Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Beating a Dead Horse
The Federal NDP has just completed their Bi-Annual Policy Convention in Quebec City and the 1,500 or so delegates have left for their various ridings with a false sense of being. The problem rests with the sense that if you root your ideas in the past, the future will come to you.
The Convention kicked off to the news that Paul Summerville, *star* candidate in St.Paul's (Toronto), had left the party and will support Bob Rae in his bid for the brass ring. His departure represents a serious lost opportunity for the party. It could have chosen the road less travelled, modernized and met Canadians half-way. Instead, however, the party prefers to lecture Canadians, preach moral superiority and expect voters to flock.
One gets the sense that Summerville ignored the *anti-market*, *anti-trade* nutbars in the party during the election and chalked it up to his youthful supporters. However, he got a glimpse of what life is like at the grown up table in the NDP and actually sees that progressive ideas are engulfed by ideology. It is a shame.
The Convention ended with a ringing endorsement to pull out of Afghanistan. Apparently a country should turn a blind eye to the brutal treatment of citizens in that country and the immediate threat of the Taliban. How compassionate of the NDP. Not shocking, remember this is the party that took a pass on World War II. Layton's notion that an Afghan mission should be replaced with a mission to Sudan just proves how much he has to learn on the foreign policy file. Someone explain to him that it safer to send troops to a country where the government wants support, than the reverse. Also, why Layton clings to notion that slapping a "blue helmet" on solidars adds purity to their mission is beyond me.
My good friend - BUMF - has an excellent post on the utter irrelevance of the federal NDP.
Paul Wells has chimed in with his own brilliant take on the 'dippers' delusional state.
The Convention kicked off to the news that Paul Summerville, *star* candidate in St.Paul's (Toronto), had left the party and will support Bob Rae in his bid for the brass ring. His departure represents a serious lost opportunity for the party. It could have chosen the road less travelled, modernized and met Canadians half-way. Instead, however, the party prefers to lecture Canadians, preach moral superiority and expect voters to flock.
One gets the sense that Summerville ignored the *anti-market*, *anti-trade* nutbars in the party during the election and chalked it up to his youthful supporters. However, he got a glimpse of what life is like at the grown up table in the NDP and actually sees that progressive ideas are engulfed by ideology. It is a shame.
The Convention ended with a ringing endorsement to pull out of Afghanistan. Apparently a country should turn a blind eye to the brutal treatment of citizens in that country and the immediate threat of the Taliban. How compassionate of the NDP. Not shocking, remember this is the party that took a pass on World War II. Layton's notion that an Afghan mission should be replaced with a mission to Sudan just proves how much he has to learn on the foreign policy file. Someone explain to him that it safer to send troops to a country where the government wants support, than the reverse. Also, why Layton clings to notion that slapping a "blue helmet" on solidars adds purity to their mission is beyond me.
My good friend - BUMF - has an excellent post on the utter irrelevance of the federal NDP.
Paul Wells has chimed in with his own brilliant take on the 'dippers' delusional state.
# posted by Shaky @ 10:53 p.m. 
