With elections running on either side of the 49th parallel the political machines in both Canada and the United States have served up a daily double of stupidity.
Let’s start with the floundering Liberals in the Canadian federal election. As polls continue to show that the Liberals are in serious trouble and the NDP begins to get more traction, the age old stupid strategy of fear politics by the Liberals has started. Because their leader Stephane Dion is basically going nowhere and not catching the imagination of voters, the party has chosen to use fear tactics.
Listen to any Liberal candidate who gets airtime or ink and their message is twofold: Stephen Harper and his Conservatives will plunge Canada into an economic crisis and secondly, NDP and Green Partry supporters should pledge their support to the Liberals because they really are the only option other than the Conservatives. What a crock. The Liberals are already playing the fear card because they know that Dion is likely going to get crushed in the leaders debate, there is a good chance that in the English language one, he may actually place second last or last in public perception. Fear and begging, two pillars of the Liberal party it now appears.
The second stupid political play is that of Sarah Palin being chosen as John McCain’s running mate down south. With each uttered word or sheltered appearance, Palin is further proving she is not cut out for the job and McCain’s judgment comes more and more into question. McCain is a war hero to be proud of and his old maverick days were admirable but he blew it big time with this pandering and transparent choice of Palin. If you have any doubts of Palin’s capabilities, check out a piece of her interview with Katie Couric, I cannot remember the last time I cringed this much watching an interview.
I am sure Palin could have been a solid pick four to eight years from now. With more “big show” experience and away from the Hillary Clinton shadow- a female candidate who truly earned her stripes to go for the big chair in Washington, Palin might be a good candidate, but her time is not now. It was stupid to think she could pull in female voters, possibly from the Clinton camp, and satisfy hard core republicans. She is inept and out of her depth, the magic surrounding her choice is gone already.
The one scary thing is this, Republicans brought back President Bush a second time after watching him in action for four years, will they make the mistake of thinking McCain-Palin would be good for their country? Equally scary here on the homefront, the Liberal scare tactics have worked in the past, can they work again?
On Deadline: Above the Fold to -30- 
Okay, perhaps the Liberals do use “scare tactics,” but Stephen Harper has also resorted to using them. One glaring example is Iraq. As opposition leader five years ago, Harper was gung-ho for Canada to join George Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” to invade Iraq. On March 20, 2003, he uttered the following dire warning in the House of Commons:
“It is inherently dangerous to allow a country such as Iraq to retain weapons of mass destruction, particularly in light of its past aggressive behaviour. If the world community fails to disarm Iraq, we fear that other rogue states will be encouraged to believe that they too can have these most deadly of weapons to systematically defy international resolutions and that the world will do nothing to stop them.”
Oh yes, those infamous “weapons of mass destruction,” a phrase endlessly used by George Bush to frighten the American people and the world into believing that Iraq possessed such weapons, thus justifying his need to invade that country. Tragically, the Bush regime’s fear mongering worked. But fortunately, Stephen Harper’s parroting of Bush’s scare tactics did not work here. At the time, had the gullible Mr. Harper been Canada’s Prime Minister instead of Paul Martin, Canadian troops would now not only be sadly arriving home in coffins from Afghanistan but also from Iraq. In a previous post, I referred to Stephen Harper as “George Bush of the North” since, besides Iraq, he and Bush seem to be of one mind (???) on many matters. And if THAT isn’t a scary thought I don’t know what is. On a much less serious note, just how many sweater vests does Mr. “Sweet and Colourful” own? I’ve already lost count.
Though we obviously have differing opinions on Canada’s political parties, I can’t help but agree with your comments on U.S. vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Though she may at first have seemed like the spark to light John McCain’s fire, she’s now dousing his flames whenever a TV camera and microphone are anywhere near her. Mark Twain said it so well: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”