Galahad

I don't think Norman Spector could identify intelligence if it hit him on the nose. Layton's theatrics require triple the intelligence of the likes of Harper, who only needs to imitate the American Democrats with a touch of a left hook to look presentable. Mr. Layton has no one to look up to in North America, or anywhere else for that matter, so he has to improvise. And he is doing HELL OF A JOB, imo.

In politics, what Canadians call right-wing extremism, Americans would consider left-wing.

Ahem ... that's GALAHAD! Hey... by the way... are you the same Goldie who momentarilly dazzled us with her feminazi wit at the NPWBN (National Post Web Board Nation) a few years back?

From the same article: "Meetings were already under way to deal with such questions as a new party logo. There are currently five possibilities: It appears the design will be Tory blue with elements of Alliance green." It appears to me that that the blue and green design is Harper's idea. He knows just as well as we do that "blue and green should never be seen except in the washing machine". I think he's doing it on purpose. Don't you?

Lets see now.... Other than writing most of the original policies and procedures for the reform party. And being acknowledged as the original author of the Clarity act which Chretien "borrowed" and is credited as one of the main reasons that the threat of separation is gone. And initiating the fight to repeal the Liberals election gag laws and getting sued and having the law repealed 4 times? Thereby allowing Canadians to speak their minds during elections. And re-uniting a fragmented party that was going down for the final count and about to tear itself apart. And co-authoring a reunification of two political parties that have split the vote for the last 10 years allowing the Liberals to come up the middle and take everything. Something that none of the previous leaders have ever been able to accomplish. Not bad for an "ordinary hack". WELLL!!!! You had better run all of Harper's accomplishments through the man who is perhaps Canada's most popular conservative, Ralph Klein, who QUESTIONED Harper's ability to win an election just the other day. Mr. Klein said in an interview on the weekend that though he thinks that Harper is a "good Canadian," he did not know if this man has "the timber or what is needed to be a national leader." ''I would hope that if he becomes the leader he will demonstrate that he has what it takes to get the profile necessary to form a government'' said Mr. Klein. http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpos...31-4a086056c842 Personally I CAN'T WAIT for the rest of Canada's great & popular right-wingers to weigh in with their opinions on this rigid & scheming man. Will he survive that? I don't THINK SO!

People aren't that worried that there will be mullah-like takeover of the political scene. But I will venture that they don't want even a hint of religious influence in their state. Ireland wasn't a theocracy, but the church had a great influence on the state in enacting laws, etc. And until that chokehold was off the state, Ireland was mired in poverty & backwardness. It was only once the church's influence waned did they become properous. You can't be anymore slightly secular than you can be slightly pregnant. It's an either/or sort of situation. I think that most people in Canada at this point just want to see those who represent Christians act as Christians are expected to behave...why don't people who are so excited about Christianity get THAT act together first before they try & foist it on the poor electing public?

I'm out already. But not for the reasons you state. The social issues were never a major part of the original Reform party & how they handled them was never an issue to me. I couldn't give a damn if Bob & Joe get marraige rights & we're all given a day off for Divali. Preston's platform was fiscal responsibility & accountability & that's what we're missing here in Canada. Our health care crisis, our low dollar, our lack of military strength, our lowered esteem in the eyes of the world & our increasing poverty are all a result of fiscal irresponsibility.

Excuse me if I phrased that in way that implied that Canadians were scared of Christian values. That was not what I intended. At present the majority of Canadians were raised with these values & certainly don't fear them. What I meant was that politicians that appear to be going to try to entrench these values in law scares the hell out of most people. I would say that the majority of Canadians do NOT want to live in a theocracy...they prefer a separation of church & state. I would further add, that it was not the Christian religion that made the west so successful, but the separation of state & church that did it.

This is the same Manning who waffled on moving into Stornoway? Who alienated the entire province of Quebec right? The same Manning who destroyed the Reform party to create a new party named C.C.R.A.P.? And created this new party for what purpose? He knew the PC's weren't going to join. All it did was get him bounced from the job because everyone was angry that he folded the party for nothing and sacrificed many of the parties principles in order to try to become the ruling party. The trait of "firm control" is not unrelated to Hitler's other acts. Megalomania usually leads to rather unsavory policies. Hence the comparison. And don't you think it is better to note this IN ADVANCE of the insanity? Of course Harper had reason to leave...it wasn't "his way", it the party's way. The best predictor of someone's future actions are his past actions. If his "firm control" slips & his MPs decide ( hopefully based on their constituencies wishes) on a different course of action than HE had planned...will he take his ball & go home again? I think so. Preston wasn't perfect ( see last post...no one is). But the thing he had going for him was that he was the architect of the Reform Party & his ideas resonated so deeply with many Canadians, that the governing parties of Canada & several provinces had to adopt HIS policies in order to get into or remain in office. Can you name ONE original thought that Harper has had? One thing that people could rally behind? Thought not. He's an ordinary hack like most of the rest of our politicians in Canada. If you think that Manning "sacrificed his principles in order to try & be the ruling party", though, Harper COULD be your man. The rest of us feel that Manning was trying to be "more inclusive" in order to get to be the ruling party. That IS the aim you know! Can't do much reform from the sidelines...although Manning certainly did manage even that.

WHAT AM I? CHOPPED LIVER? Galahad PS- Fyi, Springer didn't even MAKE a prediction!

Morgan, I don't think anyone is looking for "the perfect man" as we all know that he doesn't exist. However a few of Harper's personality traits are fatal. As exhibited in the past...he quits when he doesn't get his way ( read Preston Manning's book). You state that he is a stickler for party discipline. I read that as "my way or the highway". And as we mentioned before, he has hissy fits & quits when it's NOT his way. Had he eviler intentions ( I'm sure he doesn't), it could get ugly. Hitler was a "stickler for party discipline" too. Mugabe is too...this isn't a POSITIVE trait. I think too many years of listening to Chretien has clouded your judgement. This was a NEGATIVE on Chretien's part & will also be on Harper's. The entire "Christian values" scares the hell out of most thinking people. Manning laid his values on the table, but you were aware that there was an underlying sharp intelligence there , so you knew that he could see all sides. Harper? Not the brightest bulb...combine this with inbred religious philosophy...you've got Iran. Not a pretty picture. The bottom line is that in Manning we have a man with an obsidian sharp mind that hasn't been seen in a Canadian leader since Trudeau. We pushed him aside for pedantic boors like Harper. Mark my words, unless the new Conservative party gets in someone with something better to offer than this clown...it's toast for the next few elections. FYI , I voted Alliance last election.

He's not so rare. Just look at the Middle East, Africa. But I agree that he IS one competitive boy. He'll try to lose the old PCs in the dust no mater what. The word "teamwork" is NOT in his vocabulary.

I find is amusing that Canada claims that it "can't" deport many of it's undesirables because they can't get thier home country to "accept" them. Why don't they just ask the US how THEY do it? Somehow they managed to drop that Arar guy back in Afghanistan where they found him, without worrying about the paperwork, or caring about his citizenship. We're a bloody nation of paperpushers here & the terrorists will take full advantage of our ineptitude.

In a speech in 1999 Harper zeroed in on Preston Manning, saying: "Manning long ago outflanked Clark as the champion of ideology. He is now threatening to outflank him as the king of compromise." Soooo, I wonder: Is he now ready to outflank BOTH of these great men and become the undisputed king of compromise? Or are his fuehrer-like tendencies going to prevail?

Barbara Yaffe, Raif Mair and many other, I'm sure, giants of the media believe that Preston Manning would be the best choice to lead the Conservative Party. Paul Wells at Macleans.ca suggested a short list that included Preston Manning. Said he: "This whole thing was his idea, and I mean, like, 30 years ago. Are there simply no rewards in Canadian politics for being right?" So why should we listen to your and Craig's promotion of "firewall" Harper?

I wonder what Preston Manning would have to say about that? I wonder who HIS ace card for the leadership is? When will we hear from him, already?? And BTW, I one hundered percent agree with the sentiments expressed in the letter below, that was sent to Preston's website: "Reconsider a political career AUTHOR: Rod and Verlie Butler FROM: North Vancouver, British Columbia RE: General Letter DATE: October 23, 2003 Dear Preston; We are sure many of the old Reformers [including us] would want to see you reconsider your decision to leave politics permanently. Raif Mair, the radio talk show host, and Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun columnist, have both recently stated that you would by far, be the best candidate to lead the new Conservative Party and very possibly lead our country as Prime Minister. We beleive your stature as an elder statesman has increased since your leaving office. There is not a present visible candidate who could defeat Paul Martin. Only you. Please reconsider for the sake of this fine country of Canada."

I wonder what Preston Manning would have to say about that? I wonder who HIS ace card for the leadership is? When will we hear from him, already??

Even without the leader in place, I can practically guarantee that it will be OVER 20% & OVER 90 seats. Once the leader is chosen, or even before, if I think that there happens to be a real shoe-in in the wings, I will make a precise prediction.

Any predictions on how the PCs endorsement will go tomorrow? My guess is 90.4% for the merger. No more & no less.

Don Martin in his NP article of today says: "With the results locked in, the business of finding a leader begins. As the gene pool of contenders continues to shrink-wrap around Stephen Harper, the possibility becomes a probability he will replicate the Paul Martin steamroller effect on any kamikaze challengers." This truly scares me. It's not Harper's ability as a leader (I don't have much feel as to whether he'd be a good or bad leader), it's his "Firewall Harper" monicker that scares me, the title he honestly earned a few years back. He will NEVER be able to shake the western-separatist label east of Winnipeg, imo.

So while Wilde would rather see machines do all the scummy uninteresting work, you, and probably Adam Smith also, would prefer passing out shovels & quill pens and let the machinery idle. Oscar Wilde's dream of creating a Shangri-La for EVERYONE is slowly but surely coming true, thank God. HE IS THE GREATEST!

Only the author EVER knows what he is thinking. If authors of books you are reading are still alive (as alas poor Oscar is not) do you contact them frequently to clarify passages that leave you uncertain as to their meaning? Do they respond? And although Adam Smith & Einstein are dead , oddly enough people still read their writings without need for a clairvoyant for interpretations. Genius in the field of literature can't be attained without insight into the human mind & heart. Thus great authors can often have insights into many of the fields of human endeavor. In my opinion Oscar did.

Is he deliberately vague, contradictory, making statements for purely inflammatory value or speaking with his tongue firmly in his cheek in this quotation? The man's genius was his mind & his way with words. He struck chords because what he said was often the truth & said better than most could say it. To what do YOU attribute his genius?

Som Poll's got the United Right at 2.6 %? Phew, If a non-existent party with nonexistent leader can garnish this much suport I can't even imagine the numbers once they actually DO exist and HAVE a leader. If they dig up someone good, i.e. Ralph Klein, Mario Dumont, Bernard Lord to lead them the future looks very bright. I wouldn't be TOO surprised if they reduced Paulie Wallie's Liberals to a minority government.

It's good looking legislation on paper, but the chances are that not much will change. In Canada asylum seekers often flush their papers down the toilet before requestinf asylum. So it doesn't matter if your policy is to remove them in 72 hours or 72 months...there's no country to remove them TO. I'm sure asylum seekers to Norway will pull the same move. PS: How boring an institution must the UN be? To name Norway the best country...a country where a pint of beer costs the equivalent of $10? Contrary to their beliefs...life isn't all welfare payments & herring.