Forget It
I don't care if Michael Ignatieff wins, I don't care if Harper's brain explodes and he moves to the left of Jack Layton, I don't care if a 6-time Stanley Cup champ with the Habs becomes the leader, I don't care if the Young Liberals do a complete about-face on their repugnant positions on prostitution and marijuana, I don't care. I will not associate myself with a party whose leader tries to make a moral equivalent of the softwood deal with the Munich agreement. To suggest that is disgusting and it trivializes the legitimation of Hitler's land grab of the Czech Sudetenland as a cheap price to pay for securing an extra year of "peace" in Europe. Half a billion dollars is not the same thing as betraying 3 million people and a failing to honour a security agreement (both France and the Soviets had made pledges and signed treaties to promise to come to the Czechs' defence in the event of a German attack) leaving Czechoslovakia a defenceless rump state in the face of Hitler's ambitions. It is not, NOT, NOT the same and to try to establish the two things as being on a moral par is revolting beyond words.
Forget it, I'm done with them. I had such respect for Bill Graham once upon a time, but since he's become the interim leader of the Liberals he's been horrific and ineffective in trying to demonstrate a mature and coherent opposition. Finished. Over and out.
12 comments:
Richard,
I also saw that pathetic display and I had no idea why no one took Graham to task on this. Was this not an IMPROVED version of a Liberal deal worked out 8 months ago??? Lets not pretend here that the Liberals would have gotten anything better.
I couldnt believe what I was watching in Graham and I echo your comments precisely. Just ridiculous. Just politics for the sake of politics and the Liberal party is better than that I think.
I once thought that they were too, Riley, the last months of the Martin era destroyed that image for me. The true test of a party's mettle is how well they fare in opposition; yes it's an adversarial system and yes it's their "duty" to provide opposition to the government's policies, but to say that? It's simply beyond the pale.
"Economic performance, democratic values, programmatic achievements, and good relations with the United States are not imperatives but bothersome constraints that miss the real point. They are more intent on maintaining popularity at any cost, picking as many fights as possible with Washington, and getting as much control as they can over sources of revenue."
Now, that quote comes from the latest issue of Foreign Affairs and pertains to the populist left of Latin America, but doesn't it sound awfully reminiscent of the charges often lobbied at the Liberals? That's a sad state of affairs.
HE DID WHAT?!?!?!?!?!
As a decendent of one of the Czechs who fled their country as the Nazi boots trampled the country under I have to say that I am absolutely OUTRAGED that the Liberals would even try to compare the two situations!
My grandfather watched Nazis marching through Praha (Prague) before waiting for days in a line at the border desperately attempting to escape. He joined the Czech air force as soon as he came of age in 45.
That the Liberals would stoop so low to try to compare the two situations makes my blood boil.
Lois,
I know what you mean. When he first became Foreign Affairs Minister I was quite elated; he had a great pedigree and really seemed to have a solid grasp of Canadian foreign policy. I've met the man while he was Minister of National Defence and he impressed then as well.
I would really like to know what happened; maybe he got stuck in Martin's spin cycle?
SO,
Yes it happened yesterday on Question Period on CTV; his comment was that the situation today was "a lot like Munich back in 1938." Being a history buff and having written on Munich more than a couple times, I found the comment exceptionally tasteless. It's assumed such a mythical political status of "selling out" that people tend to forget the human consequences of the West's abdication of its obligations to the Czechs, and your tale demonstrates all too vividly what those consequences were.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing that.
*whistles*
Talk about rhetorical over-reach.
It's a tough role to play -- PM Harper came close to the line sometimes as leader of the opposition. But he never did anything like that.
(I rather think the Young Liberals are right on prostitution and marijuana, myself. Wrong on most of the issues that matter, though.)
My vote is pretty safe for Harper and the CPC next time, but I might be willing to cut Graham a bit more slack in his new role. It's a hard adjustment to make.
I rather think the Young Liberals are right on prostitution and marijuana, myself. Wrong on most of the issues that matter, though.
Just for the sake of clarification, please, PLEASE tell me that you're not implying that women being forced into a degrading and humiliating "profession" so that men can get off isn't something that "matters" to you. Legalizing prostitution is simply not a good idea because it doesn't address the problem that no woman should ever EVER have to forsake her dreams and hopes and ambitions so that she can make some scum of the earth (I can be referring to either the pimp or the john here) happy for a few minutes. We need to fix the system such that women are not deprived of their autonomy and have no other recourse but to turn to selling their sex in order to survive. Women deserve better, much better, than that fate. Please, tiger, tell me that you don't actually believe or support prostitution.
Hadn't visited here in a while -- was searching for a link to Graham's Munich interview. Must search CTV's archives, I guess.
As for prostitution -- well, I don't support it (I doubt that many do), but I do think that providing space for organized crime to make money in a protected market -- as criminalizing prostitution and recreational drug use does -- is a really, really bad idea.
If there will be prostitutes -- and, really, it's the world's oldest profession; it's not going away -- I should prefer that the women involved be protected from the pimps of the world and given health inspections.
Richard, I want to thank you for taking a stand of decency and for an accurate remembrance of world war 2, Hitler, and Chamberlain and other European leaders' betrayal of free people whom they had pledged to defend.
A betrayal that lead directly to a horrible war that cost 50,000,000 lives, millions of which were in sadistic death camps, and many of those who so died were in Czechoslovakia.
I am grateful that I was born during a time of peace in Canada and that I have been lucky enough to be protected by the men and women in our armed forces and those of her allies.
It is unlikely that I will ever fight the great evil they did at least not on that scale.
I would hope that a leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, which has governed Canada for the majority of our existence, including during that war, would understand the difference between those two things and not equate them. I would hope that he would "get it".
I would hope that, but I remember feeling the cold sense of fear in my gut and in my soul when I watched a chilling TV ad produced by the Liberals and approved (or not approved, depending on which statement of his - given during the same interview - you believe) by a previous Liberal leader that warned that the Canadian Forces are a threat to Canada and cannot be trusted in our cities. Unfortunately, the elites at the top of the Liberal Party, or at the very least those two men, appear to have forgotten the horror that faced the world and the brave men and women WITH GUNS who stopped it.
Warren Kinsella, however much he and I disagree on many matters of social and economic policy, is a man who "gets it".
I respect you greatly for taking this principled stand.
Chris,
Thanks for the support, it is much appreciated. I remember all too well seeing the "Cities" ad during the campaign. I first saw it on the Internet, it wasn't until the final couple of days that I actually saw it on TV. I had thought they'd pulled it or decided not to air it, but there it was. Following American politics as closely as I do, I've seen some pretty sleazy ads run down in the States, but this one was a low blow by any standards and just truly awful. There was a time when the Liberal Party, to steal a tagline, really "stood up for Canada," and I just don't see it doing that anymore.
What makes the Bill Graham analogy of using the Munich Pact more distressing is that he was Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs. I'm glad that he did not face a similar test as did Neville Chamberlain.
As far as the "Soldier's in the streets with guns in Canada" Liberal attack ad, the Liberal Party released it to all the major networks for airing, but it provoked such controversy (the CTV wisely kept it and displayed it to the public despite Liberals' calls for them not to and, according to Mike Duffy, at least one Liberal Party operative made an attempt to intimidate journalists into not talking about it) that it was withdrawn before it was even aired.
I watched the ad on the Liberal Party website. And there was a French version of the ad with a substantially similar message, however, despite calls for the Liberals to do so, they refused to pull it.
Several political analysts think that (while despicable in my opinion) the fear provoked by those ads may not only have proved an embarassment to their campaign and Paul Martin, but may also have scared some voters to vote for the Liberals.
This of course was their original intent.
If I can use Warren Kinsella's numeration, I think that the ads were approximately reason #2295 that I am not so involved with the Liberal Party any more. It came awfully close to breaking the camel's back, but seeing as I was already working for the Conservative candidate here in Halifax it only served to fuel my determination during the campaign. I was significantly angered by the advertisement, but it took a Sunday afternoon talk show appearance to truly seal it that I was not going to re-join the Liberals. I'm *this close* to sending in an application for the CPC, and will likely end up doing so in the near future. Thanks again for dropping in, and for the H/T over at Cherniak's blog. I enjoy reading your thoughts.
Post a Comment