The local CBC story this morning that two local Conservative candidates say their party did not live up to their election promises regarding equalization is getting national coverage.
The CBC national web page has the story in their top ten rotation.
I expect the fall out to be something like this:
MEMO
TO: Craig Westcott, Mervin Wisemen
FR: Steve Outhouse
Candidates do I need to remind you of the importance of following the Q & A's provided to you in the Conservative Candidates binder. Please take the time to carefully read over your positions so that you can spit them back verbatim. It is a lot like learning your times tables. There is only one right answer, the prime ministers.
While it is a moot point now, you must get back on message. The Conservative Government did honor its commitment to Newfoundland and Labrador. Say it after me, "STEPHEN HARPER DID DELIVER ON HIS PROMISES". Do not elaborate, stay on message.
Craig the next part should not be difficult for you, but Merv as you nearly joined Danny's team a few months ago you will need the practice. Say after me, "DANNY IS A LIAR, HE CAN NOT BE TRUSTED. IT'S TIME TO MOVE ON AND LETS PARTICIPATE AND REJOIN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY AND THIS GREAT FEDERATION"
I do not have to remind either of you that you are not expected to win but we will be in a position to reward you both for your assistance in these trying times. The extent of that reward will be determined on how well the Conservative Party does in this and future elections. Craig, you can not be the Director of Communications for Minister Manning if you undermine his campaign by saying he did not deliver what he promised.
Best of success to both of you. Remember STAY ON MESSAGE.
15 comments:
If a local candidate has to parrot the ideas, morals and ethics of a party leader why do we need a local candidate?
Maybe the local candidate is a smarter and more reasonable person?
Maybe the leader is an asshole not fit for office but got the position for reasons nothing to do with working for the betterment of the country and its people.
You really must stop this party/leader worship thing. It's what has lowered our political system into the deep sewer it currently resides. ...yes, I was tempted to say "outhouse";^)
Greg:
Which is the lesson at hand. Craig railed against both Williams and Harper for their "similar approaches" . He said Harper hated the media and said Harper was never to be trusted.
Meeker made the comment on his blog as well that Craig "He has my vote for no other reason than I trust him to shake things up in Ottawa."
How much shaking up is Craig going to do as a member of the Conservative caucus. Lets say I voted for him because I like him a great deal. He wins and goes to Ottawa to raise hell. Hell on what and where? In the caucus? Than he gets the boot. We have seen the level of independence provided for by the Conservatives.
It is a shame that he is the perfect candidate because he hates Danny. A one issue candidate. There is much more depth to Craig than that. I really wish he had not run as a Conservative. If I thought for one moment that Craig could shake up Ottawa without getting axed from the Conservative Party I would vote for him. The Conservative party is not a place for a lone wolf.
Peter, you praise Craig and then say he can do no good because he won't be able to function inside the Connie caucus.
Well, so what? You must be telling the people in Nova Scotia they were wrong to vote for Bill Casey!
After all, if Craig is the best candidate - in your view - and he winds up not sitting in the Connie caucus he can still be a very effective and outspoken member of parliament on behalf of the people who elected him.
Greg's last paragraph hit it right on the head.
I say people should look at their individual candidates and make a choice based on their own views rather than following blindly what they are told or swallowing this crap that if you don't vote a certain way you won't get pavement or a new school or what have you.
Outhouse's memo sounds a lot, mutatis mutandis, like Danny's one from last fall.
Remind me again, how it is that anyone else's vices turn into Danny Williams' virtues?
Ed:
If he was running for the NDP or Liberal Party, he could put my vote in the bank. I do not like or trust Harper. I have never been and never will be a Conservative. He is not running as an independent, he is running as a Conservative. What chance does he have in bringing about change? About as much as Garth Turner had? Casey is back in after being booted because they needed him, he had a much stronger following in the party than Craig and having him back might help hold onto seats in Nova Scotia. You can not compare Casey to Westcott.
So the real question is have you offered your services to Westcott's campaign? You should. Perhaps he needs a poll done or some strategic advice. It is not like there is a nomination to screw up.
The line about not voting a certain way is the type of crap you and others have been getting on with. People can make up their own minds on how to vote. The ABC is campaigning to remind people of Harper's record in this province. Meanwhile a bunch of you are out there saying, o we have to have someone on the government side and perhaps we should no be so hard on Fabian in case the Conservatives form the government. What crap!
There would be no ABC if the Conservatives had not broken significant promises and told the Premier that our few seats do not count anyways. Well than lets see them win any government without them.
The Conservatives made their bed. Let them rest in it. If Craig feels his fight with Danny justifies flushing his journalistic career down the toilet than fine with me. That is his choice.
I just can not fathom why he would run as a federal conservative.
He hasn't flushed his career. Trust me, Craig has taken plenty of risks over his career. Running for the Conservatives will do no lasting harm to him, either personally or professionally, win or lose.
Am I a bit surprised he's running for the Conservatives? Sure. But I would have been surprised no matter what party he selected...he's spoken critically of them all at one point or another.
As for voting for Craig or not because of federal issues....national party politics get be so big and contrived sometimes it can be hard to get a handle on them at the local level. Sometimes you've just got to pick the best man, or woman, to represent you in Ottawa. And hey, I'm not saying it would be easy if I lived in SJN. I like Jack Harris....he's a good man and I've voted for him before.
But by God Westcott would bring fire. If he's not afraid to speak his opinions about how Williams has run Newfoundland, do you honestly think he wouldn't do the same to Harper?
And as for turfing him, well, it's one thing to get rid of an Ontario MP...you get the feeling that Conservative MPs from Atlantic Canada might be a rarer breed and not quite so easily removed. Don't automatically assume he would be removed.
If you think Craig is the best person for the job, then I think you owe it him to at least take a serious look at him and how he runs in this election, not just dismiss him out of hand from the start.
Is it just me or does Wescott's support amongst some appear to be based on the disastrous idea that "my enemy's enemy is my friend".
Peter:
Bill Casey is running as an independent. You've attributed things to me I've never said.
You need to get your facts straight.
Ed:
Wow. Thanks for the scoop. I really thought Casey was back in the Conservative Caucus. I was even on his website, saw the blue and well made the made the mother of all assumptions. I was wrong. Bill Casey is an independent. He was ejected from the Conservative Caucus for voting against his government and standing with his people.
It kind of proves my point about trying to be a conservative in that caucus. Bill Casey does not have an ounce of the credibility of Craig Westcott. I just can not understand his run as a conservative. Perhaps I need to give him a call.
I could support Craig the person, but I can not support a Conservative candidate. If I thought he had a chance at reforming that party I would consider it.
Perhaps the best way to get an independent in Ottawa is to vote for Craig, because he will last jig time in that caucus. I can not see him not speaking truth to power. Garth Turner two but in order to get him there I have to vote Conservative. Give me a break
Dale, the issue here is a discussion about Peter's attack on Craig based on the ideas Greg noted from Peter's post.
But if you want to be calculating about it, Dale, those of us who have known Craig personally and professionally for 25 years would probably agree that the very best way to screw Harper would be to elect Craig Westcott to his caucus.
If you wanted to be really calculating about it, the best thing for Danny to do to get rid of Craig is send him off to be a thorn in someone else's side.
And ultimately, that point should help people realize how a superficial approach to these things leads to the entirely wrong conclusion. And that was part of where Greg was going.
Geez, if Harper tried his usual crap on Craig, you'd get more for the tickets to the fireworks show than people are getting on E-Bay for scalped Elton John ones.
Craig:
I appreciate your comments. I have to confess I am conflicted because I have always had a great deal of respect for Craig. I myself have been in his line of fire. Nothing personal, he has a job to do and expresses his opinion was part of that.
Just so I am not accused of some unfair bias. I have written blog posts and comments about Craig, and how I feel he has been treated for doing his job.
I know how hard it is to get back to the fifth estate in this province once you cross over to the dark side. You get to be the sports reporter at VOCM. The most notable exception is Craig Jackson, who spent some time spinning for the PC's but managed to get back to the Telegram unscathed.
Westcott has that ability but the road will be much rougher now. Enemy of my Enemy stuff does not sound well thought out. However I was told by two mutual friends tonight that Craig has though of himself as a Conservative and that he identifies with Conservative policy.
I though he handled the interviews with CBC quite well today. As a busy blogger, I imagine that I am leaving lots of stuff behind that will make a run at partisan politics very difficult.
I can not support a person who is supports Stephen Harper. The Conservative Party betrayed this province and it is now time for him to repay the favor.
Ed:
Wow. Thanks for the scoop. I really thought Casey was back in the Conservative Caucus. I was even on his website, saw the blue and well made the made the mother of all assumptions. I was wrong. Bill Casey is an independent. He was ejected from the Conservative Caucus for voting against his government and standing with his people.
It kind of proves my point about trying to be a conservative in that caucus. Bill Casey does not have an ounce of the credibility of Craig Westcott. I just can not understand his run as a conservative. Perhaps I need to give him a call.
I could support Craig the person, but I can not support a Conservative candidate. If I thought he had a chance at reforming that party I would consider it.
Perhaps the best way to get an independent in Ottawa is to vote for Craig, because he will last jig time in that caucus. I can not see him not speaking truth to power. Garth Turner two.
Ed:
The issue is your hypocrisy when it comes to Westcott. He has to stand the test of criticism bases on his past editorial stances just as much as Ryan Cleary or anyone else that runs for public office.
The memo was a reflection of how I figured the central campaign would have reacted and what Westcott has to get used to if he is to part of a larger team that expects him to stay on message.
If the plan is to be a pain in the ass to Harper and get expelled than why not just run as an independent?
Clearly Westcott has treated Harper with the same disdain and distrust that he has for the Premier. He has even advocated that there is a political price to be paid by the Conservatives for the Equalization mess.
I am not advocating that he stay on message. Christ I hope as a Conservative Candidate he continues to be offside with the party's official line. That only enhances the legitimacy of voting anything but Conservative.
Peter:
When all else fails, you try an ad hominem attack - calling me a hypocrite - which is basically as useless as the invented arguments you ranted against in an earlier comment.
As for Craig, he's stood the test of criticism thus far and handled it far more effectively than a great many politicians could. I don't think I'd be able to vote for him either but I'd at least have to give it a harder thought than you evidently been prepared to give it.
In politics, it's too easy to follow along with the crowd but it's really hard for some to just assess the candidates fairly on their own individual merits.
The one generates cyncism when they keep looking for things that aren't going to happen. The other might just shatter the cynicism and, without putting too many words in Greg's mouth, that's part of what Greg was driving at I think
Ed:
You are a hypocrite and that is one of the few nice things I am willing to publicly say about you!
I dismissed the Conservative party out of hand Ed. all of their candidates. If my mother ran as a Conservative in this election I would campaign against her. I hope that is clear enough!
As for your patriarchal advice about following the crowd, give me a break. When a person decides to run under the banner of a political party, he or she accepts that party's philosophies. Sure there are red tories and blue liberals but for good, bad or indifferent once you sign on as a candidate, your expected to tow the platform.
That is the sad reality of partisan politics in this country. I would love to see more people like Craig in politics. However party politics
is a difficult place for non-conformers or non kool-aid drinkers. Its all or nothing it seems and I have had quite my fill of that thank you.
As a matter of fact I had a very good conversation in person with Greg about this last evening.
I am in agreement with his criticisms of partisan politics. The problem is that Craig is running as a Conservative not an Independent. Stephen Harper and the Conservatives scare me. They divide and conquer mostly at the expense of those who can not fight for themselves or are disadvantaged. They turn us on each other by promoting greed and forgetting about building a just society.
I am financially much better after a couple of years of Conservative governments. If that was my prime motivation, perhaps I would vote for them. However it is not. I believe in gun control, I believe in government regulation of our food industry, I believe in a women's right to choose, I believe that governemnt needs to take a strong role in dealing with climate change (although I like the NDP approach better, I would like Canada to pull out of Afghanistan,
I disagree with the Conservative approach to re-engineering the way government work and provide services to citizens in today's Canada. They threaten to cripple our ability as a nation to mount effective, national social programs. They would par back Ottawa's role to defense, security and foreign affairs and leave social programs and health care to provincial governments, which is a recipe for greater disaster.
The type of Canada I want is not reflected in the Conservative Party ideology.
Does Craig Wescott believe that a life long ideologue had suddenly become a moderate? Do you want Canada to become Argentina? Does he agree with: Cancelling the liberals national child care initiative, P3's for public infrastructure, Cuts to funding for women's advocacy groups, Cuts to cultural/arts groups, inviting two-tier and profit into health care, and Does he agree with canceling Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol? Seriously there are more issues at stake than those parochial provincial issues which have created this ABC movement.
When good people like Craig Westcott step forward for Harper they are giving his vision of Canada legitimacy. This is by far one of the most important elections that you and I will ever participate in. Harper has not changed his spots. I have had a taste of this guy and I would hate to see him unplugged.
You have to admit that changes the dynamics entirely.
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