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Stephen Best

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Everything posted by Stephen Best

  1. What those magnets actually said was "Nuke a Gay Baby Whale for Christ!"
  2. Remind me, did I say somewhere that I wasn't raising the necessary funds? If memory serves, I spoke in general about the effects of the law and referred you to Elections Canada. You would be wrong to extrapolate that to my fund raising successes. As for your assertion that "This is not a problem with our donation laws. It is actually a true expression of populist democracy", you know not of what you speak. Get back to me when you've actually raised $1 million under the existing Election Act, then we can have a meaningful discussion between two informed people. This is not about opinion, but about reality.
  3. All blogs aren't credible? Of course, you know that's an absurd statement. How convenient you can't remember which democratic senator it was.
  4. So Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, and Conrad Black would make a good Presidents? Remind me what McCain's executive experience was again.
  5. Perhaps you could remind us what stories that Democratic Underground or DailyKos reported that were false.
  6. As I say, you may not be voting for McCain, but rather Sarah Palin. If you're not taking that into consideration, given McCain's age and health history, your judgment's as flawed as McCain's. And, perhaps you didn't get the memo, but Ted Kennedy is not running for President in the 2008 election so your analogy is specious.
  7. Actually, I get news from many dozens of sources from across the political spectrum and from around the world. The problem, as I say, is that FOX is not a news service. It's a Republican propaganda outlet. If you don't know that, you're not in a position to recognize the difference between news and propaganda.
  8. Consider this, given McCain's age and cancer history, it's quite likely that American voters who vote for McCain are not voting for McCain at all but rather Sarah Palin. Do you want Sarah Palin to be the President of the United States? If so, vote McCain.
  9. You're not seriously suggesting that FOX is a news service?
  10. Of course not. Some issues attract a larger constituency than others. That's obvious. But even within constituencies, there's competition among interest groups for support.
  11. I just caught a report by Jack Cafferty on CNN's Situation Room. Before the show went on the air, they'd already received over 6,000 e-mails about McCain's pick of Sarah Palin. The comments are overwhelming opposed to McCain's choice. McCain just gave Obama the keys to the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
  12. If she is less capable than Obama--as your comment entails--why is McCain putting the United States' security and interests at risk by nominating her as his VP? Wouldn't a responsible Presidential nominee name a VP who was as good or better than he was? Why didn't McCain name someone more qualified? Or is there, in your view, no one more qualified in the Republican Party than Sarah Palin to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency?
  13. And none of the "angels" can give more than about $1,100 a year to a political party, unlike in the Reform days. If you doubt what I'm saying look at the financial returns of the various smaller parties. They're online at the Election Canada website. Then ask yourself why they can't raise funds. The answer is because they are in a Catch 22 of not being able to amass the necessary working capital needed to finance a fund raising/membership acquisition campaign. The current election law, thanks to Harper and Chretien, is killing democracy in Canada, making it the preserve of the 4 major parties. Even the Greens are finding it hard to breakthrough because of the funding rules.
  14. Could you remind what John McCain's "executive experience" is again?
  15. Is non sequitur and speciousness all you have? See below for what the real issue regarding McCain's choice is all about: Commentary: Is McCain out of his mind? By Paul Begala CNN Contributor Editor's note: Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor, was a political consultant for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and was counselor to Clinton in the White House. Begala is not a paid political consultant for any politicians or candidates. Click here for a rival view (CNN) -- John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls "a checkup from the neck up." In choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate he is not thinking "outside the box," as some have said. More like out of his mind. Palin a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain's age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment. In choosing this featherweight, McCain passed over Tom Ridge, a decorated combat hero, a Cabinet secretary and the former two-term governor of the large, complex state of Pennsylvania. He passed over Mitt Romney, who ran a big state, Massachusetts; a big company, Bain Capital; and a big event, the Olympics. He passed over Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas senator who is knowledgeable about the military, good on television, and -- obviously -- a woman. He passed over Joe Lieberman, his best friend in the Senate and fellow Iraq Kool-Aid drinker. He passed over former congressman, trade negotiator and budget director Rob Portman. And he also passed over Mike Huckabee, the governor of Arkansas. For months, the McCainiacs have said they will run on his judgment and experience. In his first presidential decision, John McCain has shown he is willing to endanger his country, potentially leaving it in the hands of someone who simply has no business being a heartbeat away from the most powerful, complicated, difficult job in human history.
  16. Didn't Bush have an approval of that magnitude after 9/11? So an 80% approval means very little in and of itself about competency. Barack Obama chose Joe Biden. John McCain chose Sarah Palin. That just about sums up everything you need to know about the two presidential candidates.
  17. Are you seriously suggesting that the experience of governor with a BA in journalism who's served only two years in one of the smallest states in the union and before that was the mayor of town with a population of about 5,500 trumps the CVs and resumes of Barack Obama and Joe Biden? I sure wouldn't want you managing human resources or executive recruitment in my company. Just for fun, read Sarah Palin's, Barack Obama's and Joe Biden's entries in Wikepedia for an inkling of how odd your comment truly is.
  18. This is truly amazing. If John McCain had nominated for his Vice President a cocker spaniel, you would applaud it. It is delusional to think Sarah Palin--of all the people McCain could have chosen--is a good choice, except to the extent it might pander to conservative elements of the Republican base. Shady, I am stunned at how little you require of the Republican Presidential nominee in order to give him your support.
  19. You're exactly right, with some caveats. Reform relied on the old Progressive Conservative party membership list. And it was able to use direct mail -- at $500-$1000/M--to contact tens of thousands of old PC supporters. Under today's regime, where donations are limited to a little more than $1,000 per year, how does a new party with no money raise the seed money necessary to promote itself and grow? The truth is it can't. Let's assume you need, $100,000 to launch a membership drive (that's a mailing of about 100,000 which will net possibly 200 donors, if you're lucky), you need to find 100 people to give you $1,000 each or 200 to give you $500 each and so on. Where do you get the money to find the 100 people or 200 people? Where do you get the money to pay the many thousands of dollars you'll need for the legally required audit to account for the funds and send out official receipts? If you've ever tried to raise funds for a new political party or organization with no existing membership, you'll know that getting a 100 people to give you $1,000 each approaches impossibility. In the past parties were built on a few major donors, sometimes business or unions or simply wealthy people who cared about causes providing the seed money. Those days are gone, and with them the possibility of smaller parties becoming competitive. Having said there are loop holes in the Act that could be used to build a new party, and delay registration until the necessary capital was raised from wealthy donors, but the Conservatives are hoping to shut that opening down.
  20. Again you don't understand the current election laws in Canada. They in fact make it easier to form a political party, but incredibly difficult after that to raise funds. So difficult in fact that the idea that a fringe party can form and grow--as the Reform Party once did--is no longer possible. I am a Chief Agent of a small federal party. If you want I could walk you -- section by section -- through the Election Act to show you why in today's legislative regime the Reform Party would be impossible. I have no problem with Conrad Black spending money in elections. What I want is all points of view expressed in elections. The reason? I trust democracy and a well-informed electorate. If the progressive interest groups that I champion, in fact, have a constituency they will have no difficulty raising the funds necessary to compete in the marketplace of ideas, unless of course--as they do now--election laws make it impossible for them to do so. Perhaps you think democracy is improved by censoring people and ideas you don't approve of, I don't.
  21. Exactly! And, Mondale / Ferraro lost, you'll no doubt recall.
  22. Does John McCain suffer from senile dementia? John McCain and Senile Dementia Does John McCain Have Alzhiemer's? And of course McCain is old if "old" is defined as closer to the grave than the womb.
  23. Perhaps if McCain had chosen one of the many hundreds of remarkable Republican women who would, arguably, be qualified to take over from the aging, cancer-riddled McCain should the worst befall him. Women will not fall for this, and most, in my view, will be insulted by it, seeing it for what it is: pure ham-fisted tokenism. You can be sure that if it's true that Palin is McCain's VP choice, laughter mixed with incredulity is roiling through the world's newsrooms. I can see the headline now, "Miss Congeniality McCain VP pick".
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