... it was entirely possible that Jack thought it was not a sexual massage parlour at all.
Who cares? Are you seriously suggesting that a political figure shouldn't go to a sexual massage parlour? Or that he should pretend he didn't know? What are you actually trying to say here?
I'm saying that according to Jack and Olivia he went for medical reasons, not sexual reasons and others have suggested that Jack knew, I'm suggest he's not knowing was plausible, I'm not judging Jack if he was in fact in search of a "Happy Ending", that's between the people invovled not me.
Yeah I'm sorry I brought it up. The point is some attacks are so irrelevant, so malicious, and so strategically timed, the electorate can't help but see through them and be skeptical. The Conservatives have such a horrible reputation for attack ads, and the Liberals have a reputation for just ignoring the NDP. If they start attacking the NDP now, people are going to take it with a huge grain of salt.
But none of this is to say that the NDP should just ignore the attacks. Some strategy is required.
Prediction: I don't think any major attacks will be forthcoming from either the Cons or Libs toward the NDP during the summer. I think they're both going to wait, because they're assuming that it's just a short post-Notley post-Bill C-51 fad that will fade (and then things will return to the blue-door red-door paradigm). The Liberals will try to re-establish themselves as the cool responsible agents of change to big bad Harper (IE, realchange.ca), and the Cons will continue to vilify Trudeau. Each will make dismissive comments about the NDP on occasion, but will focus their main fire on each other. After the summer, in September, if polls have not changed, or if the NDP have surged further into the lead, then full on attacks from both the Liberals and Conservatives against the NDP will occur. But for now both Libs and Cons still feel it's best to not acknowledge the NDP as a serious contender, because doing so would give them too much credibility.
But for now both Libs and Cons still feel it's best to not acknowledge the NDP as a serious contender, because doing so would give them too much credibility.
Good. The longer that goes on, the better.
Many of us are already spending alot of time online defending NDP from the onslaught of conservative and liberals attack on the comment sections of sites like Huffinginton Post, the toronto star, and NDP advertisment pages on facebook. Anyone who wants to do something for the NDP should be on those sites. Excuses like you dont use facbook doesnt cut it if you are serious about being an NDP activist.
The media is already talking about how NDP is getting less facebook likes than other parties.http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-liberals-conservatives-in-2-horse-race-for-likes-facebook-1.2423385
Facebook is changing conversations, and moving votes, and maybe more improtant than traditional media when it comes to having impact
That site is hilarious... I had more in common with Christian Heritage (10%) than the Cons (1%).
What it really needs is a "don't get fooled again" option for those of us who remember the Liberals and their whole "Red Book" nonsense - it should adjust the calculation involving who you side with to take into account their actual track record.
Many of us are already spending alot of time online defending NDP from the onslaught of conservative and liberals attack on the comment sections of sites like Huffinginton Post, the toronto star, and NDP advertisment pages on facebook. Anyone who wants to do something for the NDP should be on those sites. Excuses like you dont use facbook doesnt cut it if you are serious about being an NDP activist.
The media is already talking about how NDP is getting less facebook likes than other parties.http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-liberals-conservatives-in-2-horse-race-for-likes-facebook-1.2423385
Facebook is changing conversations, and moving votes, and maybe more improtant than traditional media when it comes to having impact
RELAX! All that is happening is the MSM is upto its usual mischiefl Eeryone take a big breath! This reminds me of the runup to the 2008 election. Everyone was worrying about the Presidential election. Like the President thenm, "Tom has this"! Work hard but stop freaking. People are smarter then you think they are as the polls seem to be suggesting. Lets keeping working hard, and do what has to be done. If anything, this simpy proves how freaked out they all are at what is oging on.
Many of us are already spending alot of time online defending NDP from the onslaught of conservative and liberals attack on the comment sections of sites like Huffinginton Post, the toronto star, and NDP advertisment pages on facebook. Anyone who wants to do something for the NDP should be on those sites. Excuses like you dont use facbook doesnt cut it if you are serious about being an NDP activist.
The media is already talking about how NDP is getting less facebook likes than other parties.http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-liberals-conservatives-in-2-horse-race-for-likes-facebook-1.2423385
Facebook is changing conversations, and moving votes, and maybe more improtant than traditional media when it comes to having impact
Not sure I agree -- first you missed Twitter and it is just -- if not more -- active. If you are more active and have a bigger following on Twitter why not spend more time there?
I agree comment sections -- I see a much greater balance these days so either more poeple are going NDP or we are getting louder -- both are good. Do facebook if that is where you are.
Speaking of attacks was it a bit of a joke that media said Muclair didnt know the tax rates? I have news for those who think its 15%. Its not if you take into consideration the small corporate rate or if you look at it from a point of vue of effective taxation which is far lower than 15%.
forget it.
Here comes the big right-wing scare tactics.
Hi NorthReport! Surprised to see me? What do you mean by this:
oldv,
I expected to hear from the people who supported the right-wing Wynne Liberals in the Ontario election. So you are kinda confirming my hunch abourt Leadnow.
Here comes the big right-wing scare tactics.
The one percenters are having a temper tantrum that there will be a NDP government.
The comment sections of newspapers really are dominated by the most hardcore of partisans, though there's a decent contingent of "anyone but Harper" voters. But they're all people who made up their minds. I wouldn't waste too much time there. It's a bottomless pit.
What's actually much more important is to engage with people in the networks you have. Facebook, friends, neighbors, family, coworkers, anyone you can approach in a friendly and patient way. Ask em if they're paying attention to politics and ask em what they think. They'll inevitably ask what you think, and you can let the conversation go from there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/18/ndp-conservative-attack-ad-faceb...
The Tories' jab at Mulcair on social media appears to be their first since October 2014, leading some to suggest online that the governing party could be shifting its focus in light of the NDP's rise in the polls.
There aren't any voters who are going to change their minds because Mulcair said twelve when he meant fifteen. But it's interesting to see so many Conservatives (and even a few Liberals) pounce on this.
You would have thought they'd have something better and more substantive. Even the satellite offices have more substance than that.
When you get down to what Conservatives are really warning people against, it really amounts to "the NDP is going to raise corporate taxes." Conservatives think that will scare voters away from voting NDP. But it's exactly the policy that Notley ran on and won. In Alberta, of all places.
I say bring it on.
The attack ads are coming. Looking at the twitter feed on Tom Mulcair, the attacks are all over the place:
- The NDP wanted to abolish the Senate for years, but Mulcair only talks about it to win cheap votes.
- Mulcair said he'll scrap Bill C-51, but he doesn't really mean it.
- The federal minimum wage doesn't effect everyone, so Mulcair shouldn't talk about it.
- Mulcair says he's for decriminalizing marijauna, but not legalization, so he's as bad as Harper.
- Tom Mulcair and Jack Layton are not, in fact, the same person.
- The Liberals and Conservatives voted on a secret panel to accuse the NDP of misspending.
- Tom Mulcair worked for an English language rights organization in Quebec.
- Conservatives wanted Tom to join their party, and he rejected them, proving he has no principles.
- Someone tried to bribe Tom 20 years ago, proving he has no principles.
- Mulcair used to be a Liberal, proving he has no principles.
Wait until closer to the election (or, perhaps, now) and watch Tom get shot at from the other side.
Judy Rebick is probably drafting the letter now. 
No huge surprises here.
90% NDP
88% Liberal
84% Green
77% Communist
71% Bloc Québecois
20% Libertarian
9% Christian Heritage
1% Conservative.
Attack ads are apart of the territory so buckle up as the election nears. As for me, this could be the last election I vote in as policy difference on what really matters is being extinguished. All the major parties voted for corporate rights to trump Canadfian law when they all voted yes on the various "trade" deals. All the major parties voted to support imperial aggression in the Ukraine and the Nazi junta that holds power there, extending hundreds of millions in loans to these barbaric excuses for humanity. Just these two policies alone, among many others, are enough for me to mark paid to the Canadian electoral process if in the next Parliament there isn't a refutation of the globalist corporate one world fascist rule, with Orwell's boots and face image personified.
theres no excuse to get corproate tax rate wrong when you want to increase it, i am disappointed. "12% or 13% Something like that" is not an acceptable answer from a leader.
Judy Rebick is probably drafting the letter now.
Are you drafting a message of apology?
oldv,
I expected to hear from the people who supported the right-wing Wynne Liberals in the Ontario election. So you are kinda confirming my hunch abourt Leadnow.
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I laughed so hard at that I peed myself alittle :-) .
Just the usual to be expected
Being contender puts NDP under scrutiny
The New Democrats, of course, were also governing under the shadow of an economic recession. Those same years would have been difficult for a Liberal or Progressive Conservative government.
At the same time, the Liberals or PC were also expected to win that 1990 election, and perhaps Rae and his party and their promises were not subjected to as much scrutiny during the campaign.
That’s not happening this time around. Mulcair and his party are not only viewed as worthy contenders in the federal campaign, but are being closely examined for their ability to govern.
On Monday, Mulcair spoke to a business crowd in Montreal, and on Tuesday he was in Toronto addressing the Economic Club of Canada. Now that it looks as though he could become the next prime minister, everyone wants to hear from Mulcair. And that’s good.
Interesting that Mulcair appears to be pushing his party to the right on some issues. On Tuesday he cast himself as a champion of small business, and reminded his audience that provincial NDP governments (except Rae’s) have a history of balancing budgets. Those words were likely well-received by the Economic Club’s business crowd, which in past years may have regarded New Democrats as wild-eyed revolutionaries.
All that has now changed. Not only do the NDP’s chances look good, but the party’s leader is being asked to explain himself and his party to a wider audience precisely because their chances of forming the next government are good.
http://www.saultthisweek.com/2015/06/17/being-contender-puts-ndp-under-s...
Just the usual to be expected
Being contender puts NDP under scrutiny
The New Democrats, of course, were also governing under the shadow of an economic recession. Those same years would have been difficult for a Liberal or Progressive Conservative government.
At the same time, the Liberals or PC were also expected to win that 1990 election, and perhaps Rae and his party and their promises were not subjected to as much scrutiny during the campaign.
That’s not happening this time around. Mulcair and his party are not only viewed as worthy contenders in the federal campaign, but are being closely examined for their ability to govern.
On Monday, Mulcair spoke to a business crowd in Montreal, and on Tuesday he was in Toronto addressing the Economic Club of Canada. Now that it looks as though he could become the next prime minister, everyone wants to hear from Mulcair. And that’s good.
Interesting that Mulcair appears to be pushing his party to the right on some issues. On Tuesday he cast himself as a champion of small business, and reminded his audience that provincial NDP governments (except Rae’s) have a history of balancing budgets. Those words were likely well-received by the Economic Club’s business crowd, which in past years may have regarded New Democrats as wild-eyed revolutionaries.
All that has now changed. Not only do the NDP’s chances look good, but the party’s leader is being asked to explain himself and his party to a wider audience precisely because their chances of forming the next government are good.
http://www.saultthisweek.com/2015/06/17/being-contender-puts-ndp-under-s...
And all we can expect from you are partisan cheerleading and smears.
oldv,
I expected to hear from the people who supported the right-wing Wynne Liberals in the Ontario election. So you are kinda confirming my hunch abourt Leadnow.
What are the Cons going to do with all those qued up Trudeau attack ads?
In question period, Harper was almost all "satellite offices". But then he threw in an old one: Mulcair and Osama Bin Laden.
There's a good chance that this is on top of Harper's mind because of conversations with his strategists. It's possible this will be a line of attack.
They're flailing about, no matter how they shriek hysterically about the satellite offices and mailings, it ends up making them look worse then the NDP, so the Libs and Tories are searching for anything, anything at all to stop Tom. Flailing doesn't work.
the corporate hacks, lead by tom clark, from canadian press and the ottawa citizen flailed around bashing, weakly, making themselves look like idiots on the West Block this morning. hey tom clark, you failed to make your point last week with mulcair, it was pretty sleazy to try and maintain this fabrication today too.
and i can't believe i've watched this show twice now. if you would've told me last year i'd be watching politics on tv, i probably would've peed myself laughing.
The comment sections of newspapers really are dominated by the most hardcore of partisans, though there's a decent contingent of "anyone but Harper" voters. But they're all people who made up their minds. I wouldn't waste too much time there. It's a bottomless pit.
Well said... but whether its here on Rabble or "out there" on the MSM sites, my experience has been the same:
I am either preaching to the converted or just annoying the usual suspects.
and I've (almost he he) stopped posting.
This is what passes for news now in Canada's mainstream press. WTF?
Wrtten by the same clown who spewed out erroneous polling stats from EKOS a few weeks back
Is Postmedia Canada's subtle Fox News?
NDP using Father's Day to build email database and solicit donations
http://www.canada.com/News/canada/Gargoyle+using+Father+build+email+data...
In truth there are always few votes up for grabs.
The top three parties will go into the election with at least 70% of the voter locked up. The BQ add about 2% and the Greens about 3%. There are only 25% of voter available -- at best. This number can be as low as 10% in many elections. Of the entire population the 25% of voters available may represent 12-15%. Some of these people read the comment sections but few post in them. Your audience if you want to change things are readers not posters. And they don't go for hyper-partisan or extreme language.
This election I would break down the 25% further:
About 5% are deciding if they want to give Harper another go. Perhaps 2.5% are anti NDP, another 2.5% are anti Liberal. The remaining 15% are anti Conservative and the NDP and Liberals are fighting over them. It used to be that there were more in the swing group who were anti NDP or anti Liberal but most of those are solidly in a party now and not likely to consider changing their votes or voting strategically.
This election is about the 5% or might or might not vote Conservative and the 15% who are trying to decide who best to get rid of the Conservatives. Then you have a number in each party who may or may not choose to vote. If the Conservatives get discouraged and don't vote in as high numbers, they could see their numbers drop to a sad third. If either the Liberals or the NDP can move most of the anti Conservative vote their way they could get a majority. If the Conservatives can get that 5% to stay loyal; the anti NDP and anti Liberal votes in part to go to them; and their supporters vote in greater proportions than the other party they might get re-elected. Otherwise they could drop -- even to a poor third.
This dynamic is not that unusual. It is important to remember that most people you speak to are already committed. It is only a small number who can be moved and you only need to move a small number to go from third party to majority.
I don't like this shift to the right to please business interests.
If that's the case,what makes the NDP different than the LIberals?
Can you be specific about the shift to the right you're referring to? Does it involve policy positions or just your general sense of things?
Giving speeches to the business community about balanced budgets is never good news. Someone gets screwed and it's never them.
Honesty.
what makes the NDP different than the LIberals?
Honesty.
what makes the NDP different than the LIberals?
They still need to prove it and I hope an NDP government doesn't venture so far to the centre that it gets swallowed by the right.
I understand your concerns but balanced budgets are a long-standing priority of the NDP. Pointing that out isn't betraying the party's principles or indicative of a rightward shift. It's just good marketing.
Many of us do have concerns. The power of the right-wing is often overwhelming isn't it?
Honesty.
what makes the NDP different than the LIberals?
They still need to prove it and I hope an NDP government doesn't venture so far to the centre that it gets swallowed by the right.
I'm probably more open to a little debt financing than the average Canadian, because I know that it's an important growth strategy for business.
But Tommy Douglas was deeply committed to balanced budget, and no one dared accuse him of venturing to the right or the center.
His reasons were sound. If a social democratic government has debts to the wealthiest Canadians, they'll use it as leverage to manipulate and undermine that government at every turn. Just ask any New Democrat in Ontario who lived through 1990.
Balanced budgets are neither left nor right.
No government should have debts to anything other then the Bank of Canada, anything else is a tax that transfers public dollars to the rich.
The Liberals are ignoring the NDP, feeling that any mention will validate the NDP. The Conservatives recently put a photo up on Twitter and Facebook attacking Mulcair for allegedly getting the corporate tax rate wrong in a statement. Otherwise, there's very little mention of the NDP on the Con's website, and likewise for the Liberals.
As I said earlier, I think the Libs and Cons feel the high numbers for the NDP is a polling fad that will pass. If the NDP is still consistently ahead after the summer, and if the NDP is getting close to majority territory (IE, if they poll in the high 30s after the summer) then true all out attacks will begin. But not until then, I predict. The Cons may put out some photos on Facebook or Twitter which will target their base to get donations in, but focussed ads for the general public will still revolve around Trudeau. Likewise for the Liberals, now deem themselves the "Real Change" -- they'd rather people forgot about the NDP, and thus they won't do anything to remind them.
It will be Alberta all over again. The other parties will only react to the rising NDP when it's too late.
Just a thought, but if the company publishing Mulcair's book decides to put out advertizing for it, that would not count as campaign spending would it?
Just a thought, but if the company publishing Mulcair's book decides to put out advertizing for it, that would not count as campaign spending would it?
Interesting question -- Conservatives and Liberals will of course make a scandal out of it.
I would say the fair answer would probably lie in the publishing contract. If it is at all standard than it should not if the ads are for the book. But an ad focusing on specific content helpful to the NDP could be interpreted as crossing a line depneding on how the ad was designed.
If the publisher is invested (the NDP have not paid for the entire cost), then the publisher ought to have the right to advertise to get a return on the investment. Even if the NDP subsidized part of the cost, the publisher would be expected to be able to promote and sell the book to make a profit.
Good question. It is possible that there could be demands for the publishing contract to be made public. This of course would open up serious and justifiable protest from the publisher. It could be potentially damaging for the publisher to be forced to disclose the terms of the contract publicly. This is not an easy question.
For the record I have published political books and promoted them during election campaigns.
The tone of twitter has changed a bit. A lot more aggressive attacks on Mulcair among Liberal and Conservative partisans. The big ads might not be happening yet, but the partisans have picked up some of the dirty work.
The Unity vs. Clarity Bill debate will likely get a lot of time from the Libs outside of Quebec, I'm guessing.
I've noticed Trudeau himself in his interviews often will include snides at Mulcair as well as Harper, trying to equate the two (IE, as both being partisan and old style politicians, rather than a new style consultative politician that Trudeau sees himself as).
The Unity vs. Clarity Bill debate will likely get a lot of time from the Libs outside of Quebec, I'm guessing.
They can try...but seriously in the absence of any imminent national unity crisis and with a federalist majority government in Quebec with three years to go in its mandate - its hard to see people getting excited about that issue...seriously, try stopping 100 passerby on the streets of Toronto and if you are liucky maybe 1 will have even heard of the Clarity Act
And in the absence of any imminent national unity crisis, trying to manufacture one comes across as cynical. Especially in the context of a Liberal campaign that's fallen off the rails.
And in the absence of any imminent national unity crisis, trying to manufacture one comes across as cynical. Especially in the context of a Liberal campaign that's fallen off the rails.
I realize spelling flames are not terribly popular - but typical is not spellt c-y-n-i-c-a-l, it is spelt t-y-p-i-c-a-l.
