C/C/NET EXTRA: Response anyone?

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Anne posted what follows for the Digest.

When contacted she agreed it be circulated now so those
agreeing or disagreeing with the views she has arrived at
could respond.

There may be among those receiving the Digest those who
are in a quandary as to what to do tomorrow and who may
value thoughts of others in their decision making.

Posts received by 10:00 ET will be posted as close after
that hour as possible - so look for the following in your In Box
then: Subject: C/C/NET EXTRA: Responses.

         Joe
____________________
From: "Anne Dickinson"
To: "Joe Hueglin" <joe.hueglin@bellnet.ca>
Subject: Re: Daily Digest October 12, 2008/Sorry this is so long/edit if you want

Hi Joe-
 
Tomorrow I may do something I've never done before; I may  vote Liberal.
 
It is also something I may never do again.
 
The reason that I might vote Liberal this time is not despite the fact that they are led by Stephane Dion but rather because
he is the leader.
 
This morning Tom Clarke said that many of the big liberal hitters were sitting on their hands this campaign and are waiting for a post election convention when  they will try to install Rae or Ignaiteff as leader.
 
It has to be said they have also been making spiteful and damaging leaks to Jane Taber and others who have been playing them in a never ending loop all campaign.
 
But it is just those big liberal fixers, the win at all cost guys that have kept me from the Liberals all these years.

If DIon is forced out and the usual gang gets back in, then it would be much harder  for me to give them my vote again.
 
Why Dion?
 
According to Doug Sunders in a couple of articles for the Globe, the European Union countries are finding it difficult to deal with Canada as
 there are so many voices, there is no strong central voice that can speak for Canada when it comes to trade and other matters.
 
In another article this Saturday he discussed how Britain had been spendthrift with its oil wealth which came flooding in  during the Thatcher years and was frittered away in spending and tax cuts,leaving nothing for the future in contrast to how things have been handled in Norway and other countries. He suggested a carbon tax was one way of dealing with both the oil money now and for the future.
 
Weakening the centre is a Harper policy. Mr Dion in contrast, wrote the Clarity Act and has done other good  work in the trenches for Canadian unity and against the separatists.
  
Frittering away oil money and government surpluses in general has been a hallmark of the Harper government which has spent freely while accomplishing nothing. The Harperites are the last of the true believers who follow the policies of the neo cons who held such sway during the Bush years  and who were  referenced in Margolis' very good article from the Sun (via your DD.).
 
It is no surprise that they have also been pushing hard for deregulation of the banking and mortgage industry, because that is part of their long held policy as is deregulation of the food industry and we have seen the results of that in the listeriosis outbreak and the Walkerton tragedy.
 
Mr Dion in contrast has proposed something new and positive to deal with both the ecology and for increased fairness in Canada's tax system. To support Harper is to pretend that things are always going to be the same now as in the past and then to follow a leader who has no plan and whose response to new ideas, or any ideas different from his own(discredited) ideas is to issue threats and to fire and smear government scientists,inspectors or civil servants..
 
 The closed mind behind the iron hand is not a promising vision for steering this country through perilous times.And who is there to confer with him beside Tom  Flanagan and other ideologues who follow the neo con doctrine? There are few grown ups in his past cabinets and the few there were have now left.
 
There has been a gag order on Conservative candidates, now there is a gag order on Harper himself. And they wonder why people suspect their motives! No feedback. no questions from reporters or citizens in the last 2 or 3 days before the election, a dictate that has been swallowed meekly by Canada's not so fearless press corps.
 
That the Harperites have jumped on Dion for the interview "gaffe"is the height of hypocrisy . Mr Dion has been open and honest with the public and the press,meeting and answering questions through the media and in person many times and very well.
 
 Harper has hidden behind scripted ,managed affairs,. But he still can't completely hide what he's all about.
 
 The Conservatives have cried foul when anyone has the temerity to mention the policies and beliefs Harper has espoused throughout his career.They call it demonizing and fear mongering when anyone dares to repeat the statements that he has made over the years.
 
This campaign the Conservatives have shown everyone what demonizing and fear mongering is all about. Mr Dion has withstood, with grace vicious attacks on his character that have brought this campaign to a new level of ugliness and mean spiritedness. They have been even uglier than the attacks he withstood when he dared to propose the Clarity Bill.
 
Mr Dion has met with and taken questions from Canadian citizens and the press. Harper has appeared only in very controlled circumstance .  He refused to go on Cross Canada Check up unless he could speak for 5 minutes and take no questions. He is the only candidate what would not take questions after the Mansbridge interviews,. That is why the Harper's playing up of the Dion interview "gaffe " was  hypocritical and dishonest. Mr.  Dion has not hidden from Canadians as Harper has.
 
So I find Dion to be brave, honest, intelligent, open to new ideas and not afraid to be accountable to Canadian citizens.
 
I consider Harper to be the opposite, dishonest, secretive, mean-spirited and unable to listen to any new ideas and most alarming, set on an ideological track that has been disastrous wherever it has been tried,
 
Of the options we have today, DIon is by far the best choice.
 
Harper is by far the most dangerous choice.
 
Anne Dickinson

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