Conservative MP Lukiwski still hasn't reached out to gays

[jdobbin]

Dobbin has beaten this thread to death today.

I'm sorry if the defence that he might be or might not be the same man to be rather a weak argument to make. I've asked for evidence of tolerance. For a public official, I very much would like to know.

[capricorn]

However, simply keeping quiet will not quell the feeling that he was only contrite when it looked like he might suffer political consequences.

Frankly, I hope he does keep quiet about this whole matter and I hope I never hear about it again. His constituents will deal with him as they see fit. That's good enough for me.

[jdobbin]

You forgot the one question that really only matters to you: Are they Tory or Liberal?

If a Liberal made a bigoted statement and showed no evidence of change, I'd want them out of caucus.

[jdobbin]

Frankly, I hope he does keep quiet about this whole matter and I hope I never hear about it again. His constituents will deal with him as they see fit. That's good enough for me.

His constituents may indeed re-elect him but the waft of intolerance might effect voters elsewhere.

[g_bambino]

I think my hardline is the same attitude some on the right take on parole. Has the person really changed? Are they capable of doing what they did again? Do the deserve a second chance? Have they demonstrated that they are different?

You still miss the point completely. It isn't about coming to a conclusion, but how you come to that conclusion. You came to an explicit one without all the evidence before you; you're right to ask for more, but wrong to have made a judgement before you got it.

[g_bambino]

Well said Bambino. Dobbin has beaten this thread to death today.

Thanks. Perhaps, though, I should stop beating it too. It's getting to be rather like that allegorical dead horse.

[jdobbin]

You still miss the point completely. It isn't about coming to a conclusion, but how you come to that conclusion. You came to an explicit one without all the evidence before you; you're right to ask for more, but wrong to have made a judgement before you got it.

I'm afraid that everything about politics is about judgment and trust. There is nothing wrong with making a judgment based on what we've seen and without further evidence to the contrary, it is hard to trust the apology as being an indication of change in the person. Action speaks louder than words, especially in politics.

The people who are prepared to say "case closed" would not be doing so, I'm fairly certain, if the remarks had been directed at Jews. Most would probably be looking for something more concrete from the MP than what we have seen thus far in this matter.

[jdobbin]

Thanks. Perhaps, though, I should stop beating it too. It's getting to be rather like that allegorical dead horse.

It is likely to come up again in the election. The waft of intolerance in the past and the lack of action in the present hurts Harper from achieving his majority.