Saturday, November 03, 2007
The Mark Warner saga: What the hell?
So ... let me see if I understand this: Mark Warner, a black immigrant who is an international lawyer and who holds two Masters degrees, and is further concerned about issues like poverty, health and housing, was running as a Conservative!?
How the fuck did that work?
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22 comments:
Yeah, that was my thought too.
I hope he's willing to show up in politics again, this time under a more appropriate banner. Sounds like a guy we could use in gov't.
I hope he's willing to show up in politics again, this time under a more appropriate banner.
Like a new Conservative Party made up of all the sensible people who finally ditch the crapulent Reform-a-Tories.
"How the fuck did that work?"
Well, it seemed to be workin' jus' fine for his constituents. Until Harper took a dislike to him, that is. Thing is, Warner would still go over well for his constituents if Harper and Co. would leave them alone. But they won't.
Warner is a Progressive...Conservative. Harper is a hard-line Reformer.
CC,
Ah yes, the racism of cynical liberals.
Totally agree. A non-white person with a graduate degree running as a Tory?
That's like the best joke ever.
The Hidden Agenda turns out to be that LPC supporters are elitist, bigoted, and prepared to make us all eat their cake.
Tomm
I heard the interview with him, on CBC's Metro Morning. I kept thinking, "Okay, he has to have been a PC, not a CRAP, more along the lines of Joe Clark than George's buddy Steve." And sure enough.
He said he really wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and work with them, after the party amalgamation.
The word went around on the day he and another Ontario Con candidate were booted, that they were booted because they "weren't knocking on enough doors."
I phoned in to the talk line at CBC, saying that I had actually written letters to Jack Layton and Stephane Dion, demanding to know why Mark Warner was out there campaigning already, despite the fact that there was no election, and they weren't. When I called I said that I never expected to be defending Mark Warner, but that the Con claim about "not enough door-knocking" was simply an out-and-out lie.
I also commented that I'd like to remind Warner that these are the same people who joined both the CRAP and the PCs so they could vote TWICE to abolish the PCs -- so what on earth ever gave him the idea that these people believe in democracy??
How loudly can we yell "I told you so" to all those Progressive Conservatives who tried to believe that these people are in fact conservatives and not fascists?!?
I used to think Tomm pretended to be stupid, but I've come to realise that he is genuinely stupid.
Or course, he has a point...theoretically...that smart, compassionate, highly-experienced and highly-credentialed people could conceivably be Conservative candidates, but in reality, that's just not the case with this current crop of rednecks, mediocrities, fatwads, frat boys, yes-men, ditzes, "nekkid mayors" and jerks.
Ti-Guy,
I forgot to say that Liberal Cynics are also... stalkers.
Good Grief!
My point remains, that according to at least a couple posts here, a black educated man isn't allowed free will. He either must fit the stereotype of the Canadian Cynic, or be a bit of a kook.
Also, somebody should update Chimera that Harper doesn't pick or un-pick candidates, it's not the way that the CPC apparently functions, unlike the LPC.
Tomm
Tomm: Oh, please...go ahead and update me. If it's not Harper who says yea or nay, then who? Don't say Finnerty or Plett -- they're just the front guys who take all the flack (willingly, but still, they're not the ones who make the decisions). Harper is the one who signs or doesn't sign the nomination papers.
Chimera,
I didn't realize you were on the inside of the CPC Party.
They have been crystal clear on who makes the decisions, apparently you know better.
This would be an excellent expose since both the party and Harper have been categorical in their statements that Harper is uninvolved.
Sadly, there's nothing here, because you're just making stuff up.
Sounds like a typical Liberal poo flinging episode to me. Sadly, some of it will stick because members of the MSM will keep heaving it at the wall, because they so want it to stick.
Tomm
"I didn't realize you were on the inside of the CPC Party."
Well, now you know.
There is nothing that goes on within the party (any party) about which the leader does not know and approve, either candidly or tacitly. Harper and his minions can protest his "uninvolvement" all they want, but they have already proven themselves to be liars, and nobody believes them.
Certainly not those of us who have been victimized by those lies.
Chimera,
How were you victimized?
Tomm
My point remains, that according to at least a couple posts here, a black educated man isn't allowed free will. He either must fit the stereotype of the Canadian Cynic, or be a bit of a kook.
Well, you have to a admit...a party chock-a-block with white supremacists wouldn't seem that appealing to a black person, would it?
But I don't think this has anything to do with it. Reichsminister Harper just wants to marginalise independent thinking.
Ti-Guy: I think you're right. I think this is yet another volley being fired at those who dare to think for themselves...and who have constituents who like it that way. This has naught to do with racism.
Ti-Guy,
You said:
"...Reichsminister Harper just wants to marginalise independent thinking."
So your take on this is that Warner was not within Harper's officially acceptable candidate cookie mold and therefore had to be punted? I see.
Your point about "chock a block with white supremists" is a pretty ugly condemnation. Are you sure you want to live here?
Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable in a country governed by a party that isn't chock a block with white supremists. Where would that be for you?
Tomm
So your take on this is that Warner was not within Harper's officially acceptable candidate cookie mold and therefore had to be punted? I see.
Well that seems to be what Warner himself thinks.
Your point about "chock a block with white supremists" is a pretty ugly condemnation. Are you sure you want to live here?
You find these types all over the world. Canada is no exception. Of course, here it's all cryptic but I've got a good nose for it.
...I lived in Germany, after all.
I was in Munich in September. Apparently the compound used by the Brown Shirts in the 30's isn't an official tourist destination.
I didn't bother going to look.
Tomm
I used to amuse myself on trips to Canada by remarking that Canada ws the only place in the world where you could convince people you can get a Progressive and a Conservative out of the same box. But such was the original PC party, and such were Canadian fantasies at the time. If Mr. Warner joined when Mulroney was PM, he joined the PC's, which, if John Tory is to be believed, remains alive, if not very well, in Ontario. But for the rest of Canada, the whole point of the CRAP thing was to purge every last shred of progress out of Canadian politics.
Well Mr. Mark, consider yourself purged.
Of course Tomm's point that being a minority, educated and concerned about social issues means one doesn't have to belong to the Liberal party is true. The Progressive conservative party had many people who made immeasurable sense on a multitude of topics, and not all NdPers are rabid ideologues without a sense of humour.
However, his tone deafness about Harper not being involved in this decision speaks to probably a lot of "I know nothing!" coming from the CONs rank-and-file.
The self-appointed smartest man in the phone booth is tagged with this, just as he's been the wad who made the unflexible decision on Casey, Turner, the media, blocking public access to repatriation of soldiers' remains (via the media) and negative campaign ads minus the campaign.
None of these applied until he took over this operation.
It's his fingerprints all over it, but go ahead and pretend o' Steve didn't know. Maybe you can sleep at night then...
But for the rest of Canada, the whole point of the CRAP thing was to purge every last shred of progress out of Canadian politics.
The CRAP was never a "rest of Canada" thing. It was a Western protest party that conquered political conservatism in the rest of Canada when Peter McKay sold the party down the river. Progressive Conservatives, tired of being in the wilderness for over a decade, went along with it, but I think are living to regret it (most of the long-time Conservatives I know are either voting Liberal...*ick*...or not voting at all). Conservatism in most of Canada is rooted in communitarian principles and not the individualistic impulses of American conservatism.
There is no fundamental contradiction between progressivism and conservatism, when you acknowledge that as society moves forward, benchmarks of tradition and institutions that real conservatism values will change.
As everyone knows...the CPC isn't conservative. It's radical.
Pretending there was some kind of inherent racism in CC's post: boring.
Coming to Canadian Cynic and being surprised to find Ti-Guy here: hilarious.
I know...I kind of ignored that, since Tomm is a little...how shall we say...under-exposed to reality?
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