So the Liberal leadership race is on! And the MP in my Toronto riding, Kenny D., is one of the stronger candidates.
Now for those of you who don't know, my wonderful and beautiful mother Bonnie, AKA Eema, was very involved with the Conservative party in the last two elections. And like mother, like daughter, she can sometimes be a bit argumentative. My Eematchka got into a couple fights with Dryden and so now, he doesn't like her very much. That means, if he wins and becomes PM, I wonder if he'll try to kick us out of Canada.
So then, does that mean that our little house will be become its own sovereign state? And would our ruler, Bonnie, be benevolent to her subjects? Or would she take advantage of the autonomy and starting making laws like "If you don't clean your room, the punishment is beheading." Only time will tell. And in any case, I'm rooting for The Whore, not because I like her chameleon approach to politics, but because I think it's time that Canada had an attractive PM. The last good looking leader was Trudeau and that was waaaay too long ago.
10 comments:
Hubba Hubba...I'd vote for her :)
Since this is the second time I've seen this message, I think the law of the land should instead be "If Leora doesn't study, Leora can't use MSN".
Of course, I'd strongly oppose this bill. :)
What have the fights been about? Did your Mom and Dryden throw down and take it to the streets?
At first I was going to say that you can't vote, because you're not a citizen of our house. But on second thought, you are living in the States now, and my mom would probably like to model our own little government after the great U.S. of A. You know, fascist leader, extreme conservatism, and so on.
I'll let my mom explain about her fight with Dryden, but let's just say that she was 100% right and he was 100% wrong.
Well, I'm glad we agree on something political, because I heart Belinda.
... Although, I must add that I think the fact that people make pejorative comments about her personal life is a sign of the fact that politics is still very much a man's world. Afterall, a man can have many "romantic liasons" while in politics, and it is often seen as a sign of his charisma, power and magnatism (think Trudeau). In fact, when a man puts his career ahead of his personal life, this is usually seen as a positive sign of devotion and committment to the task at hand - but if a woman does it, well then she must just be a whore.
I think that even most Liberals would agree that there are some well-qualified, decent, intelligent Liberals (Stephane Dion, John Manley, and Frank McKenna) despite the fact that most of the Liberals are a bunch of empty suits (e.g. Ken Dryden, Scott Brison and Belinda The Whore).
It now looks like they'll select one of the pretty-faces, which is not surprising considering how demoralizing the reign of terror of Great Leader Paul Martin has been to the Liberal party. My forecast? They will pick Belinda. The Liberals have significant financial problems because of Martin, and would probably encourage her to liquidate her shoe collection to pay off the party's debts. Then, they can dump her for someone who speaks French, is somewhat intelligent, and wants more than mere power (although, I suppose that Paul Martin only wanted power for power's sake).
On the plus, though, since Belinda had been rumored to be "dating" Bill Clinton, I suppose that the news stories would be more interesting than Ken Dryden talking about playing hockey - 30 years ago.
Lydia, I don't actually support Belinda Stronach--sure I didn't like the way people talked about her after her defection, and it just does go to show that sexism/misogony is present in Canadian politics. But as much as I'm a feminist, I won't support her just because she's a woman. Anyone that would compromise their political ideals that quickly (she ran to be leader of the Conservative party just a year before she joined the Liberals?! Give me a break!) is not someone I trust to run my country. Yes, she was a Red Tory, but crossing the floor and immediately getting cozy in the cabinet seemed to imply that her reasons for switching sides were less than pure. Besides, I don't think that her "romantic liasons" are being critisized, per se. I think it's the fact that it seems like she is sleeping her way to the top. Every man she's with is just on more rung on the ladder. Unlike Bill Clinton sleeping with interns, Stronach sleeping with powerful politicians just adds to the conception that she's power-hungry (And she broke Peter Mackay's heart. *Sob*)
That being said, I really do like one "traitor" a lot--Bob Rae. Yes, he might be more left-leaning than I like, considering his NDP roots, but I like him. He might recklessly spend and break campaign promises, but I like him. And this has nothing to do with the fact that I met him when I was in Grade 3.
I'll respond to Ayn Rand's comments later. Now I've got to run to class. But let me just respond to "wanting power for power's sake". That describes every Canadian politician, in varying degrees! And that's necessarily bad as long as they do some good for the country along the way, and as long as it's someone that we can respect.
I - and I believe many others - laugh at the love-lives of female politicians as much as I do male politicians. When these people put themselves in the public eye, they leave themselves vulnerable to this criticism.
Problems do exist, though. Consider the way that the Left jumped to defend Bill Clinton - EVEN THOUGH HE CHEATED ON HIS WIFE. I don't view that as "charisma" - though enough Democrats did.
Eww. Bob Rae. He tried to close our hospital :(. We were plotting to make him drink 20 glasses of water and then take him for a bumpy ambulance ride. Anyway, he failed to close our hospital, so :p to him.
I'm a bit ambivalent when it comes to Belinda. I don't like how she was treated... but I also think that she might have set herself up for it. Crossing the floor imho was a badly thought out move, whatever her motivations. If you're gonna be a red tory, either stick it out with the tories and make change from the inside or go become a liberal (read: federalist) in Quebec (a la Jean Charest... who I miss). But, that does not excuse the good ol' boys of the big blue C for their behavior, which I am glad reflected badly on them.
My favourite female canadian politician of all time was Deborah Grey. She was really cool.
My big beef right now is with Dalton. He closed our Frost Centre :(. I'm still peeved over that. Hrm, can you sense a pattern with politicians I don't like? ;)
Well Leora, I was so hopeful that we had found a common political ground. I guess our mutual fondness for Bob Rae will have to suffice. It's not that I'm his biggest fan or anything, but he is a fellow Oxford alumnus and that endears me to him somewhat. Even though he closed the College in my town and betrayed all of the Northern Ontario New Democrats. But, whatever, I can forgive and forget.
Oh, and you should watch this, it is entirely relevant. Entirely.
Damn, there's so much that I want to write about, and I'll get to it eventually (after these stupid midterms!) but let me just make a few points:
- Fred, I don't agree with you about these "empty suits" winning the leadership race. With the exception of Brison, none of them have much political experience. And Canada, progressive as it may be, is not ready for a gay PM. Belinda may be glamorous but she doesn't have a good reputation now. I think Manly is cool (plus, he has puffy hair, so I relate to him). I think that they're going to go for someone with more experience. Although Martin had tons, and it didn't help him at all.
Also, are you nuts?! Bill Clinton may have had a few affairs, but he was a way, way, WAY better president than George W. I don't hate Bush like a lot of people but you can't deny that he's fucked up the country a lot. And as a Libertarian, you should agree--that man spends like there's no tomorrow. So what if he's monogomous? That doesn't mean that he's capable of leading the country (as he's more than proven). Plus, who are we to get involved with our politicians' sex lives? I'm pretty sure that Bill and Hillary have an open marriage, and what's wrong with that? As a "Savage Love" reader, you should know better than anyone to judge people by their (harmless, if she knew about it) kinks. I like Bill Clinton a lot. (And I think he'd like me too--I fit his "type" pretty well).
Lydia and Erin, all you Northern Ontario people do is bitch and complain, bitch and complain. Don't you know that Toronto is the only city of note in the province? Nay, the country! So what if Bob Rae tried to close your hospitals and colleges. Get over it! And move to the city. You hicks.
Finally, I'd like to reply to Lydia's previous comment about how politics is still a man's domain--as much as I hate to admit it, I think you're right. Hillary Clinton has tons of experience, is sharp as a whip and would make an excellent president. But I find her disconcerting. Is it because she's a woman? Possibly. Am I still allowd to call myself a feminist? I don't know. I just know that female politicians have more "balls" than their male counterparts (Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir) and, although I wish it didn't, it bothers me. And the fact that it bothers me bothers me even more. Maybe I need to go burn a $50 bra just to prove that I'm still a feminist...
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