"Willing to bring it … hard", "stoke[ing]...frustration and anger" - What the expect from NDP campaigns in the upcoming by-elections

That's what Pundits' Guide and David Akin wrote about new Mulcair candidate Linda McQuaig's approach to politics in their (both very good) summaries of the Toronto Centre nominations. I was happy to spend the day pulling vote for Chrystia Freeland, who McQuaig wasted no time in attacking. Those who read my blog frequently will know that I would be a wild hypocrite to pretend to be offended by going on the attack, but as Liberals, we have to realize both that Mulcair's NDP will pull as few punches as the Harper Conservatives in both Toronto Centre and Bourassa going after Liberals and making personal attacks both nationally and on local candidates. The "Love is better than anger" etc stuff was always more how New Democrats saw themselves then how they actually behaved, but Mulcair's NDP's determination to attack the third-party Liberals years before a general election is something Liberals are going to have to deal with when campaigning directly against the NDP. In the past, Liberal campaigns against the NDP failed too often when they simply boiled down to strategic voting arguements - an arguement that collapsed in the 2011 federal election. We have to be unafraid to defend our Leader and candidate from personal and policy attacks, and argue that Justin Trudeau and candidates like Chrystia Freeland are better suited to address the needs of all Canadians. And yes, we can make arguements like how McQuaid's support of "Israeli Apartheid Week" and Mulcair's main focus as leader being tearing open the Constitution with Senate abolishment demonstrate that the NDP isn't focused on the issues of everyday Canadians. As a soon to be constituent of Toronto Centre, I'll be looking forward to helping out Justin Trudeau and the Freeland campaign.

Israeli elections

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304741384&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The centrist Kadima is unexpectedly looking like they will emerge as the largest party (most polls suggesed the right-wing Likud would hold the biggest share), but with the rise of the hard-right but secular Israel Beiteinu party, it would seem the right-wing might have a better shot at forming government. Another link on the J-Post site though, says that negotionations for the formation of a right-wing block might be more difficult:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304744151&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

"A source in Likud was quoted as saying that Lieberman would "bleed us dry" in coalition negotiations"

At this point a "grand coalition" might be the most likely outcome, and in such a situation, Kadima, as the largest party, would probably get dibs on the Prime Ministership.

Interesting political perspective on the Gaza situation

While much of the discussion and debate around the situation on both sides has focused on either the military, or humanitarian aspects of the conflict, this blog on the Jerusalem Post website is interesting for taking more politically minded (both domestically and internationally) context examination:

http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/kramer/entry/israel_s_gaza_strategy_posted

Definately worth a read.

CUPE shames itself

I'm not the biggest fan of CUPE to begin with, but this: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1144758 is simply shameful. While criticism of Israeli foreign policy can be legitimate, this move by CUPE crosses a clear line that all liberal (note the small-l) minded individuals should reject as an attack on free speech and freedom of the mind.