and big business. Again, seven in 10 support the idea (the government should) discourage the export of raw resources and doing more value added here in Canada.”
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/leader+could+defeat+Tories+2015+poll/6350747/story.html#ixzz1pykZIZFa
It disappoints me that only two candidates see this huge political opportunity and moral imperative. Topp, and Cullen.
Actually Broadbent is becoming one of Mulcair's biggest assets. Everytime Broadbent opens his mouth more people go over to support Mulcair.
As much as Mulcair would have the right to be mad at Broadbent over some of the stuff he's said, I think he's been smart not to react, let alone over react. The race is basically over now. And win or lose, the smartest thing he can do for his career is to help the party stay unified.
I hope he'll reach out to the supporters of all the other candidates. A positive tone goes a long way. Even better would be to keep using a participatory model to building the party and our policy.
What on earth is up with that huge long scrolling post filled with Twitter crap? Are we not capable of typing "twitter.com" into our browsers if we want to read a thousand posts there?
Boo hoo, it's no fun when colleagues criticize Mulcair in the media! It's much better when Mulcair trashes his colleagues instead, isn't it? Then it's okay. Turnabout is just no fun!
The Mulcair campaign has actually been relentlessly positive. Very magnanimous towards the other candidates.
Oh, I know. I'm more interested in what candidates are like when they're not in campaign mode trying to get votes, though.
Yah know, Michelle... he said Libby shouldn't freelance on the issue as DEPUTY LEADER and should follow PARTY POLICY. That's trashing someone? Right.
Also notice Tom didn't trash Brian over his history of being "difficult" in Saskatchewan... or Peggy being difficult to work with and having several staff change overs. No. He took the high road.
No, actually, that's not all that happened, Hunky. But you keep spinning!
In any case, you probably don't have to worry. I'm sure he'll win.
No, actually, that's not all that happened, Hunky. But you keep spinning!
In any case, you probably don't have to worry. I'm sure he'll win.
I'd suggest you take off those Libby goggles :)
I think the whole Ed gave Harper his attack ad meme is pretty lame. Can you really see a campaign Ad using "I think Tom Bombed" as a sound bite?
The NDP owe Ed a significant debt for keeping Evan Soloman awake.
I don't think Broadbent is hurting Mulcair, but I think it's hurting the party. If Mulcair wins, there will be unnecessary divisiveness between the people Topp/Broadbent have managed to spin out of control, and those who support the new leader.
Broadbent has never had much perspective, actually. He was lucky to be the avuncular figure of a party the media paid little attention to. That changed briefly in 1988 when, riding high in the polls, he flushed the party's chances of becoming the government (or at least Official Opposition) by deciding NOT to attack the Conservatives' Free Trade proposal. On the advice of a US PR firm, he left that issue to John Turner's Liberals, and they rode it to a surprisingly successful second place.
More fun than watching: [url=http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/03/23/ndp-sketchbook-real-time-drawings-by-... sketches from the convention floor[/url].
You know, I'll tell you something, Hunky. That incident pissed me off greatly at the time, but what really got me was the weeks afterwards of attacks that she endured on social media, and there wasn't a single bit of support that came her way from the man who created the whole situation and stood shoulder to shoulder with the Conservatives and Liberals to condemn her.
And now that man is going to become the leader of the party.
I knew at the time that someday he was going to get more ambitious if Jack ever stepped down. And it was his complete lack of remorse and lack of support for his colleague who was suffering because of his attack on her that made me swear that I wasn't going to forget.
I'm sure you'd love me to shut up about it. But I'm not going to. If he ever shows even the slightest remorse for what he did to a colleague, or makes any move to mend fences, I'll change my mind. But I think it's pretty clear that that would be a long shot for Mr. "I am an ardent supporter of Israel in all situations and in all circumstances".
Broadbent's digging a hole for Topp that'll soon be deep enough to bury us all. At least we'll find unity there.
Sorry to see Ed become our Diefenbaker.
I noticed that the mainstream commentators were contemptuous of the drumming intro for Mulcair (to say nothing of how dismissive they were of his presentation - the excessiveness of the response revealing a mix of hatred and fear of the Mulcair option)... To those who are familiar with protests in Quebec, and with the massive student strike happening now, the drumming is a direct nod to Quebec and those students (the drummers were wearing red, the colour of the Strike). And this style of drumming - far from that of "a marching band", as one ignorant pundit put it - comes from a combination of Latin American music and protests and many marches over the years in Montreal (and elsewhere in QC) in which organised groups of street drummers liven up the scene.
Thanks for sharing this, chimurenga. The CBC commentators continue to call it "theatrics" while missing the reference. It's a small example of how Quebec political culture can get lost in translation.
More fun than watching: [url=http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/03/23/ndp-sketchbook-real-time-drawings-by-... sketches from the convention floor[/url].
Haha! Some of those are pretty funny!
As a Topp supporter, I'm feeling pretty good about the way things went with the showcases. I thought Topp gave an outstanding speech, and his presentation in general went really well. Shirley Douglas was fantastic.
The Dewar musical performance was strange and surreal, but Paul Dewar actually gave, I thought, a very good speech—much better than I was expecting.
Niki Ashton also gave a pretty good speech, though I thought her video wasn't too good, and the appearance by Francine Raynault and Noah Evanchuk was a lot longer than it should have been.
Cullen was the only candidate who spent the entire twenty minutes on a speech. I thought his speech was poor. I don't really have much more than that to say about it.
I had expected Mulcair to put on a good show, and I was actually surprised by how poor his showcase was. The video at the beginning, I thought, looked like it could have been made with Windows MovieMaker, and the lighting on Mulcair during parts of the video was strange, making him seem oddly pale. It honestly reminded me of Stephane Dion's disastrous coalition speech video with its low production values. Mulcair's speech, I thought, was one of the worst I've seen him give. He's usually able to give a decent speech, but not today. I think part of the problem was that the drumming went on too long, causing him to be very rushed in his delivery.
I don't think the music was supposed to start playing during Nash's speech; her endorsers spoke for way too long, causing Peggy's speech to be delayed a bit. I'll give Peggy points, though, for handling it extremely well.
Martin Singh's presentation was quite enjoyable. His video was a lot of fun to watch, and he actually gave, I thought, a darn good speech. The references to Tommy Douglas were nice. He might have the second best showcase overall, after Topp.
I'm beginning to think this whole "showcase" thing is just an awful idea after a 7 month campaign. What, substantively, can be accomplished when compared to what is at risk? The media is making the party look like a mickey mouse outfit, and actually its kind of easy to see their point. Isn't it somewhat ridiculous that multiple candidates totally screwed up the timing of their presentations?
Cullen's approach to the day was obviously, without question, the absolute right choice. Keep it simple, say what you think, and let the voters choose to support you or something else based on your substance.
I'm glad I put him at #2.
Well, on the timing thing - it is the (sort of) left, after all. As someone who has helped organize many social justice and activist events where there were lots of speakers, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that for lefties, there are no such thing as time limits when it comes to speeches and presentations, even when you try to impose a time limit on each speaker in order to stay on schedule! :D
I just saw a clip of the drumming - it looked really great. What's wrong with drumming?
Edited to add: I just took a look at those sketches by the iPolitics blogger - they're great! Very amusing. Good for those of us without cable and therefore can't watch everything live on Newsworld!
I just saw a clip of the drumming - it looked really great. What's wrong with drumming?
Indeed! Mainstream commentators just don't get the reference... they have visions of half-time shows at high school football games, presumably...
Mansbridge was just on PandP and he looked drunk.
Hi,
You're new, so I need to tell you that you need to be careful about what you say about public figures in a public forum. rabble.ca has no budget for a libel/slander suit -- righteous or not -- and would cease to exist if it had to pay lawyers to fight it.
Thanks.
Removed.
I hope the word "removed" is not offensive.
I'm sure you'd love me to shut up about it. But I'm not going to. If he ever shows even the slightest remorse for what he did to a colleague, or makes any move to mend fences, I'll change my mind.
He did accept her apology, as did Jack. That counts for something.
Uh, HIM accepting HER apology after HE attacked HER is not quite where I was going with that thought.
Yeah, some of the presentations were a little off key, and I found Paul Dewar's a little embarassing. But if you're watching the NDP convention fanatically, you're either (1) an NDP member trying to figure out who to vote for, and thus you support the party, or (2) you're an NDP hater looking for some kind of sign that they're the wild, dirty, disorganized mob that you fear them to be, and you probably found the sign you were looing for.
I suppose that next time we do this whole process, we'll have learned some things that don't work.
I just cast my online first ballot for Peggy Nash.
She's the only candidate with a shot at winning who "gets" social activism.
Watching the replays of the speeches on CPAC, and here is what I've concluded as of now:
Ashton = good
Topp = way overrated. Not sure what he did today that made everyone think he gave such a good speech.
Mulcair = no where near as bad as everyone is making it sound.
I thought the Mulcair 20 minutes were just weird, very American-like, but, regardless, I think Tom will win this.
Mulcair's speech struck me as one directed at his critics rather than undecideds. He said that the only people he was against were the people on the other side (ie Harper's bunch) and talked about the Middle East. The only candidate to mention the Middle East during the debates was Ashton and Independent Jewish Voices had just put out an anti Mulcair video. Except for Broadbent, those criticizing Mulcair's speech seem to be saying that this Mulcair speech is not as good as other Mulcair speeches they've heard.
Ashton talk of taking on Harper sounded like a threat (thumbs up!) with her natural snarl when she said it - but Mulcair seemed to be promising that he was not going to treat NDP MPs like he plans to treat Harper.
Shirley Douglas has one presence! Not sure if the red ridinghood outfit was planned. Agree with Alexa over Ed.
The two which ran out of time seemed to be the ones with the biggest crowds. Ok, with Ashton or Cullen, it did not matter how big the crowd was because it would not slow people up getting on stage.
Singh's video is excellent.
Singh's son much take after his father a bit to be able to get up on stage in a room full of people by himself and know that his performance is going to be broadcast around the country.
Both me and my mom figured that the live music/performances was better at the Convention than the music Will and Kate were exposed to. Charlie Angus looked like he was really enjoying himself. I wonder who the drummers are - have a vague memory of a Quebec MP whose brother is in a band like that but not sure.
Online voting is down.
Doesn't surprise me. It probably just crashed because everyone was voting right after the speeches. Any time after midnight should be ok since the traffic should be less.
Uh, HIM accepting HER apology after HE attacked HER is not quite where I was going with that thought.
Maybe you have a skewed perspective if you saw it as an attack.
He said that she shouldn't have gone off script, as did Jack Layton, and she apologized for it.
If she was in the right, why apologize?
Maybe you have a skewed perspective if you saw it as an attack.
He said that she shouldn't have gone off script, as did Jack Layton, and she apologized for it.
If she was in the right, why apologize?
Yes, why would she apologize when her colleague starts a shitstorm that results in constant attacks against her in the media and the House of Commons that lasts for a week?
Have you ever been attacked like that and wanted it to stop?
I remember a time in my life when I often apologized when I wasn't wrong in order to stop verbal attacks against me at the hands of a bully. It was unfortunate that she should have been forced into such a damage control move by the media attack that Mulcair launched on her.
Wow, look at all the empty chairs behind the woman who is introduced the Jack tribute. (I didn't catch her name.) You'd think they would have positioned her a bit better so that it doesn't look like the place is empty behind her!
What on earth is up with that huge long scrolling post filled with Twitter crap? Are we not capable of typing "twitter.com" into our browsers if we want to read a thousand posts there? (Edited to add: thanks for cutting that post back!)
Boo hoo hoo, it's no fun when colleagues criticize Mulcair in the media! It's much better when Mulcair trashes his colleagues instead, isn't it? Then it's okay - there are lots of excuses for that. Turnabout is just no fair!
So far this is underwhelming. It's made far worse by the translation when Jack speaks in French. I hope the whole thing isn't like this.
ETA: Good God. Could they not have designed the video to have the translation done beforehand? This is painful.
Maybe you have a skewed perspective if you saw it as an attack.
He said that she shouldn't have gone off script, as did Jack Layton, and she apologized for it.
If she was in the right, why apologize?
Yes, why would she apologize when her colleague starts a shitstorm that results in constant attacks against her in the media and the House of Commons that lasts for a week?
Have you ever been attacked like that and wanted it to stop?
I remember a time in my life when I often apologized when I wasn't wrong in order to stop verbal attacks against me at the hands of a bully. It was unfortunate that she should have been forced into such a damage control move by the media attack that Mulcair launched on her.
You're equating Tom's remarks with what the Liberals and Tories said about her. Apples and oranges. And if you don't think the other parties would have ignored the story if Tom hadn't commented... nope... not at all.
I saw the Libby Davies video, she is a homelessness activist and thinks it bad every time anyone is kicked out of their home. I don't think she cared who did what to who in the past - that is not in her. The jerk with the video did care about dates and did trip her up. Libby Davies's wrong was being an experienced politician and letting a jerk who would not be brushed off trip her up - that is what she apologised for - she restated her beliefs in the statement. Mulcair's wrong was attacking family. Jack's concern was to nip the story in the bud both for the sake of the party and for Libby's sake because she was being given a rough ride. Didn't Mulcair slip up a bit right after the 2011 May election about some issue where they had to do a bit of damage control - involving Bin Laden?
That is one thing that the media tried to do with the new MPs because they were inexperienced - see if they could trip them up. Even the pros get tripped up once in a while.
Mucker, new people on any board often manage to trip over the rules and feel hard done by because they were not trying to break any rules. You've got to let it go - because it is the only way that you will enjoy being here.
I think the video is just straight bi-lingual without voiced over translation, and the translation is cbc laid over at a hotter level out of synch
Except for Broadbent, those criticizing Mulcair's speech seem to be saying that this Mulcair speech is not as good as other Mulcair speeches they've heard.
Actually that's exactly what Ed said too. And as soon as the word "bombed" popped out he regretted it and said "Oh, dear, there's the out-of-context headline."
Good for those of us without cable and therefore can't watch everything live on Newsworld!
I gave up an Newsworld. CPAC has unedited coverage. No interruptions from Rosie Barton or anyone else.
Does anyone know how many ballots have already been cast in the advance vote?
I think I heard 55,000 out of 132,000.
Hm, well I think 50% is the usual turnout at OMOV leadership elections. If so that means 5/6 of the votes have already been cast though I guess that depends on what sort of e-day GOTV machines the campaigns have and the general level of excitement.
Watching on CPAC using VLC Media Player on an older computer running the "Lubuntu" flavour of GNU/Linux connected to an old-fashioned CRT television.
Viva free (as in freedom) software. Software socialism rocks! No iThingies here.
Yes, why would she apologize when her colleague starts a shitstorm that results in constant attacks against her in the media and the House of Commons that lasts for a week?
I don't think that's accurate. The media shitstorm happened anyway. Her position on BDS put other party members on the spot, and unsurprisingly, everyone had to disasscoate themselves from her remarks.
Nobody in the caucus attacked her personally. Everyone forgave her once she apologized. Any criticism of Libby Davies centered mainly on her position on BDS: that it's not the party policy, and she shouldn't have indicated that she wanted BDS to become party policy -- at least not in public.
Again, that's not a personal attack.
The conservatives and liberals demanding her resignation, on the other hand...
I suppose my question to these 3 candidates is what happens to this arrangement if Cullen comes second?
NDP race comes down to Mulcair versus not-Mulcair
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/23/john-ivison-ndp-race-come...
There does seem to be a tacit agreement between Topp, Dewar and Nash supporters, if not the camps themselves, that they will coalesce around the last man or woman standing against the Quebec MP. From that perspective, the race for second place is almost as important as that for first.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/drawn-out-entrance-trips-up...
In addition, it is unclear if any of his rivals stepped up to the plate and delivered the necessary performance to catch up during Saturday’s ballots.
Backroom strategist Brian Topp obviously has trouble firing up a crowd.
NDP race comes down to Mulcair versus not-Mulcairhttp://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/03/23/john-ivison-ndp-race-come...
There does seem to be a tacit agreement between Topp, Dewar and Nash supporters, if not the camps themselves, that they will coalesce around the last man or woman standing against the Quebec MP. From that perspective, the race for second place is almost as important as that for first.
I don't think this article, or this statement is true. The journalist's evidence was a conversation with two people on the floor. Most conversations I have with people haven't been contaminated by the media narrative of a huge civil war. Most people see 7 decent candidates, with different genders, different regions, and different styles. You'll see more people say "who is the most like Jack?", or "who is the most professional?" or "who can do the best in the West", and not "who can stop Mulcair?" Most people don't know he needs to be stopped, let alone why.
You'll know it's not true when you see that support doesn't flow neatly from one candidate to the next. It would be one thing if Dewar's 10% turns into an extra 10% for Peggy Nash or Brian Topp. But I fully expect that 10% to flow in a few different directions.
You'll see.
Not like the media will ever admit to getting it wrong, though. And they'll keep jabbing their way around after the convention, looking for signs of an NDP civil war. We'd be wise not to give them any crumbs.
Hoodeet (JW)Maybe you have a skewed perspective if you saw it as an attack.
He said that she shouldn't have gone off script, as did Jack Layton, and she apologized for it.
If she was in the right, why apologize?
Yes, why would she apologize when her colleague starts a shitstorm that results in constant attacks against her in the media and the House of Commons that lasts for a week?
Have you ever been attacked like that and wanted it to stop?
I remember a time in my life when I often apologized when I wasn't wrong in order to stop verbal attacks against me at the hands of a bully. It was unfortunate that she should have been forced into such a damage control move by the media attack that Mulcair launched on her.
Pre-empting the CJC, perhaps... But seriously, that entire incident was shameful. Slamming a fellow-MP to please the attack dogs of the Cons and the LPC (and the CJC, I guess) weakened the status of the NDP IMO. I could never trust the leadership again, frankly.