Taking a ‘Principled’ Stance by Supporting All Sides of an Issue

Seeing as Andy Fletcher has been doing a bang-up job critiquing our current governing regime, I didn’t ante up a post commenting on the NDP’s handling of the smoking ban as it pertains to native reserves. Many pundits saw this as a pitiful attempt to appease all parties involved without seeking active resolution of the issue. Unfortunately, Mr. Doer is loathe to realize that being in government sometimes means you must, well, govern.

Judging from the Blackberry Addicts’ latest post, playing to everyone and taking a stance on nothing seems to be the new NDP norm in the runup to the forthcoming provincial election. You see, the BBA’s support the mission in Afghanistan but draw scary Harper-as-Bush-war-monger analogies at the same time. They are trying to portray themselves as moderates to the more Liberal minded Manitobans while simultaneously trying to save face with the more “grassroots” NDP crowd:

‘O'Connor's statement shows how much affinity the Conservatives may really have for wacko Republican agendas, like foreign policy.And besides the disgusting suggestion that anyone who questions our Afghan mission is enabling terrorism (or indeed, perhaps is some sort of closet terrorist), O'Connor should read the polls.’

Given that line of reasoning, the BBA folks must be aghast that our own beloved Rick Mercer, Canada’s master of moderation, has turned into a Republican of Rush Limbaugh proportions:

‘Speaking of the short bus I see that Jack Layton has distinguished himself on the international front by coming up with a solution for the Afghanistan situation. Jack is calling for peace talks with the Taliban. About time the NDP get back to their more loony roots. For a while there they were coming off all semi-sensible.’

In closing, the BBA’s sign off with this piece of advice for Gordon O’Connor:

‘Take care, sir.’

If the NDP are going to make a habit out of playing to everyone and appeasing no one, I suggest they heed their own words of wisdom. Even the most malleable of objects, including swing voters whose lack of political convictions allow them to change their votes with the efficacy of changing clothes, have their breaking point…


Motivational Tunes:
Alcatrazz – God Blessed Video
Ministry – Revenge
China Crisis – Working With Fire & Steel
(a decidedly 80’s vibe)