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ria_oaksThe dirt on Sarah Palin gets funnier and funnier, even with the election over... even if some of it's possibly just gossip, enough of it is rooted in stuff that we know (the shopping spree, the Sarkozy prank call... which, btw, go Canada!) that it all seems pretty likely. Really goes to show, while she alone wasn't responsible for McCain's defeat, she certainly didn't help. Not least because McCain's choice of her so undermined a lot of people's respect for him, it was so irresponsible. With another running mate, it definitely would have been tighter.. though I suppose she does appeal to that wingnut base that doesn't like McCain much because, you know, he's not enough of a far-right wingnut. -_- Which is a pity, because that's one of the main things that allows me some respect for the man. Guy was made worse by the others in his party, not to mention his voter base. ^^ Still wouldn't have wanted him as president, though. *shudder* Esp because of the aforementioned far-right wingnuts. It's really too bad how much that super-conservative/religious right mindset has taken over both the Republicans down there and the Conservatives up here. I wouldn't generally much like either to begin with, and they make it all that much worse...
Anyway. What're we going to do without these people to mock anymore?? What are the comedians going to do? XD I'm kinda going to miss the Palin-baiting... and lol at Jon Stewart last night saying he'll miss doing Bush impressions. ;) Oh well, it'll be a nice change of pace to have a government down there that doesn't inspire that much mocking, I suppose. At least Stephen Colbert will have lots of mileage from having a president his character doesn't like. ;)
Next on the list, to fix our politics up here... anyone? *birds chirp* Having a Liberal leader I'd actually want to vote for would help... I suspect that a large part of the reason people lack interest in politics up here is that the people just aren't as interesting. ^^ For good or bad, American politics have become entertainment, and the politicians (and even pundits!) celebrities. Which may have its downfalls, but otoh it helped to propel Obama's campaign to what it became, and eventually to his win. None of our party leaders have near the charisma that he does, and it's hard to get excited about any of them. Plus, as my co-worker rightly pointed out, it's kinda BS that there's one united Conservative party and 3 (4 counting BQ, I guess) split liberal/left-wing parties - if they were all combined, the left-wing would have had a much better chance these past couple of elections. Well, depending on what that party ended up looking like, I suppose... anyway though, this is how I always end up not knowing who to vote for - vote strategically (Liberal in both my current and past riding) or vote Green or NDP on the hope of some change/them gaining power (esp the Green - it'd be great to have a few Green seats to get their voice into Parliament. Not running the country, yet, but contributing....). Went kinda both ways this time, since our Green MP candidate was the former Liberal MP and I figured he might have a hope in hell of getting in again even though he's with a new party. It backfired. Now we have a Conservative MP. WOE.
...and I was supposed to be going to bed. Was just going to post that article on Palin with a few lines of commentary, then got carried away. Haven't really posted that much about all the recent politics, but I've been following it all pretty closely. It was great yesterday hearing from some Americans coming in the branch saying how happy they were and how they cried when Obama won. Co-worker (diff one from above mentioned) said she heard fireworks going off in her area. :) And a cute American guy who's a fan of Firefly and who co-worker is jokingly trying to set me up with (evidently he told her he doesn't have many friends on the island and wants more of a social life, just like me) is a Democrat, so yay. :) (okay, barely know the guy - but we joke about it whenever he comes in now. After he's left, that is. ^^) And big LOL at TDS/TCR last night - loved that 2+ minute (it seemed) screaming and applause at the start of TDS - took Jon awhile to get everyone quiet so he could start. And loved his whole "people in New York seem different today - they're all making eye contact! And smiling at each other! I feel like someone's going to invite me home to have pie!" spiel. Hilarious. (enjoyed Indecision 2008 Tues night, too - lol-ed when Obama's win was announced and they all ran up to the roof and stared in wonder around them at "the light!". Also, Jon and Stephen flirted a lot. ;)
Um. Anyway. Bed now, for real.
Anyway. What're we going to do without these people to mock anymore?? What are the comedians going to do? XD I'm kinda going to miss the Palin-baiting... and lol at Jon Stewart last night saying he'll miss doing Bush impressions. ;) Oh well, it'll be a nice change of pace to have a government down there that doesn't inspire that much mocking, I suppose. At least Stephen Colbert will have lots of mileage from having a president his character doesn't like. ;)
Next on the list, to fix our politics up here... anyone? *birds chirp* Having a Liberal leader I'd actually want to vote for would help... I suspect that a large part of the reason people lack interest in politics up here is that the people just aren't as interesting. ^^ For good or bad, American politics have become entertainment, and the politicians (and even pundits!) celebrities. Which may have its downfalls, but otoh it helped to propel Obama's campaign to what it became, and eventually to his win. None of our party leaders have near the charisma that he does, and it's hard to get excited about any of them. Plus, as my co-worker rightly pointed out, it's kinda BS that there's one united Conservative party and 3 (4 counting BQ, I guess) split liberal/left-wing parties - if they were all combined, the left-wing would have had a much better chance these past couple of elections. Well, depending on what that party ended up looking like, I suppose... anyway though, this is how I always end up not knowing who to vote for - vote strategically (Liberal in both my current and past riding) or vote Green or NDP on the hope of some change/them gaining power (esp the Green - it'd be great to have a few Green seats to get their voice into Parliament. Not running the country, yet, but contributing....). Went kinda both ways this time, since our Green MP candidate was the former Liberal MP and I figured he might have a hope in hell of getting in again even though he's with a new party. It backfired. Now we have a Conservative MP. WOE.
...and I was supposed to be going to bed. Was just going to post that article on Palin with a few lines of commentary, then got carried away. Haven't really posted that much about all the recent politics, but I've been following it all pretty closely. It was great yesterday hearing from some Americans coming in the branch saying how happy they were and how they cried when Obama won. Co-worker (diff one from above mentioned) said she heard fireworks going off in her area. :) And a cute American guy who's a fan of Firefly and who co-worker is jokingly trying to set me up with (evidently he told her he doesn't have many friends on the island and wants more of a social life, just like me) is a Democrat, so yay. :) (okay, barely know the guy - but we joke about it whenever he comes in now. After he's left, that is. ^^) And big LOL at TDS/TCR last night - loved that 2+ minute (it seemed) screaming and applause at the start of TDS - took Jon awhile to get everyone quiet so he could start. And loved his whole "people in New York seem different today - they're all making eye contact! And smiling at each other! I feel like someone's going to invite me home to have pie!" spiel. Hilarious. (enjoyed Indecision 2008 Tues night, too - lol-ed when Obama's win was announced and they all ran up to the roof and stared in wonder around them at "the light!". Also, Jon and Stephen flirted a lot. ;)
Um. Anyway. Bed now, for real.
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Date: 2008-11-07 08:34 am (UTC)I mean, right now we have Harper. This guy is intelligent; he's an economist by trade and has some understanding of how to move money around. There was also Dion, who I heard tore up the French debate, but is largely inhibited by his language capabilities. Others too; except May and Duceppe, but that's a different issue. I think they're qualified to run the country; but fuck, are they ever dull. I fell asleep during the English debate. Way to get people motivated.
On the whole, I think part of the problem is that Canada isn't assertive enough on the world stage. We need to take on a stronger leadership role. We come off as being so polite and passive; or at least, that's the impression I get. This doesn't really help to foster patriotism. What good is it saying that our country kicks ass, when the US can just raise its hand and say "No, you can't do that," to which we simply concede. Bleh. We don't have to be militaristic assholes, but I'd like to see some more backbone. Gives us something more to be proud of, and a reason to want to see this country move forward strongly. Too many people are content with doing the very minimum and saying "But hey, at least we're not American!".
But of course there are downsides to the US system, like you said. I mean, if you glamorize everything and make it a celebrity popularity contest, then I'm sure that you're going to have some (no, many) people glossing over the politics and hopping on the bandwagon. I'm sure many people just voted for Obama because it was the popular thing to do. Palin is a prime example of this. She was all the rage at first; hell even I grew to like her eventually (hated her at first). But did she ever blow it. (Really, you don't know which countries constitute North America?) I wonder what would happen if Obama made that mistake.
What's TDS/TCR?