Politblogo

A note on the NDP victory in Outremont

I used to write a lot more about this sort of thing, but real-life demands and the fact that, well, I live mostly in the USA has reduced my output rate on this topic; but I thought I'd make a brief comment on today/yesterday's federal by-election victory of Thomas Mulcair, the NDP candidate in the Québec riding of Outremont, over all the other candidates, most especially the Liberal candidate.   For my US readers, the NDP is the most left of the federal parties that can get significant numbers of seats in the Canadian House of Commons, but has never formed a government and is mostly the vehicle of anglophone labour and other left-associated anglo activists.   This victory is historic, because it is only the second time ever that an NDP candidate has won in a riding in Québec.

Most of the Canadian media is predictably fixated on the failure of the Liberal Party to keep a traditional stronghold, as this will reverbrate through the structure of the party that is currently the main opposition party, but usually the governing party.  It calls into question the competence of its leader, a man who is, in his policy positions and history, hardly the Liberals' worst chief.  That and other losses by the Liberal Party may lead to an election in a few months. 

But I think the Idealistic Pragmatist is correct in her belief that there is much more to the story.  Political savvy, effort, and good fortune on the part of the NDP are and will be downplayed.  Yes, it's true that Mulcair had a history in Québec that made it more likely for him to win---but that's politics.  The NDP was able to seize the moment.

More importantly, there's another story underlying this that is worth mentioning.  That the NDP can win now, in a race against the Liberals---and that it might even be possible for the NDP to keep this seat in a general election, as well as the poor showing of the Bloc Québecois, the sovereigntist party that is also the place where the Québec left tends to park its vote, is to me further evidence of the political shift that's taking place in the province.  The sovereigntist movement made a critical mistake over the past several years, in which it became apparent that it was possible to decouple leftist and socialist politics from the liberatory movement of Québec nationalism.  This undermines a philosophical and electoral mainstay of the movement to independence---the promise that sovereignty also poses an opportunity for progress in economic equality.

I CAN HAS BATHTUB?

The Grover, he is winning.

So, I love to get snippy with DKos.  But with things looking up for the Dems, it looks like the stifling conformism is relaxing a little bit. And, truth be told, some of the "diarists" at that site have been consistently informative for years.

One longstanding diarist, bonddad, has commented on finance for some time now.  And he writes that the next US president, probably a Democrat, is probably going to be hobbled economically.

Democrats have high hopes for the 2008 election.  And they should. Bush’s policies have done an incredible amount of damage to the Republicans.  It’s doubtful they will recover anytime soon. But should a Democrat win, the fiscal mess left by Bush has already predetermined the next president’s primary policy goal: to clean-up the mess Bush is leaving behind.

He then quotes some very scary debt figures.

Canadians will know to be very wary of debt scaremongering.  If there's one thing this country learned during the previous Liberal government(s), it's that it's surprisingly easy to dig oneself out of rather deep holes.  Canadian writers such as Linda McQuaig have built careers out of pointing out the artificial nature of debt and deficit numbers and their propaganda value in media-popular victim-blaming schemes, whereby the weakest are accused of soaking up and squandering our valuable resources and left to fend for themselves.

Certainly, any drawdown in US forces in Iraq will have a noticeable effect, for instance.  Reversing some of the tax cuts, another.  And so on.

But even this long in hock has had an effect, and the patient---the prospect of a decent social welfare schemes in the USA---is still partly drowned in Grover Norquist's bathtub.  Perhaps not quite the way that dear old horrid Grover intended it; he entertained, at least publicly, the fatuous thought that it might be brought about by spending cuts on the meagre redistribution schemes for the poor, or something like that.  But by the only way it could: coercive wealth transfer to the powerful.

Principle sometimes pays

Via Firedoglake, this is the YouTube video of Barbara Lee's speech to the US Congress in which she registered her dissent against the Authorization for the Use of Military Force in Afghanistan on September 14, 2001 (so yesterday was its anniversary).  This AUMF is where it all spiralled out of control and ended up where we are now.

For what it's worth, here's John Edwards

So John Edwards paid for a 2-minute spot to give a counter-speech to Bush's predictable speech last night.  Found from *sigh* kos,

*I like this word just for the ess-tsett, of course.

Musical Friday, the binary solo edition

Just to get Donald Trump's visage off the top of the blog, I bring you "The Humans Are Dead" by a New Zealand comedy group called Flight of the Conchords.

As usual, the Onion delivers

In The Know: Are America's Rich Falling Behind The Super-Rich?

Via the comments at Sadly, No!

Ramadan mubarak

Today (actually last night) is the first of Ramadan, A.H. 1428.   I just had the dawn (sehri) meal.  It was largely cereal and junk food, washed down with reduced-sugar lemonade (on sale!) and a large quantity of water.  I won't eat or drink for about 14 hours or something, and then at around 7:30 today, I will have the evening iftaar breakfast.  This will go on for about 29 or 30 days until Eid ul-Fitr.

Some people already started counting Ramadan because of the usual inconsistent disagreements about when to start it.  Saudi Arabia had an early moon-sighting, whereas I gather that the Islamic Society of North America is using astronomical calculations rather than the traditional way.  Most North American Muslim organizations are following suit with ISNA, but not everyone goes along with this.

Anyway, l'shana tova to my Jewish readers, some of whom are celebrating Rosh Hashanah/Jewish New Year.  Probably not coincidentally, this is apparently also Ethiopian New Year for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians.  That I found out a couple of days ago during the DC outing with Chuckles that is the subject of my previous post.

I have shaken the hand that annoyed Tucker Carlson

I went on a trip to DC, and today a new era in world history has begun.  I have met Chuckles in person!  This momentous event sent a cataclysmic  of mystical energies through the ether, the magnitude and significance of which you may never comprehend---but they will affect you!  And it did involve eating delicious Ethiopian food.  Awaze tibbs, mmm mmm.

(My Canadian readers wouldn't know who I'm talking about or his significance to human history, so they might want to read the Coles Notes version here.)