Molly

That meme could not be more patently rediculous, especially right now. Stephen Harper was given a complete pass on leading trhe first government in the history of this nation, if not the world, to have been, as a government, held in contempt of parliament. Gifts don't come any bigger than that. The hand of 'the MSM' has been feeding him peeled grapes and caviar! Biting it now is very bad form indeed.

That's either pitiably naive, or intentional deflection.

... in some other country with a completely different system of governing.

Tell you what, Scotty... Google "24,877.50".

Why? Because it's somehow 'not political' for the CPC to pretend this is a republic when it's to their paltry partisan advantage to claim privileges that don't exist?

August, Toadbrother.... IF (hypotheticals are flying around here like mad, so I get to through one out, too...) IF the Harper GovernmentTM is returned in minority and proceeds with the levels of hubris they've exhibited in the past, and thusly gets tossed on the throne speech...... It is unlikely that the GG would permit/request another immediate election, and would ask the Liberal party to try to form a government, coalition or no.... and while the Liberal party might even wish to form a government, the presumption so far seems to be that they would be much too weak to do so in any reasonably stable form (huge, huge presumption. This isn't Dion and the Green plan here, nor is it Martin with a mess of Adscam in his lap)... but they have made a commitment not to enter into any formal coalitions, and it would be political suicide to do so..... especially since a coalition of such weak bodies is not likely to be much more stable than case-by-case agreement... The GG might find no one able to form a gtovernment that would achieve the confidence of the house, so, does the GG then just keep okaying election after election until we voters come up with something completely different, or does the GG insist that further attempts to form a government be made..... (thus, refusing the advice etc.)

Fair enough. I suspect the Canadian public - or dare I suggest, the Canadian press- might be doomed to learning more about the King -Byng affair than any of them have ever wanted to know.

In other words, you, like Harper, are calling him a liar. Even if you do presume that level of mendacity (quite a leap on its own) I seriously, seriously doubt he would. In the first place, he was singularly unenthusiastic about the Dion coalition so he's not so inclined from the getgo, but he also has much more to lose than to gain by going there- would lose more than any other politician in Canadian history, including Steven Harper! Of all politicians in Canada, he alone can't touch it.

Pick up the pace? A few minutes ago, some journalist asked Mr. Ignatieff whether his statement wrt rejection of coalition was too little/too late, and he- and a whole lot of the press gallery- laughed out loud, saying that it was a genuinely funny question. He pointed out that since this was his first press conference, on day 0 of the campaign.... I have to say, I'm finding the maneouvering genuinely amusing, too.

Two in 40 is a big number. If only 2 in 40 consider the co-a-lition ghost to be unfounded tripe, and so switch from the Conservatives to... anyone else... the CPC won't even be the official opposition when the dust settles.

As I listen to Harper speaking just now... he's looking just a little rediculous, trying to split a hair on the microscopic level. He's starting to sweat. SAo he's starting to look bad on the co-a-lition fromt, was foolish enough to start talking 'hidden agenda', and so far is getting a pass on contempt of parliament. This is the press being nice!

To which the CPC (Giorno) is replying, "Coalition-coalition-coalition-coalition!" Stunning. Kim Canpbell was apparently right. I note the timing of that statement, though. I assume Harper will have been brought up to speed by the time he's done with tea with the GG. Now we get to see whether the press will be as aggressive about contempt of parliament as they have been chasing a coalition ghost.

No point

I resent that comment, too. So far as I could see, one doofus said that, and recieved no support, because it was factually wrong on the face of it. Of course it was a serious and sincere attempt to produce a stable majority. Too bad we aren't allowed to explore any nuance, though, because the incident was soooo much more interesting than the mere black and white. Your insistence that everyone had their heart in it, or honestly expected it to succeed is easily as revisionist as it's proposterous opposite. It was a desperate measure in desperate times. No one had a better suggestion. Edit to add: For the record, I applauded it then, and I applaud it now. It was the right thing to do.

"NDP Deputy Leader Pat Atkinson said the video, which appears to have been shot at the provincial Progressive Conservative headquarters on the night of a 1991 leader's debate, was found in the Opposition offices at the legislature when the NDP moved in after its defeat in last November's provincial election. Lukiwski, then an official in the Progressive Conservative campaign, speaks directly..." Yeah. Pretty much a bunch of drunken sophomores. The clip's in the link. You be the judge.

I sorta thought that cheating in the last elexction might be considered corruption. What do you say, eh? Is fuddle-duddling with the numbers and the cheques to overspend, and then claim refunds no less.... is that corruption? Yes. I think it is. The way Peter MacKays friends all seem to get high paying government jobs... that looks a little suspicious, too. And what's this I hear about 'busty hookers'?

It speaks well of you that you found the words offensive. But they do need to be repeated. We should not forget that someone said them, nor who that person was.

I'm betting that he has the wits to take that risk. The worm is turning.

Speaker votes to maintain the status quo. He didn't get to choose his own vote. Cripes!

I don't know. It might even be the smart money that's on a Tory majority, but something in my gut says Mr. Harper is lookiing at his comeuppance. Could be way wrong- figure that I must/should be-n but there's just something in the air...

Do you not realize that those are his words? http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1f3_1207259932 "Lukiwski, then an official in the Progressive Conservative campaign, speaks directly to the camera at one point in response to a question from the camera operator. "There's A's and there's B's. The A's are guys like me, the B's are homosexual faggots with dirt under their fingernails that transmit diseases," he said.

Yeah. "Coward! You coward!" was the chorus ouround this tv. And Duceppe.... Dang, I like Duceppe.

Whenever anyone claims the west has no monarchical inclinations, my mind leaps instantly to MacKay I & II; Trudeau I & II; Bush I ⅈ Kennedy I,II, III and for that matter IV counting the governator... and so on... Heck, the US is wa-ayb more inclined to political birthright than we are! And France the magnificent, with the prancing Sarkozy, so respectful of democratic process and rights of the individual that he expels Rom because they are Rom, and starts wars without telling the minister in charge... Ha! I'm not at all convinced, August. Not a bit.

And those of us who turned away from the Conservatives in utter disgust at that contempt, years before anyone asked the speaker about it or pointed out specific acts of contempt with respect to finances ands information-sharing ... we were just secretly biased sleepers working undercover as conservatives for all those years? Right.