Taliban Jack

[agstar77]

The cons and the Libs have no one to blame for this fiasco but themselves. The seeds for this were sown when the Reform party took over the PC party. No good deed is ever left unpunished. The deceit and trickery has lasted to the present day with the American character assination type campaign the cons started a year ago. In the quest for a majority they have destroyed Iggy, but they have exposed their own weakness. They have shown Parliament is an inconvenience to them. Now the Canadian people may show them that Parliament runs the country , not he Cons or the Libs. I don't want a Jack led government but the Cons and the Libs need to be taught a lesson in Politics 101.

[Burbert]

Just think about the good that will come
outta this eeelection. Iggy will be gone,
which is a positive. Harpie may throw a
fit and vacate as well. At any rate we'll
be gettin more good Comedian government.
Kin Gag get much more f'd up da ya think?

[newguy]

Said the first time voters were going to swing this election at the last couple weeks. Bad news I said is they seem to like Jack. Seems to have come true. Conservatives campaign stategy of name calling and dirt adds have turned off new voters and think Jack is Mr. nice guy. So just keep it up guys.

[TOM4CWB]

JOE WARMINGTON | TORONTO SUN

TORONTO - Prime Minister Jack Layton?
Say it ain't so.

The latest polls not only say it could be so but also have the other terrified parties scrambling.

According to the Forum Research poll, the NDP-led Layton has 31%, just behind Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives' 34% and nine points ahead of Michael Ignatieff's Liberals.

Some say the NDP could grab 108 seats to the Tories projected 147 to the Liberals potential 60 with the Bloc hanging on to just three.

The math shows an accord of some kind could put the new opposition leader in a position to form a government.

But even more concerning to Harper is that the NDP are just three points behind which means, with five days to go, anything can happen.

One thing everyone agrees on is that Layton is surging.

However, University of Toronto political scientist Dr. Nelson Wiseman qualifies it by saying the polls also show the Conservative vote to be solid. He says Layton's upswing is coming from Liberal and Bloc Quebecois voters which could create splits that should benefit Harper.

"But anything is possible which is why this election so exciting," Wiseman said.

The new polls certainly have got Harper's and Ignatieff's attention and Gilles Duceppe's, too.

Harper said Wednesday "do you trust our government to keep this country moving in the direction it's moving, or do you trust the economy in the hands of the NDP and their partners?"

The desperate Ignatieff solicited the help of former prime minister Jean Chretien at a North York rally Wednesday.

Canadians don't seem to warm up to either federal leader.

While Harper has done a sound job on the economy, taxpayers also see they are burdened with $1.32 per litre of gas, that thousands of jobs have disappeared to China and Mexico and that there will be billions spent on fighter jets out of their family's budget in the years to come to help people in places like Libya.

And for people in the GTA, they know what an embarrassing and expensive waste the whole G8/G20 Summit mess was and understand none of that was Jack Layton's fault.

As for Ignatieff, his arrogance toward Layton was brutal during the debate when he said he would never been in any position but opposition. Iggy doesn't decide that. The voters do.

His high-brow imperiousness reared its ugliness again Wednesday when he sent an open letter to Quebec in which he said "the NDP...has neither the team nor the experience to govern."

But what he doesn't mention is he himself has been out of the country for 30 years while Layton's experience has been serving as a city councillor and federal member and who comes from a family where both his father and grandfather were elected politicians in Quebec.

Harper and Ignatieff are good men but, for many Canadians, Layton is more likeable.

Harper and Ignatieff are not as unlikable as some portray but Jack really is a guy who would go to a pub to watch a hockey game or hang out at the Taste of the Danforth.

In my Night Scrawler days I saw him all the time out doing regular things.

And he's accessible. If I need him for a column, he calls me back. I don't much like his politics but I like him.

Maybe some of that affability has rubbed off on those being polled.

During Mayor Rob Ford's campaign so many people laughed at the thought of him winning. If voters have something to say, they will say it no matter what the pundits crow.

Of course Canadians will decide for real what all this really means Monday but there's no question if regular folks ever had a chance to send a message to big government, it's now.

If you want the federal 10-cents a litre tax grab off each litre of gas, now is the time to demand it.

Harper, or one of the other leaders, have five days to promise to reduce it. If you want tougher scrutiny on big banks, corporations and communications companies for their abusive and sneaky user fees and hidden charges, now is time to hammer it home.

Jack Layton may not become prime minister. But the very thought that he may, could force whoever does to commit to some changes.

Join SUN FORCE today. Share your photos and vidoes

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/politics/federalelection/archives/2011/04/20110428-072732.html

[FarmRanger]

Agstar77 said<i>”The deceit and trickery has lasted to the present day with the American character assination type campaign the cons started a year ago.”</i>

Character assassination is hardly “American type”, it’s as Canadian as CBC, but has been used exclusively against only the right side of the political spectrum. I doubt this story would have ever have seen the light of day had it not been for Sun News.

And it started long before a year ago. The media fabricated and propagated the “hidden agenda” narrative that was flouted by both politicians and Canadian media and was used exclusively to denigrate politicians on the “right”. It even goes back to Robert Stanfield who was caught on tape dropping a football, and smeared with the “bumbler” label by every media outlet in Canada after that. Stephane Dion does the same thing and the media ignores it – move along, no story here. The incredible bias against “right” politicians has been normalized in Canada to the point where if a scandal involving a left wing politician breaks, only then does “shock media”, or negative campaigning becomes an issue to draw attention away from any possible scandal that might ensue.

The bias is so entrenched that truth no longer matters. The double standard is this: Bad stories about left wing politicians show the evil of shock media and negative campaigning, and the same or a similar story about right wing politicians demonstrates the evil of anything “right”. Ask Maxine Bernier.

Imagine if any politician in the Conservative Party (let alone the leader), was ever <b>caught naked in a known bawdy house by the vice squad</b>. CBC, CTV and every newspaper in Canada would have had the front page/lead story reserved for days, if not weeks on the matter. They mentioned it, ignoring the more sordid details, like the fact that Layton was found naked, which he had no explanation for at the time, or that the young girl he was with had a wet tissue in her hand when the vice squad broke in. Instead they give very little details, and play statements from Jack and Olivia instead.
Damage control and providing cover for one side of the political spectrum = propaganda.

[haveapulse]

Media bias is real, its also ok to try to tear someones face off if you are a Liberal leader.

[agstar77]

That's because the Right always tries to claim the moral high ground. When they are caught doing something suspect, they are found to be no more moral than anyone else.

[FarmRanger]

That's funny, I don't recall the Liberals or NDP claiming that the "Low Road" was exclusively theirs?

[cottonpicken]

I'm wondering with all the blood in the water and
attention this is getting, if any left leaning
liberal,green and bloq head might see this as the time
to jump ship and rally behind jack.

[bucket]

If Ontario votes Jack in then they really do have a short memory about Bobby Rae.

Betcha Bobby feels a little bad about moving to the liberals. Betcha he ends up back on the ndp if they need a couple more seats along with Ujal.