Against Third Way centrism and neoliberalism!

[sabotabby]

Okay, kids! My NDP leadership ballot has come in the mail. I know my first choice (Nash, though Saganash is still on the ballot and he was my first choice until he dropped out) and my penultimate and last choices (Singh and Mulclair respectively), but I still need to rank the other candidates. And I'm really quite undecided.

So, fellow Canuckistanis, give me your choices and rationale.

By the way, until quite recently, I have never been a member of any political party. As a left-wing opportunist, I joined mainly as one more vote against an NDP takeover by right-wing opportunists. Now the NDP calls me and e-mails me seventy gazillion times a day. That's what you get for getting involved in electoral politics. Even in first-year university when the International Socialists were trying to court me, they didn't bug me this much.

Comments

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I'm leaning to Topp. He's good on equality, the environment and the arts. Nash is my #2. Sentiment pushes me towards Dewar. He's a decent human and good on cities but he won't win. MulBlair scares the daylights out of me. His rhetoric is pure New Labour c. 1990 and look where that got us.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

My main problem with Mulcair is that he's all in for himself. He's a hardcore Zionist because it's politically convenient for him. He's like a typical American Congresscritter.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

That's certainly a part of it.

[sabotabby]

God, Dewer is way too nice for politics. Did you see his "stop trashing Mulclair and let's all sing Kumbaya" e-mail? Imagine that guy going toe-to-toe with Harper. He'd be demolished.

MulBlair is a good name for him. I joined the NDP to keep people like him out.

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

Yup, though I thought the way he treated people criticizing his French as 'campaigns going negative' was a bit much. Kinda like Nathan Cullen's whiny 'but my travel expenses cost more than anyone else's' message not long ago. I wonder how Saganash felt about that one - his riding includes literally half the area of Québec.

[audrawilliams.livejournal.com]

I can't forgive Topp for the campaign he's run, or for jumping the gun on the race to begin with. He won't be on my ballot.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

My ballot, so far (although I'm hope to go to convention if I find a snarky convention buddy, and will vote live):

Cullen
Nash
Dewar
Ashton
Topp
Singh
Mulcair

I worked on Saganash's campaign but man was he too soft. Cullen talked about candidates "violently agreeing which each other", which has been Sag's and everyone else's problem. I'm putting Cullen at the top because I care more about stopping Harper than anything else, and I like this proposal to defeat Conservative MPs by joining forces tactically; there's no policy sacrifice involved, and we could even make PR part of the deal. I relish the idea of taking half of Alberta and BC's seats away from the Cons... Cullen's French isn't perfect but I like his demeanour in both languages. I've met him and he makes a really good impression.

Other than that, Nash is solidly NDP in terms of policy, and she's really fluent in French (except with a Parisian accent, which is kinda annoying).

I was considering Dewar until I heard him speak French. Bonk.

Ashton is lacking experience, and her French is painful. Also, she looks like a librarian in a porn movie. (Sorry.)

Topp has no fucking charisma whatsoever, but he's bilingual and he's a good liberal. Why is Broadbent supporting this douchebag? Even now, 6 months into the campaign? I mean Topp is a smart strategist, I've read his Globe columns and loved them, but he's got no personality whatsoever. Also, his tax bracket proposal is a transparent proposal to attract more votes from the membership, not an actual personal belief.

Singh is above Mulcair because Mulcair is a Zionist, taking in donations from Gerry Schwartz, Heather Reisman and like 20 Onex executives or something. Schwartz would support Pol Pot if he supported Israel, so you know he's supporting Mulcair for one and only reason.

[sabotabby]

I would love to be your snarky convention buddy but I'm pretty sure that my health woes will prevent me from going.

Singh and Mulclair both have abhorrent politics, but Singh is above Mulclair for me because he has absolutely no chance of winning.

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hadn't thought that people would join just to vote for a leader. Ah well - my first choice declined to run. :(

[sabotabby]

Well, not just. But it was a significant factor in why I joined when I did.

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

Me too, and several other people I know. I've been a member in the past, but never very good about renewing promptly.

[sugarmommaless.livejournal.com]

Ditto.

[audrawilliams.livejournal.com]

Tens of thousands of people joined to vote for leader.

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

My first choice is Stephen Lewis. However, since he hasn't entered the race yet, so Nash will be first on my ballot. I liked Saganash, and think he'd be a great deputy leader with Nash as leader - their strengths would balance well.

I feel like Dewar is unqualified for the role based on his level of French. Not finding him especially compelling anyway.

Singh is a joke candidate, so whatever. I gather that he may have a stronger showing than people expect due to organizing in the South Asian communities in the 905 and Lower Mainland.

I like Ashton, but she's really not there yet in terms of leadership potential.

Topp seems like a good choice, and will likely be my number 2.

Mulcair creeps me out, so yeah.

Cullen is probably the candidate I'm the most conflicted on. I was quite impressed by him in the debates I've watched, but I really don't like his plan to share candidates with the Liberals and Greens. The whole 'unite the left' movement bugs me because it works on the premise that the Liberals are on the left at all (or the Greens for that matter, but they're really only relevant in one riding and I like Elizabeth May being there).

[sabotabby]

If Lewis ran I'd back him in a second. I know he has good reasons not to run, but I would actually be really enthusiastic about the party and volunteer and such. I mean, more than I do now. I would also be very enthusiastic about Nash (or Saganash, if he'd stayed in), but I feel like Lewis would have the best chance of being PM.

It saddens me that the one POC left in the race is someone I absolutely can't vote for. He's ridiculous.

I'm leaning towards Topp for #2 as well.

I'm conflicted, because I do think that Harper is so far out there that he needs to be stopped by any means necessary, even if it means a temporary alliance with Liberals or Greens. But such arrangements tend to become permanent, and you just know the Liberals want a merger. And that would be disastrous. Someone who could navigate a balance intelligently would get points from me.

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

rbowspryte and I decided that Stephen Lewis was our pick during his eulogy for Jack, and I'm sure he would have won - possibly on the first ballot - if he'd run. I like the way he gets away with being uncompromising on his progressive values while still being well respected by Liberals. It would've been great for the country if he'd run, but probably not great for him personally especially since he's 74 already.

I've really been noticing the race and gender aspects of the race. While Saganash was still around, we had 2 white women, 2 non-white men (not sure that the term POC is appreciated by many First Nations communities, though I could be wrong) and 4 white men. As far as I know, none are LGBTQ or disabled. Of that group, the 3-5 front runners (depending on the tally you look at) are all white men except for Nash.

I can see good reasons why many of the other wonderful potential candidiates who are women, non-white/POC and/or LGBTQ chose not to run - Libby Davies because she's not bilingual, Olivia Chow for so many reasons and many rookie MPs who need a little more experience first. Stil.

[sabotabby]

When Rathika Sitsabaiesan gets a bit more experience, I'll enthusiastically back her as well (as will lots of people in Malvern, I think).

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she was one of the ones I was thinking of who's a rookie MP now.

[audrawilliams.livejournal.com]

Martin is white! It's so funny to me that he is seen as a POC, just because I've known him for a long time, not QUITE since he was Martin Hill, but close.

Saganash might be able-bodied, but he absolutely has PTSD (for starters) from his childhood.

I wish Megan Leslie had run!

[audrawilliams.livejournal.com]

There are no POC in the race! Martin is a white guy. He was born Martin Hill.

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

Also interesting is this (Facebook link probably only works if you are friends with the poster, which you - Sabs - are) - who used tu and who used vous in the debate.

Nash and Dewar used tu, while everyone else used vous (except Topp, once). There are francophone leftist traditions where people don't use vous in the singular, which Nash may be tapping into. Interesting that Topp did not, though perhaps he held back after hearing others use vous. Mulcair would certainly be aware of this, but not surprised he wouldn't use it. With Dewar, I'd be more inclined to think it's a lack of fluency - when I was learning French (after 10 years worth of Ontario core French), using vous in the singular was very difficult for me - though I could be wrong.

(Link for those less familiar with French pronouns.)

[sabotabby]

Fascinating! I remember running into a passage in a book where someone's leftist creds were established by saying "tu," and it was one of those things that (not being anywhere close to a fluent French speaker) confused me quite a bit.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I hadn't run across it in this context but using "tu" is a common signifier of "in group" membership and not confined to the Left. Graduates of St. Cyr, for example, do it.

[queerasmoi.livejournal.com]

Heehee. I twitpicked it too, for those who can't see my FB:
http://twitpic.com/8s2p0z

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

Ahh, missed that one! Still, a really interesting analysis.

[queerasmoi.livejournal.com]

Voting round-by-round on the day of, so a full ranking of seven is not likely to be necessary.

First ballot: Cullen. I like him. He's engaging and likeable. His French is not the best but it's charming and very confident (as was Jack's), and that's exactly the quality you need to rapidly improve. I am also in general quite allergic to being deep in the belly of the beast of partisan politics. The kinds of people who hate the most fiercely on the "Cullen plan" are often the ones who scare me out of political parties. So really, he's a natural choice for me. But I do not expect him to win.

Upon Cullen's elimination: Nash. Everywhere she goes, she is followed by large packs of gorgeous gay men. Aside from this obvious benefit, she has good policies and I agree with her characterization as "une rassembleuse". Her French is not that engaging but it's competent. A Peggy Nash cabinet could easily include Mulcair (who, freed of the leadership race, will know it's his duty to keep doing some solid work in Quebec towards the 2015), Topp (he's someone you want on your side in the end), and pretty much any of the party's brightest stars.

Now, I fully expect the most likely final two will be Mulcair/Nash. I have serious doubts that Topp is a front-runner in any way, shape or form. But I could be taken by surprise. What if a Nash elimination leaves Mulcair against Topp? Brian Topp puts me to sleep. He has nice ideas but he cannot lead the party. Or Dewar, for all the respect I have for him, who would be the death of NDP support in Quebec?

So if Nash is eliminated my vote goes to Mulcair. I have met him, conversed and shook hands with him a few times. I very honestly believe he is compatible with the left wing of the party. (My MLA Jenny Kwan is supporting him. Jenny Kwan! For three years she was the only left-winger on Vancouver's city council. And she was one half of the provincial NDP caucus after Gordo swept the legislature in 2001. She is most definitely on the left of the party.). Topp is likely to be persona non grata under a Mulcair leadership, but I am okay with that - send him to BC and he can work on our 2013 provincial election.

A Mulcair cabinet would likely see Peggy Nash in a powerful position such as Finance, Treasury Board, Foreign Affairs or such. Mulcair's present line on Israel, almost verbatim, goes "My policy on Israel is the NDP's policy, and the NDP's policy is...". Well I can live with that. I've heard a few people ask him free-trade questions too, and his response basically is that we first have to make more assertive use of the rights we do have under existing agreements, and that any re-evaluation or new negotiation of FTAs would require a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits - that's perfectly rational and I can support that. The last thing I want to see the NDP do in power is drop a big policy that sounds good and fails awfully in the implementation - that's the story of the BCNDP in the 90's.

[sugarmommaless.livejournal.com]

I hate all the NDP robodials I'm getting. Almost makes me not want to vote. Only almost.

Paul Dewar is my MP and I just assumed that I would vote for him but the more I here him talk / read his annoying emails the less I want to vote for him. If he was Leader then the party wouldn't look very professional or appeal to people who aren't already devoted to it. I need to figure out who I do like, though.

[sugarmommaless.livejournal.com]

Oops. Pretend that last paragraph isn't in italics.