Assorted content for your evening reading. – While I’m less than convinced about his desire to break down party loyalties, David Thompson highlights the need for progressives to fight back against decades of corporatist dominance in both political messaging and policy development: To win over the long run, progressives will
Continue readingTag: messaging
Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – If anybody hasn’t yet seen Bruce Anderson’s critique of the Cons’ dirty tricks, it’s well worth a read – especially in emphasizing how a party supposedly built around morals and ethics is so quick to declare that anything goes when it comes to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Dan Leger comments on the combination of secrecy and control exerted by Stephen Harper over the entire federal government. And the “Harper Government” re-branding exercise – now confirmed by reams of direct evidence yet still somehow denied by the Cons – serves
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- J. David Hulchanski identifies the most important common theme within the Occupy movement:One thing the “Occupy” movement does not lack is a clear message: the system is broken and the folks who broke it ar…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On boomerang effects
Accusing one’s opponents of having a hidden agenda has become a matter of standard-issue political strategy. But accusing one’s opponents of having a hidden agenda identical to one’s own takes rather more creativity. And chutzpah. And contortionism.So …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Saskatchewan’s election campaign pits a party pushing instant gratification against one basing its policies on an appeal to voters’ altruism.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- No, it’s no huge surprise that the Cons are planning to launch systematic attacks against labour as the next step after making it clear they’ll treat any strike or lockout as both illegitimate and entirely the f…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On labelling
Aaron Wherry has noted that one Stephen Harper answer that struck me as shocking has in fact become a regular Con economic talking point. And it’s worth noting both how inaccurate the line about an “expansionary” fiscal policy actually is, and the harm…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On wedges
Greg offers up an important response to the Cons’ initial line of attack on Brian Topp. But let’s also note how the latest barrage fits into the Cons’ broader strategy in taking on the NDP.Remember what happened as part of the silly season of summer, w…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On direct clash
One of the most interesting questions following the NDP’s ascent to Official Opposition status was that of how the Cons would seek to attack a party which didn’t carry the Libs’ baggage. Now, it looks like we’re seeing the answer – and it’s worth quick…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: For and against
Not surprisingly, the Cons are working feverishly to pretend that the message which won them a bare majority of seats in the House of Commons is of absolutely no consequence now that they hold them. So let’s set the record straight as to why it’s funda…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On flattering comparisons
Yes, it’ll take time to break the habits that have formed over the past few years – and it may well be that the Harper Cons will continue to stonewall and distort no matter what they face from the Official Opposition. But if this turns into a consisten…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Light blogging ahead
Off to a couple of undisclosed locations for the next week, with little to no blogging in the meantime. But let’s note one point worth watching as Parliament reconvenes.While I don’t think there’s much room for dispute that the Cons have tried to move …
Continue reading