Clinton Speech Hits Home

It goes without saying that the speech Hillary Clinton gave Tuesday night was one of the most selfless speeches any defeated candidate has given.

Barack Obama is the king of speeches. The rabbit Hillary Clinton pulled out of her pantsuit Tuesday night was as riveting as one of Obama’s classics, and certainly gave the Democratic nominee a boost.

Hillary Clinton’s speech is important because of its underlying message. Party is far important than personality. I didn’t support Hillary for who she was. I supported her for what she stood for. I can never support John McCain knowing that he would do everything in his power to prevent Hillary’s policies from being passed.

Hillary Clinton didn’t convince all her supporters to vote for Obama in November. But she convinced them not to vote for McCain. The rest is up to Obama.

I toyed with the idea of voting Conservative in the upcoming (maybe tomorrow?) election. I still believe Stephane Dion is a terrible leader and frankly, he has done absolutely nothing in the past 2 years to show me he was the best candidate, or second-best, or possible third-best candidate for the job.

People may argue with me on this point. I always found it interesting to see my friends twist themselves into knots defending Dion. After abstaining on just about every pillar the Liberal party was founded on, I think leadership is definitely not the word I would to describe the 2 year tenure of Stephane Dion. I simply cannot cast a vote for this man to be Prime Minister.

On the other hand, the Conservatives stand for so many things that make my skin crawl. They scare people into thinking Canada is a crime-filled country. They believe immigration should be limited to countries who only send skilled workers and limit the rest. They lead a foreign policy of isolationism and insult towards many allies. They refuse to silence those in their party that would limit my right to marry.

So many of the things I stand for as a liberal, prosperity, equality of opportunity, social justice will not be top priorities of any Conservative government, as we have seen in the past 3 years. Voting Conservative out of spite would be a betrayal of my values. Most importantly, it would give Stephen Harper a vote he clearly didn’t earn.

I cannot vote NDP, BQ, or Green for the simple reason that by never being able to win, and implement all their wonderful bright ideas, these parties get a free pass. Voting for a platform that will never be implemented might as well be voting for nothing to get done. I cannot do that in good conscience.

So there you have it, Hillary Clinton has put me in the undecided column. It is now up to Harper and Dion to earn my vote. They need to convince me that they will effectively lead the country in a direction that suits my values. If neither can do that, I will still go cast a ballot on election day, but it will probably be blank.

This is How I Felt About Gerard Kennedy

Mind you, Iggynation wasnt exactly any better...

I have to admit, nothing sounds more presumptous and elitist than a one-term senator comparing himself to Moses...

This election was supposed to be about Bush

When the election was about Bush, Obama was clearly ahead...

Now the election is about Obama.

Now it will be close. Hang on to your seats everyone.

Also

FD Prediction Desk is here to make 2 wrong VP predictions.

Democrats:

Who I want: Hillary Clinton

Let's face it, even with all the negatives, there is no larger group of swing voters than disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters

Who will be picked: Tim Kaine

The Governor of Virginia represents generational change. Obama wont pick an old guy.

The problem with Kaine is that Obama would have had to look long and hard for someone with LESS experience than him. In Kaine, at least he is more experienced!

Republicans

Who should be picked: Mitt Romney

This is an election about the economy, and Romney was the economy candidate. His dad was the governor of Michigan, and with Kwame Kilpatrick's scandal and Jennifer Granholm's growing impopularity, the Democcrats may have to spend a lot of money here.

Also let's face it, the right-wing needs some abating, and the Tom Ridge "scare" will make them happy they ended up with Romney.

Who Will Be Picked:

Mitt Romney

McCain has been very smart up until this point. I fully expect him to make the right decision. Massachusetts and New Hampshire share the same media market as well. Therefore, the people of NH are well aware of the success Mitt Romney enjoyed as Mass. Governor.

As my friend Phil pointed out to me, Mormon population may not be huge outside Utah, but in Nevada and Colorado, it is definitely present.

Random Conversations

Meet Adam

He is from Scranton, Pennsylvania and I spoke to him about this past weekend's events in Georgia.

Adam is 23 and will be voting for the second time in November (he voted Kerry in 2004 and did not vote in the PA primary in April)

Adam: Hey Toinz (that is my WoW name, I am aware I am a dork) is it true that Russia invaded some other country

Anthony: Yea Russia invaded Georgia

Adam: No dude im serious, its all over the news

Anthony: lol no man Georgia is a small country near Russia, used to be part of Russia during the old communist days

Adam: oh lol I thought you were saying he invaded the state of Georgia.

Adam: so is this important

Anthony: Well sorta, Russia used to be a big superpower, and they have been itching to throw their epeen (it means ego) around and have all these planes and guns to do it.

Adam: Can that be bad for the US?

Anthony: You dont want Russia in any form of pissing contest. They can do quite a bit of damage. First its a small country like Georgia, then it could be Ukraine.

Adam: Yea I read that Mccain said that

Anthony: yea hes kinda the expert on that kind of thing.

Adam: did Obama say anything

Anthony: well obama was on vacation but it took him 3 statements to catch up to mccain with the severity of the answer.

Adam: he flipflopped?

Anthony: no

Anthony: he played it safe at first and as it looked more and more that mccain was right, he "clarified" his statement but really he kind of screwed up cuz it took him 3 days to get the same answer as mccain and mccain had his statement out before Obama had his first one

Adam: lol so he wasnt prepared

Anthony: he was on vacation dude

Adam: yea like Bush in crawford lol

Anthony: you sound like Fox News

Adam: nah dude

Adam: its like Hillary said, at 3am, Obama wont know what hes doing.

Anthony: Yea but John Mccain goes to sleep at 530 at night lol

Adam: come on dude i know you dont want obama to win

Anthony: ya dude but my vote counts as much as the 200000 people in Germany

Anthony: and I dont really care who wins at this point. i got it in my head that Hillary should have won so ill just watch and laugh at both of them.

Anthony: just promise me youll go vote in November

Adam: yea I think im gonna vote for mccain but its early

Anthony: well dude you have 3 months

Adam: yea i guess we'll see

Stephane Dion Takes the Bait!

So, apparently, Stephane Dion is also taking a well-deserved break after travelling the long and hard barbecue circuit.

He wasnt there at the Marc Graneau launch tonight.

BUT, for all you election junkies, I did find out that Dion was indeed on vacation, at his cottage...wait for it...

FISHING

So lets recap...

Stephane Dion muses about election

Stephen Harper says "Fish or cut bait."

Stephane Dion goes fishing...

Quebec Lieutenant AWOL

I know Westmount Ville-Marie is going to be a solid Liberal hold on September 8th. I doubt any Liberals are really losing any sleep over it.

Some of my journalism colleagues are interning for one of Westmount's local papers, and the campaign thus far hasnt been exciting.

However, Saint Lambert is by far the more important of the two Quebec by-elections. There is definitely enough federalist votes to win as the Bloc will not cross 40%. If any of the other parties can rally the federalist vote, as Yolande Thibault did in 1997 and 2000 for the Liberals (one cigarette break at a time...) then it is definitely possible to do it again.

So with one major test ahead of her, where is Celine Hervieux Payette, Quebec Liberal Senator and chief electoral organizer in Quebec?

She is on vacation, nowhere to be found.

(Insert joke about Senators on vacation here)

Jokes aside, I think it is a sad state of affairs that the Quebec Lieutenant is on vacation when her most important event of the summer has just gotten underway.

Especially with rumors of a candidate struggling under the spotlight, the Quebec Lieutenant needs to be there to reassure her candidate that she will be just fine, and help take the riding back for the Liberal Party.

Celine Hervieux Payette once said things cant get much worse for the Liberals in Quebec. I believe many Liberals thought she was trying to help them get better.

Paging Jan Wong

So crazy ethnic man savagely decapitates a dull normal on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba.

Clearly Manitoba makes you want to randomly murder people on buses...