Stephen Harper couldn't have scripted this any better.
The Globe headline says it all, "Liberal, Tory attack ads zero in on Layton as NDP rise in the polls." Harper's first electoral gift was Layton turning on Ignatieff, deflecting the NDP effort against the Cons. Now it's the Liberals predictably doing his bidding, slagging Layton and exposing the abject silliness of his platform.
Any true progressive who doesn't see this opposition infighting as paving the way for a Harper majority is delusional.
Harper made the 2005 election a referendum on the Liberal Party and the sponsorship scandal. He made the 2008 run off a referendum on Stephane Dion. Now he's turning this election into a referendum on which opposition party is the worst, in the process turning the faithful of each party against the other opposition party and ensuring Harper smooth sailing ahead.
Harper probably couldn't have managed a majority against a focused, resolute opposition. Layton neutered that threat by turning on Ignatieff. Now Iggy is left with no option but to return the favour. And that leaves Steve away to the races.
Well Iggy could say vote NDP for the good of the country. He has that option. We both know he won't use lt.
ReplyDeleteGreg, like so many Dippers, you're in fantasy land. Why should he believe voting NDP would be "for the good of the country"? All that would do is double Harper's prospects of a majority. I love your ability not to let reality get in the way of your daydreams.
ReplyDeleteFor Layton, winning twenty-nine seats and 17.5 percent of the popular vote represented an electoral triumph vindicating the NDP’s campaign strategy: an attack focused almost exclusively on the scandal-plagued Liberal government. With 460,000 new voters, ten more Members of Parliament than in 2004, better regional representation, and, judging by the jubilant crowd, more momentum, Layton had every reason to be pleased. There hadn’t been this much palpable optimism since the heady days of Ed Broadbent’s leadership.
ReplyDeleteBut it was what Layton did not say that evening that was more interesting. He did not mention that the most ideologically right-wing prime minister in Canadian history was about to be sworn into office,
Read the rest of this 2006 article, it's very pertinent today.
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2006.05-politics-jack-layton-ndp-fake-left-go-right/
Fair vote Canada has predicted a 201 seat majority for the Harpercons due to this NDP surge and they still fall into third place with a collapse of the Bloc with a measley 4 seats.
Many pollsters and pundits are also predicting a Harper majority due to the vote splitting that will take place in many close ridings. For example, in Beauport-Limoilou, for awhile, it looked like the Bloc was going to take the riding away from Harpercon, Sylvie Boucher, now with the rise of NDP in the polls, it looks like Boucher will keep it, according to CAtch 22.
It's more of the Ralph Nader effect on Al Gore helping Dubya win in 2000 all over again.
Look at the Bloc Quebecois as the enemy's enemy is your friend. They really did block the Harpercons from getting a majority.
Collapse of the Liberals will ensure a Harper landslide. The NDP can't get enough seats.
Even if the NDP go celebrating after the polls close being the new official opposition, it will be to a harper majority. In that event, it won't matter who's in official opposition to Harper majority, Harper's far right agenda will still come through. Parliament and government will be Harper's playground to do with as he pleases, he's already said as much.
If the NDP and the Liberals were really going to work together, the time to get that organized was months ago. The short span of an election campaign doesn't begin to provide enough time. Now look at the way Ignatieff has spoken and behaved since he took over the Liberal leadership and explain how that was supposed to happen.
ReplyDeleteAs for the 201 seat majority, even Fair Vote Canada doesn't believe that. They've written to the Citizen to complain about that article.
If the Libs really put stopping Harper first, explain to me why a Liberal from a completely different city came to run in my riding where the NDP had previously been the party to offer the strongest challenge to a Conservative incumbent. I don't blame him. I just don't buy the idea that the Liberals have done politics differently this time out.
Wow Liberals digging up news from 2004 and 2006. How the mighty have fallen. We are in 2011 the NDP are gaining ground, if all you care about is stopping Harper then Vote NDP. Us NDP voters are voting for more then just stopping Harper.
ReplyDeleteThe NDP are just as clueless as I've imagined them to be...
ReplyDeleteWell, the NDP also often fades near election day . . . but that's usually because of plausible Liberal claims that to stop the Cons you have to vote Lib, NDP have no chance etc., leading to some combination of tactical voting and staying at home among NDP partisans.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/983376--toronto-star-endorses-the-ndp
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