Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Tom King: "Liberals are the bad guys"

So I was watching a news report on the election in Guelph last night, seemed to touch all the normal bases; The riding is the Liberals to lose, the Conservatives are investing heavily in the riding but still face controversy over the Brent Barr incident, the rise of the Greens, etc. They had a short clip where Frank Valeriote expressed a fear of vote-splitting on the centre/centre-left, and that only the Liberals could combat Harper, they then cut to Tom King, the NDP candidate for a reaction, which was this (paraphrased)

"The Liberals use that line all the time, vote for us, only we can stop the bad guys, well, this time, the Liberals are the bad guys."

So let's review what Tom King and the NDP's message to progressive voters is:

The party of the Kelowna Accord are "bad guys".
The party of a national child care plan are "bad guys".
The party that made gay marriage a reality are "bad guys".
The party that is promoting the most effective and progressive vision of Canada's economy and environment are "bad guys".
The party that will restore the Court Challenges Program are "bad guys".

Meanwhile, what has the NDP, presumably the "good guys" done lately?

The "good guys" have standing arm in arm with the Conservatives in attacking the Green Shift.
The "good guys" sold out the accomplishments of the last Liberal government in exchange for 10 more seats and a Harper government.
The "good guys" are taking such radical, progressive, and boundary pushing positions as err, being against ATM fees and text message fees.
The "good guys" are standing firm with the Conservatives on keeping the Green Party out of the debate, despite 75% of NDP supporters being in favour of letting her in.

If Jack Layton is applying for the job of Prime Minister, he has left his progressive credentials at the door.

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