Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Canada's New Democratic Party is looking more and more like the U.S. Democratic Party's Joe Lieberman -- an alleged democrat who never seems to pass up a chance to knife the Leftosphere in the back at every opportunity?
Over at The Star, we read that the Liberal's Ralph Goodale has been cleared in the income trust scandal -- too late to make any difference, but better late than never, I guess.
One would think that this would be a delicious opportunity for Canada's progressives/leftists to stick it to Harper's CPoC, but not the NDP's Judy Wasylycia-Leis, who hands Stephen Harper yet another stick with which to beat the Liberals:
“The Liberals insisted nothing was amiss with Income Trusts, we now know that the RCMP have a different view. Mr. Goodale owes me and everyday Canadians an apology. He repeatedly claimed there was no reason for an investigation. He was wrong. He claimed that I and the NDP were motivated merely by politics. He was wrong. We were motivated by public interest, as the minister should have been. I am proud of the role I and my party played in this investigation.
Mr. Goodale failed the test of ministerial responsibility upon which our system of government is based. He refused to initiate the RCMP investigation. This was irresponsible. He must apologize to all Canadians for his failure to protect the capital markets and the integrity of the Department of Finance.”
Thanks, Judy. No, really -- when everyone on this side of the aisle should be putting pressure on Harper to back off on his now-baseless accusations about the income trust scandal, you can't help but give him moral support.
Good girl. Keep it up. Every time I start even thinking of feeling sympathetic towards the NDP, there's always an irresponsible, opportunistic hack like Judy to set me straight.
JUST SO YOU KNOW ... I figured I was going to take some abuse for this post, but what Judy W-L has done just pisses me off. Understand something -- at this point, I'm getting less and less interested in which "leftie" party wins the next election, so much as I just want these right-wing maniacs out before they do any further damage to this country.
What that means is that, as much as the Liberals and the NDP might dislike each other, there are times when the proper thing to do is swallow hard and hold your tongue, lest you offer comfort to the enemy. Which is just what Judy has done, since it now allows the CPoC to crow, "Hey, even the NDP don't buy Goodale's innocence!"
I don't give a rat's ass if Judy was involved in that dust-up originally, and if her feelings are hurt. Too fucking bad. I'm not interested in whether she feels the need for a moral victory or a little "I told you so" dance. I'm interested in whether she's putting all her efforts into getting those CPoC hacks out of Ottawa. And if that's not her focus, then she's just a waste of my time, plain and simple.
10 comments:
it's those tory ads. she forgot harper's pm and not dion.
"everyday" canadian? good grief. from ordinary to average all the way over to everyday.
her name makes her look fat, anyways.
It's pretty hard to jump in with the Liberals on this one, since they really did screw it up.
The NDP really needs to start ignoring the other parties altogether and just go play it straight...poll after poll shows that their stated policy positions are closest to the general Canadian public (health care, education, environment), but they remain completely incompetent politicians, picking the wrong fights and emphasizing the wrong mistakes the others are making. They're falling for the Cons message too much right now, which is "everything that goes wrong is still the Liberals fault!"
If any party would benefit from lessening the over-the-top insults and useless banter the parties are stuck in right now, it would be them. The Libs and Cons certainly don't want to go with their records/policies. Now if only the media could be convinced to stop covering insults from opposing parties like some sort of surprising story and focus on important issues...hah.
To be fair to the NDP, Lieberman actually goes ahead and votes with the Repubs on a lot of things. The NDP have opposed the Cons on almost every vote, which is more than the other opposition parties can say.
It may be that the NDP doesn't see its role as covering the Liberals asses.
Shockingly, they may not care that much that people like you - ie. Liberals - don't agree.
Dear anonymous:
I am not a Liberal. The rest of your comment is similarly off the mark.
I can't go with you on this one.
1. This is a minor affair, but Wasylycia-Leis has to say something about it since she was involved.
2. Her point is that, contrary to Goodale's claims, someone in Finance did in fact leak news of the income trust decision to others in the financial sector.
3. Calling Goodale and the Liberals "left" isn't so much stretching things, but of inventing new definitions out of whole cloth.
I refuse to turn a blind eye to correuption, the libs need to kicked in the nads. It's better that the kicking be done now then in three months from now.
Ya, there'll be political fallout over it, and rightly so.
Can we please, please get a more democratic electoral system? I'm not looking forward to the day when my choices are limited to Liberal and Conservative.
And hey, is it me, or are their party names becoming further and further distanced from reality. The Liberals should be the 'Conservatives' and the Conservatives should be the 'Radicals'... maybe I just need more sleep...
Gah, if this seems like a big SCORE!!! for Wasylycia...lisa-lisa-lisa...-Leis (I love her name...when you're half-way through it, you get an unnevering frisson thinking it might not ever end) then the NDP is even more deluded than I thought.
The point being that she has a habit of abetting the Conservatives and not her own party when she opens her mouth.
She could be just an attention whore, lacking in basic strategic forethought or a naive opportunist going for the cheap 'got ya' shot.
Either way she should be kept away from a microphone.
She announced the RCMP investigation, something not normally released to the press, at a most inopportune time before the last election.
Stevie couldn't have hoped for a better messenger.
I'd rather be commenting on how a Liberal minority party is making a balls up of things right now than the rightards who are in power now.
CC, you might not think you're a Liberal but you are.
People who think that the single most important things the NDP can do is cover the Liberals asses so they can get back to the business of mismanaging the country are Liberals - whether they think they are or not.
For over a decade after 1993, New Dems were constantly told "Just shut up and let the Liberals win". They broke their promise on the GST. They broke their promise to renegotiate NAFTA. They slashed transfers to the provinces causing more damage to Canada's social prorgams then any COnservative ever did. And New Dems were told, again and again, "Don't fight back. It could be worse."
Then the sponsorship scandal hit. The Liberals said the NDP should ignore it - or the Cons would win. Then the overwhelming evidence emerged that insiders had advance knowledge of the income trust leak. Again, the Liberals said the NDP should ignore it - or the Cons would win.
Frankly, I'm glad the NDP finally found their guts and started hitting back. People who think that the NDP should just roll over and let the Liberals ruin the country should just admit they're Liberals - because anyone who's willing to turn a blind eye to all the shit they pull sure isn't non-partisan.
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