Yup,left wingers be very afraid of this Carl Paladino His nomination developer as the Republican candidate for governor of New York has been described as "self-immolation" by the Republican party after he kicked off his campaign with the classic Mr Angry line from the film Network: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore." Paladino was for many years a Democrat but switched in 2005 and is now backed by the Tea Party movement. He has compared trade unions to pigs wants a review of land restitution to Native American tribes in New York state, and would repeal a state ban on assault weapons. He has suggested that welfare recipients should be housed in vacant prison cells to teach them about personal hygiene and to learn job skills. He has said that Obama's healthcare reforms will cost more lives than the 9/11 attacks. Paladino has offered only a grudging apology for sending racist and pornographic emails to friends, including one of a woman having sex with a horse and another in which Barack and Michelle Obama appear as a pimp and a prostitute. In another, Africans dance under the caption: "Obama inauguration rehearsal." One contains a picture of African men trying to get away from a plane that appears to be about to land on them with the caption: "Holy shit: run niggers, run!" Paladino has said he is "not politically correct" and made a mistake in forwarding the emails to friends but said he did not regard it as any great crime. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/15/tea-party-primary-candidates-gop
Ohh, yeah, paladino, that guy who has bilateral support from republicans AND democrats... "As Joann Root, a Paladino supporter (and enrolled Democrat) from Pine Bush put it; "Who are you to tell us who our choices are?" http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100916/NEWS/9160323/-1/SITEMAP
Hermit, I agree that in another time the Tea Party would be even more of a subject of ridicule than it is now. But when you get enough stupid people together, stupid things can happen. In 1976, Quebec had its provincial elections. The separatist party, Parti Quebecois, had been making unprecedented noises and gaining some ground. Many mainstream voters were "fed up" with things as they were and wanted to "shake things up." And so, playing chicken, a fair number of Liberals voted for the PQ, not because they wanted a separatist party to win, but because they wanted the Liberals to be on their toes with a smaller victory. Well, the chicken got run down and the PQ won. Quebec's economy relative to that of Ontario has never been the same since. The gap widened and remained. Even though the Parti Quebecois is not currently in power, it had won more than once and has remained a force in provincial politics ever since. It runs almost exclusively on ideology. There have been a couple of referendums on separation while they were in power at different times, and the last time it came razor close. As farcical as the Tea Party candidates may be, stupider things have happened in this world.
Wait, this tea party candidate had bilateral support to forward those nasty emails, to oppose abortion in case of rape and incest, to house jobless in vacant prisons? Oh look, the tea partier said nasty things but he had bilateral support from Repubs and Dems once so its their problem too!
Yeah, the PQ lost control ultimately and now look what Quebec has. Quebec is now the biggest shit hole in Canada, with Charest, one of the biggest cronies in Canadian history running the circus. Quebec is now the cess pool of Canada (and the most highly taxed province) all thanks to your treasured liberal party.
Quebec's relative standing diminished after the PQ first came into power. It has never recovered ground despite the Parti Quebecois not currently being in power. Their initial victory had lasting consequences because it created political uncertainty that has diminished the province's economy. Quebec has never recovered its relative standing prior to the PQ's victory. Because of its initial victory, the party has gone from fringe to provincial mainstream. And the next time they come into power, the only certainty is that there will be another referendum on separation. The Tea Party dynamics are not quite the same, but a small wound left unattended can fester. That is my point.
You are worse than the republicans blaming all the economic problems on Obama. You are trying to claim that all these years later that Quebecs problems are due to the parti quebecois' rise to power decades ago, and not to the corrupt cronyism of Charest and the liberal party of today?? You are delusional. The liberal party and it's cronyism is quebec's festering wound. They've had power for what 3-4 consecutive terms now?? And you are trying to blame it on PQ.. ROFL!! Just a question, but if the majority of Quebecois wanted separation why should it not be granted??
You don't know your politics. I am not a fan of Charest, but consider the alternatives. When the PQ won in '76, the province began to lose its economic base as company after company moved its headquarters to Ontario. They never came back. And then there was the need for even greater appeasement of the borderline Francophones who teeter-tottered on the fence regarding separation, with the attendant costs of such appeasement. Hell, there are even "language police" in the province, who make sure that English signs are smaller than French signs. Other languages don't seem to matter, but that Henglish better be smaller. Anyone who once thought Robert Bourassa's Bill 22 was a bit much now looks upon those days as relatively kinder and gentler. Remember what Jacques Parizeau said when he was told that Quebec would suffer serrious economic consequences if the province ever separated? He said, Good, then my friends and I will be able to snap up the mansions in Westmount at discount prices. I'm paraphrasing, but that was his point exactly. No, I'm no fan of the Quebec Liberals, but consider the alternative.
I know my politics. Regardless of all that, it doesn't change the fact that the liberals have had quebec for 3 or 4 consecutive terms now, and quebec is still a dump! Language police and Westmount chateau's aside these guys have had power for a while now and things have continued to deteriorate. The alternative? ANYTHING! Trying anything else would be better than more Charest and the Quebec liberal cronies. Much the same as I said in 2004 when people said they were going to vote for Bush... "well what's the alternative?" I say again... ANYTHING ELSE!! 3-4 terms into liberal politics you can't blame Quebec's current state on the parti quebecois, anymore than republicans can blame all the US' woes on Obama. Nice, how you dodged the question. I'll ask again: If the majority of Quebeois want to separate, should they be allowed to do so? If not, why not?
You may recall that the PQ was doing everything to shroud the issue rather than shining a light on it. They were talking sugar cookies and "sovereignty association" rather than simple separation, which is what they were all about. They were feeding on the stupidity of their base much as the Tea Party is feeding on its own. Oh, and remember when Jacques Parizeau commented on the referendum results being skewed by the Anglophones and Allophones (immigrants) at the expense of the "pur laine" voters. "Pure wool." The "real" Quebecers. The French ones and not the English or the immigrants. With a comment like that, just imagine how they would fare under separation. I'm still waiting to see how it will play out for some of the American states who jabbered about cessation.