One economist and four communists. What's there to debate?

You only come to that conclusion now?

Yes, Elizabeth is batshit crazy.

And the format sucks. There's constant interjecting whenever Harper is talking and he can't get a word in edgewise. It doesn't help that he's sitting next to that Lunatic May. I laughed out loud when Dion looked straight into the camera to talk to "us" (like Paul Martin did). He's such a goober.

Thank God they are moving off the environment. The last section was stark raving mad.

But my goodness, the next question is like something out of a sensitivity session, tell something nice about the person next to you.

Duh!

And, it looks like they are ganging up to try to stop Harper.

Interesting that Harper is not interrupting, is looking kind of docile.

Also, Harper didn't use his touchy-feeling moment to say a nice sentence about Jack Layton and then use the rest of the time to bash him.

OMG... she thinks Harper is a good father and his kids are sweet???? I want to stick an icepick in her eye.

It is like a zoo with all most of the monkeys talking at the same time. Most of the questions are shallow. May thinks that the world is in great danger because our small country is not cutting it's CO2 output.

Mr. Harper was the only one to show any class on the 'kiss your neighbour' segment.

Is it me, or does the Harper translator sound gay?? (Not that there is anything wrong with that)Yet, the Dion translator sounds scottish. I'm sure this was deliberate.

The whole debate is "bat shit crazy". How could we expect anything else from the shit headed opposition leaders ganging up on Harper. From what I've seen of it to this point I can only wonder how any responsible Canadian cannot conclude Harper is the only person fit to govern.

Later this evening we'll be hearing who won and we can bet it'll be Layton, Duceppes, Dion and Lizzy doing well and Harper will be the loser. Dion will be said to have exceeded expectations of course since he was in the hole starting off.

Dion is still referring to the Oilsands as Tarsands. Layton is puffed up like a Bantum Rooster in heat, Dion looks flushed, crazy Lizzy looks like she's gathered a few nuts for the winter. The whole exercise is pure crap and the lies and misinformation is flying from the Opposition leaders who the media will quote and sell us as truth.

I laughed when Dion brought up the IRAQ war...wtf...

I notice Harpers translator sounds like a sissy though,,vs, the manly Dion translator

I thought the "Say something nice about the person on your left" section was interesting to watch. May said of Harper "You have nice kids", and that almost made her ill.

Is it me, or does the Harper translator sound gay?? (Not that there is anything wrong with that)Yet, the Dion translator sounds scottish. I'm sure this was deliberate.

"crazy Lizzy looks like she's gathered a few nuts for the winter." - very funny!

Yeah, those chompers of hers are quite distracting, aren't they? Especially with a mouthful of nuts. (ooh that sounds bad!)

i gave up about 2030 and went outside to have a puff. this has to be the worst(if thats a word), debate i have ever watched. the moderator stinks, he has no control at all over the session. 4 against 1. hardly partisan. what a farce.

I'm counting how many times the Treason-ist says "US style"... I'm up to 14. Throw in a few Bush-isms... same old, same old.

Suggest everyone send a message to their MP's/CPC candidates to salute PMSH's calm under fire.

My note to Calgary Centre (Lee Richardson) is as follows. Feel free to plagiarize!

Dear Lee

I have been watching the French language debate for the past (first) half hour. The format is pretty much as expected with 4 speakers piling on PMSH.

Please note that as far as I am concerned, Stephen’s cool demeanour under these trying circumstances is most admirable.

Kind regards

could'nt hack it anymore after about the 2030 mark. the moderator is totally inept. it is nothing but a 4 to 1 free for all. thankfully harper is keeping his cool. what a travesty.

The format stinks. So does the translation. I'd rather hear each one, unobstructed, and have subtitles.

Yes, the questions were intrusive in that they framed the debate rather than letting each leader have his/her own say, up front. (My husband and I didn't even make it to the "make nice" part.)

We were really put off by the four against one format. (Am I the only one who remembers the moderator specifying only "45 seconds" or some other ludicrously small amount of time for Harper's responses and no one else's?)

We were also really put off by the gross untruths being spouted all over the place by the four lefties. I don't know how this can be avoided. But I believe a different format from this very inadequate one would improve things.

I thought Lizzie had a giant pet spider with her. Now I see that it's an ornament on a chain. Nice!

How come all those citizen questions are softballs for the opposition. Very suspicious.

Very boring - most people have tuned out long ago.

By the way the guy who shot up Dawson College was registered.

Dion just fell into Harper's trap. On the idea that Quebec is a nation, Dion said, "Yes, And I'm also a part of that nation."

However, I don't think it will replayed, or commented on CBC 'National.'

Lizzie says'Arts and culture are the heart of democracy",Wow, I didn't know that.

irwin...
does this mean that dionsky is now a tripartite. canadian, french nation and france ? geezus.

It does not matter what happens at the debates as few people watch - what matters is who wins the spin wars afterwords as this what the average apathetic voter hears. Hopefully Ezra will be freed from his cage to slap down a few journos.

Harper's much better in his non-native language than the two French speakers are in English.

Of course, it's a pile-on, have ANY of les autres agreed with ANYTHING Harper's said?

I'm off to Montreal tomorrow, visiting Dion's riding no less!

Another gem from Lizzie" health is about physical,mental and social wellbeing". So if you can't get a date on Saturday night,it is a health issue.Good grief.

Yeah, Lizzie May is certifiable, "the sky is falling, the sky is falling." Raving mad, yet at least 8-10% of the electorate buy the Chicken Little story. Sad state of affairs in Canada that so many people believe in the fraud of Global Warming.

As an aside, Stephanie Dion sure admires his homeland of France, he keeps mentioning it, perhaps Harper should jump on him and ask him which country his loyalties lie?

It's just become clear to me that Liz May has absolutely NO plan in place to ensure the success of the health care system. What a blase, generalized pat answer. Jack can promise increased funding for new doctors all he wants but he'll never form a government so his promises are empty. Harper came off strong on health care.

Layton says he wants a public health care system; didn't he visit private clinics before?

Guys/gals.....please stop insulting batshit! It serves a purpose as guana, something Tin Lizzie,Taliban Jack, and Deyawn can only hope to aspire to. And thank you people for wasting your time watching this "debate" and commenting. Saved me a few brain cells and aggravation.

I find it funny that the moderator is an Aussie...would have been funnier if they made him handle harper's translation.

Anyway, Harper looks calm, as long as Mr Mean stays away.

I just think whoever put in the rule "no touching" must have been a Tory. I am sure they lived in fear of May reaching across and touching Harpers hand, he likely would shot lasers out of eyes.

Anyway, you get a good angle on the attack lines for the all important english language debate.

I think it will be simulcast on the Kung Fu channel with appropriate delays in very low speaking voices.

Good grief...the last question asked how we would 'retreat' from afghanistan...
Liz may just said the mission in Afghanistan was a US led mission and that we needed to make it a UN sanctioned mission...is she aware that it IS a UN-sanctioned mission?

This format sucks. The C.B.C. is working overtime to protect Dion. 1st by giving him a big manly voice. 2nd by having no order in this debate everyone talking at once. Probably had a heads up on the questions. Finally, by putting the english debate up against the vice-president debate with hopes nobody watches. They know if too many people see him it will send his #'s lower.

Harper - we built a consensus to stay in Afghanistan. We were the first ones in power to have a vote.

Zing.

Doctors and nurses... How long does it take to make a doctor? How long for a nurse. What lead times are we looking at. Once they start working how much does each cause to be drawn from the public purse? Yes we need more but there is the lead time.

Oh man, harper is getting pelted, and he's not looing at either his opponent or the camera!! the other leaders aren't even beating each other up!!! its a four on one, he is keeping his cool though!! I don't think this will play well in the media on Thursday before the english debate, oh just heard Jack say George bush agian!!

Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Bush Bush Bush. Constant 4 on 1. This getting stupid, but Harper is wethering the storm well. Its all he has to do to be considered the winner.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears sure don't bring the word statesman to mind.

Soccermom: "Yeah, those chompers of hers are quite distracting"

When I saw a picture of Lizzie May, my first thought was: "man, that dame could chew down a tree".

That's cruel, I know. We should not make fun of peoples' looks.

National newswatch already has a story up on the debate in the past tense. WTF.

Quebecers will notice Harper if he keeps his cool and is able to respond as best possible to the Communist onslaught.

Harper will win this debate in Quebec because:

1) Quebecers hate the NDP.
2) Dion is a buffoon.
3) The Liberals are going to be paying for their Quebec antics for years.
4) Liz May is a nobody with a single plank platform.
5) Everyone but Harper is a Commie.
6) The insinuation that Harper is threatening is falling flat every time PMSH isn't sucked into the Commie trap.

People,

The french debate will only be watched by:

1. A good sized chunk of people in Quebec who understand French and will watch it on a French station.

2. A small number of poly-junkies like us.

They could have used assorted voices from The Simpsons and Sesame Street to do the english translation. It doesn't matter.

It is obvious that the four opp. leaders KNOW that Harper is the strongest leader in the country. They are on the attack. Ms. May is well, just kooky! Bat shit as was mentioned serves a useful purpose.

The "moderator" is a joke. He's losing total control. Harper is being questioned about things and his answers are constantly being interrupted. This is so stupid.

Tuned in for a grand total of two to three minutes,don't need the aggravation.I am glad however that there are those posting here with a stronger constitution than mine,I sure as hell won't seek the MSM's opinions on who did what.By the way,isn't it grand that the french debate is first,pandering to the electorate of la belle province as usual,what a country.

So far no knock out punches to anyone. Lizzy May much poorer debator than I thought she would be. Harper is holding his own cosidering he is not debating in his mother tongue. Duceppe probalby won by a small margin, Harper second, then Jack Layton, Dion and last is Ms May

testing.

I agree with everyone here. Maybe my comments will make it out of the filter . . . (?)

It would be nice to hear from someone on this board who is a French Quebecer as to how this might all play out.

My suspicion, it changes little from where the polls are today, which is the Bloc is down 11 points from the last election.

"OMG... she thinks Harper is a good father and his kids are sweet???? I want to stick an icepick in her eye."

Gawd..thanks for that..I thought it was just me.

Could someone puhleeze put this wingbat out of her misery??? Not with an icepick of course, just keeping her away from microphones of any description...

NN's link was to the cbc. That explains it.

Elizabeth May reminds me of none other than Frasier's psychotic agent, Bebe. I quote from memory:

"She is a chain smoker, aggressive and unscrupulous, melodramatic, haughty, emotionally manipulative, duplicitous, and abusive. She has been known to use bribery and blackmail, and even the murder of animals (and possibly people) to achieve her aims (in one episode, Bebe is implied to have killed a Whooping Crane that was causing bad publicity for Frasier; when Frasier asked if there's any chance she wasn't involved, she evasively replies that "there's always a chance"). Bebe is frequently abusive to subordinates, shouting at service staff, ordering around Daphne Moon, and publicly berating her secretary (Bebe's mother, played by Kathryn Joosten). Her ethics have been said to be able to "raise eyebrows in the court of Caligula.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebe_Glazer

As a previous commentor noted...who cares about the actual debate. It's the "after" party that matters. Harper won this in Spades! Cool, calm and steady. He played this perfectly. Let them attack me and sound like idiots. Truly it was a waste of time, but worth it. Layton almost played it cool. I'll give him second. Duceppe 3rd, Dion 4th (honestly, I can't remember anything he said...kinda like the Peanuts teacher) and Lizzy last (for being crazy)

The only thing that could spice up this lame debate format is a poutine created fart from Mr. Carbon Tax, Cream Puff Dion.

Moderator:

"We'll be going to commercial now, as the candidates adjust their seating..."

"Dion 4th (honestly, I can't remember anything he said...kinda like the Peanuts teacher)"

He's always got that look, like Linus without his blanket.

May does come across as a lunch-room chatterbox more than a potential prime minister.

I'm still not sure why May, who has never been elected to parliament, and whose party has never had one single MP is sitting next to the pm in the debates haranguing him. Especially now that she has come out in support of Dion -- just as Mr. Harper suggested she would a few weeks ago when her participation in the debate was a matter of dispute.

I have to second the comment by anon (9:15) about Harper's translator. Oddly, in the last election debate several years ago, too, the fellow translating for Harper had a lisp and a very high voice. Odd.

And yes, Layton's translator, in stark comparison to Harper's, sounded like a caber-tossing Scot.

Can't they find translators with similar vocal styles to the candidates?

I look forward to the henglish debate for one reason alone,Doinisms,worth their weight in gold.

I refer you to my blog entry dated September 11, 2008:

http://www.erwingerrits.com/?p=46

I said:

Lizzy May did nothing for her campaign today other than having yet another press conference about the debate, saying that Democracy has prevailed. Fine. I actually welcome her to the debate, the country needs to hear what a crackpot she really is. This woman only has crackpot ideological ideas with no tangible plan to implement them.

And it looks like I was right...

"And yes, Layton's translator, in stark comparison to Harper's, sounded like a caber-tossing Scot."

The Scots are heavy Labor party backers, so other than Jack wouldn't know a good Single Malt if it ignited his porno-king moustache, there's some logic to the choice of a Scot.

Thank goodness for the mute button. I used it constantly as I couldn't stand listening to those 4 weasels on the assault of a dignified and so much smarter person. This whole thing was hilarious. Moderator was a hoot. The desperate triplets on one side (didn't they actually look alike) and the moonbat with the yellow hair on the other side of Mr. Harper.
Good grief. Mr. Harper really does deserve a majority but with the amount of people who say they would vote for one of the other 4 - what planet are they from anyway.

Anyone here think Lizzie did enough to defeat Peter on Oct 14. Didn't think so.
I was very upset at the translators. Dion does not have a deep voice, and Harper is not girlish.
Switched to french coverage just to hear the inflections and emotion in the voices to go with hand movements. Cheers to Harper for keeping his cool, even when 4 others tried to get his goat.
That smile reminded me of a chesire cat that just the canary.
Of course the media will say he was stiff, and lost the debate big time and will lose votes.

That should be"Dionisms",although Doinisms works as well.

Anyone who watched this would be aware of the four on one swarm dynamics of the whole silly gong show.

Harper stayed cool, calm, and collected, looking and sounding like a PM.

Exactly what he had to do.

What's there to say? Certainly no "knockout" punches. I thought Mr.s Mat showed her true nature — callous and vindictiveness... all the other stayed positive when asked to say something "good" about the leader next to them... May said that harper's a good father and then went on to call him dangerous. She's a class act. Obviously, she's not ready for prime time. Expect her to do herself in tomorrow night in her native tongue.

May also further showed her collaboration with the Dion, criticizing Harper for pulling out in 2011, even though that's the same policy of Dion.

The line of the night — though unintended — came not from any of the leaders but the moderator himself when he said, "Look at your watches, you'll see time is running out." and then he noted, "I see Mr. Dion isn't wearing a watch."

Watched the debates en français as I have no patience with translators. It would have been interesting to have tried to watch it simultaneously in both languages to see if the English translation was being torqued.

From my perspective, only the PM and Layton stayed on topic for the most part. May (good god her French was painful) always had to bring it back to the sky is falling, except when she was wanting to hand our foreign policy determinations over to the UN. Dion sounded like a pompous windbag - the kind of professors I loathed in University. As for Duceppe, he added about as much to the discourse as May did, only in much better French.

On the National Post's liveblog, the sentiment was overwhelming that the PM had won, mainly through looking like the only adult at the table.

Several times Dion refers to himself as a Quebecer. Harper could not get away with referring to himself as an Albertan because, as pointed out by the separatist irrelevant during the debate, Alberta and Saskatchewan are evil. So are semi-automatic firearms.

missed it, catching the press gallery now.

Lizzie: "Hey, look how great my french is! Harper's a big meanie!!"

"the moonbat with the yellow hair on the other side of Mr. Harper."

She reminded me of a Phd in English Literature who specialized in Derrida style deconstructionism as she tried hard to form a coherent thought that someone may actually give a shit about.

Of course, she also reminded me of a bar maid on the old CTV Pig 'n Whistle who hung around the set way past closing time.

http://www.carltonshowband.com/

Actually, Hannibal Lectern, Dion looks like he may have had a surprise, a fart with a lump in it. The whole thing is a farce, may as well joke about it.
It's Question Period revisited, with the moderator acting as Speaker.

May..(I can eat an apple thru a picket fence) just drove me to distraction! I thot PMSH did a graet job of keeping cool with that crowd of wackadoodles.
BTW,what is this productivitivity that Dion speaks of so often?

"I see Mr. Dion isn't wearing a watch."

Reminds me of an old George Carlin line:

"He didn't know whether to or wind his watch."

Really Sammy, I'd say Lizzy could go one better, and eat a cob of corn through a tennis racket and keep on talking about saving the planet.

Mary wrote...

"Thank goodness for the mute button. I used it constantly as I couldn't stand listening to those 4 weasels on the assault of a dignified and so much smarter person."

I can't agree with that. In spite of not liking what was said, you have to have listened to it all to comment fairly. What's the alternative? Get the "chosen" sound bites and subsequent analysis from the MSM? Not watching is like not voting...those you disagree with are handed control, able to shape the message.

The only thing more of a waste of time than this debate was reading Andrew Potter's lame screed about too many of the unwashed pyjama-losers participating in democracy.

I watched the whole thing. Biased?? Noooo. Mr. Harper was'nt allowed to finish on any statement that he was trying to make. Interrupted, could not even get a word in edgewise. Born and raised in Alberta, I feel sh*t upon. Shut down the oilsands? Are these people that stupid to try this crap again? I am at the point to give up on Canada. I will never go through what Trudeau did to me the last time. We lost everythihng, House, job, and pride. Never Again.

That was not a good debate. Four piling on one, screaming Bush! Iraq!Liar!(or May saying "give me a break" in English), is boring to all but the most addicted political junkee.

I guess Harper decided to wait for Duceppe to give him an opening (after all, these are the only two that actually counted in Quebec debate). It didn't happen (IMO, Duceppe is running his best campaign ever), so Harper just sat forward, listened earnestly to the insults, and was quite prime ministerial.

As was pointed out at CTV, the opposition debaters played nasty, but they ended up with the dirty jerseys.

Elizabeth May proved that only experienced parliamentarians should be in these debates. She doesn't understand what this is about, her bleat about "oh but those are only intensity targets" was a joke. Canadians know that our contribution to climate change is miniscule, so her save the world BS gets her nowhere. Four parties on side of Kyoto agreement (I know that mean Harper sabotaged Mo Strong's dream) is a recipe for disaster (except in Quebec).

Overall, I'd be surprised if this debate changed a single vote. We'll see if opposition continue four on one. What I noticed is that Mr Harper got to do a lot of dialoguing (no complaining, no explaining), so was at the centre of the debate. In that respect, he did great. Not so great when one looks at this as only impacting Quebec. It's doubtful he bit into Duceppe's lead there.

Harper was the winner in that nobody could wound him, and the oppositin morphed into one. He will be in much better shape tomorow night, and look for Dion to continue his attack mode, even more stilted, though. Harper won't bother to fire back; but Jack should, though sadly, being the fool he is, he won't.

Meanwhile, over at the CBC Town Hall, the consensus is that Dion was BRILLIANT!

"Meanwhile, over at the CBC Town Hall, the consensus is that Dion was BRILLIANT!"

All participants in CBC Town Halls are recovering Volvo crash test dummies.

Some weirdo leftist on CBC just attacked Harper for quote "not wanting to attack Oil companies". After watching the entire debate, I feel as though oil companies are the single worst entity in Canada, and I work in it...
Could someone please tell me what the hell "climate change" has to do with youth crime???

The single most pointless event in Canadian politics...

I could only muster 15 minutes or so at the start and then got pis*ed off at the 4 on 1 as well as the format.

If I had my druthers, I'd have a preset matrix of questions, who talks to whom, and in what order. None of this interjecting crap.

Thanks for the great read everyone. I especially liked the Goldilocks and 3 bears reference. How appropos. :-)

Good night.

"not wanting to attack Oil companies"

Since semi-automatic weapons and handguns are evil, Harper and company can attack the oil companies with endless salvos of stale timbits and cedar shakes.

Bias alert...

Rosamary Thompson of CTV, speaking to Lawrence Cannon LIVE, asked him why Harper was ducking questions.

Harper ducked nothing. In fact, he was the most dignified of the bunch... the most calm.

When he needed to punch back, he did and did so quite effectively against Duccepe (whom most matters in the French debate) when he forced him back on his heels on recognizing Quebec as a nation legislation. Duceppe spent his entire time on defending himself... and did so quite poorly.

As well, notice on the crime topic (and throughout the entire debate) Dion would not nod in agreement but did so with Duceppe even though the 3 of them stated the same position. Considering yesterday's decision by the Liberals to help out Duceppe by bringing Iraq into the debate, that's not surprising. Wanting more separtists members of parliament certainly flushed down the toilet MSM claims that he's bullet proof on the unity file.

Dion must have got a 3AM call from Hargrove.

It cracked me up when Dion called Layton a socialist. And, yes Lizzy is a unhinged moonbat requiring more adult supervision. It was interesting thought to learn, for sure, the 4 moonbats would prefer criminals walk the streets again after lenient sentences.

Correction.... Dion would not nod in agreement with Layton, but did so with Duceppe, even though Duceppe echoed Layton's point basically.

I found this in very small print on CBCpravda

Corrections and Clarifications
We originally reported the Conservative government cut up to $45 million in arts and culture funding in Quebec. In fact, the cuts were made across the country.

Elizabeth May's sweater is older than she is

Dion said "there are 50 billion people in China and India". can someone see if he said it or the machoman translator.

if stockwell day said this CBCpravda would be all over him like ugly on an ape.

Say something nice about the person on your left.

Harper on Layton: We have differences of opinion but we're able to work together constructively on important issues like the recognition of the Quebecois as a nation and the residential schools apology.

May on Harper: he has a nice family but he's an autocrat and he's taking the country in the wrong direction.

Too bad she has no class. I was hoping she could do better to bleed more votes from the Liberals...

I couldn't stand the translators at all!....so I muted it and went to closed captions. Heh wasn't too hard to take and had lots of laughs without the audio irratations. lol

"Dion said "there are 50 billion people in China and India"

Dion got confused with the fake voter's list that we use to dredge up support in swing ridings.

And, if you tell anyone, I'll sue.

Tuned it to the CBC... same as Shamrock said on CBC bias.

Hunter said, "May was great she held her own." Newman added, "Pretty impressive for someone who was there for the first time."

held her own? Was she the target of attack by anyone?

More CBC bias, courtesy from Susan Bonner on The National just moments ago.

Bonner didn't say that Harper attacked Dion for the Green Shift or the carbon tax, she said, "Harper attacked Dion for promising to cut income taxes to offset the carbon tax", making it sound like Harper opposed tax cuts and not just the carbon tax.

Hannibal Lectern at October 1, 2008 10:29 PM:

This sentence no verb.

"This sentence no verb."

The missing verb means "to poop", but has four letters, beginning with "sh"

After watching the debate I went backing to reading "Churchill: A Life" by Martin Gilbert and I came across this paragraph on page 493 about Winston and Jack Churchill's tour of Canada in 1929:' At Calgary Churchill visited the oilfields; after Randolph (Winston's son) remarked that the oil magnates were too uncultured to know how to spend their money properly, he retorted "Cultured people are merely the glittering scum which floats upon the deep river of production."
I like that quote. I found it rather fitting after all of the talk tonight about spending on the arts.

"I found it rather fitting after all of the talk tonight about spending on the arts."

Odd how Shakespeare was never government funded.

Did Dion have a chance to criticize May and vice-versa? Didn't think so, and they wouldn't have had anything bad to say about each other anyway.

What a crappy format.

Thank you for watching.

I'm not watching the debates, nor do I plan to, because the debates are just made up of (4) loonies constantly bashing Harper, and the worst of the loonies (You know who, the crazy one), just sucks, period.

Hot on the heels of this comes a "plaigarism" charge on Stephen Harper. All of five years ago.
The old liberal weapons of "gotcha" have gained them many a trophy in the past.
For too long, certain of the public have been lead to believe that "gaffes" mean a very important part of public discourse.

Surely it is about time for this pouncing on some obscure "fact" to be relegated for what it is.

Political manouvering.

I notice the news up here in Sault Ste Marie from Sudbury. The Independent candidate David Popescu was at a High School to debate. He was asked about homosexual "marriage". He said homosexuals should be executed.

A woman contacted the police. In true Dorightian tradition, a grave official said it would be looked into. This in a city where the amount of crime is now (per capita) quite high. Robberies of convenience stores, a homicide or two and arson.

I do not suppose Mr Popescu really meant what he said. A jolly good old hissy fit will be now be had by all (the usual suspects)

At the prodding of the CBC, Harper complimenting Layton. The most revealing moment of the night.

The Liberals are in a lot of trouble.

I didn't like that they were sitting in a round table format; when Harper was talking the camera was pointing at his back - and then the media has the nerve to say Harper did badly??

Harper looked calm and like he was the mature statesman that he is,the rest looked like dorks fighting in the hallway after class.
And for lezzy May, she could put beavers to shame with them chompers,although beavers are more constructive than her.
I noticed deyawns new look with all that makeup on now he really looks like a dummie.
Layton? well he has many dreams of being in control of the public purse,he knows exactly how he would blow every penny of it and he wouldnt give a s@#t about mom and pop at the kitchen table
And the sepratist well his days in parliment are soon to end.

Why in the hell did dion need a transl.... oh ya forgot!

The format was choreographed by the network libs to cast the PM's appearance in as dim light as possible, to wit:
(i)Have the so-called moderator face the main camera throughout, and have Mr. Harper in rear profile;
(ii)Have the sissy translator for the PM, and the sonorous Scot for the milquetoast Dion;
(iii)Have Dizzy Lizzy right next to the PM, so she could be the most maximum disruption possible; and,
(iv)Change the usual format to a round table, which minimizes the PM's gravitas and equates the limp noodle professeur with him.

Despite all these machinations, it must be galling to these socialists in the media that a conservative leader is going to win on the 14th.

I saw 3 PLL who would be poor applicants for a Civil service Job... They sure know how to spend Money.

Jack Layton needs the help of an Organ Monkey to generate the wealth to fund his kitchen budget plans. Actually the Organ Monkey could take his economic questions..

The Moderator failed to ask Dion to answer the question about the Price at the PUMP. He let him get away with Green shift BS without explaining what that plan will do to the price at the pump. Dion’s Green Shift will increase the price beyond belief, but I guess he "then" has a plan to take over the Oil Industry

May??? Who cares what that "One trick pony" thinks..

BTW: Why are Canadians so eager to follow, or NOT, other Countries... United Nations Etc. Don't they have any pride or confidence in their intelligence or ability to run a democracy.

The English feed with the translators was unwatchable. I watched on SRC in HD, had to get my tax dollars worth on that channel, which will never be flipped to again.

If Quebecers were watching, then this was a big victory for Harper. He was calm; his French was natural; his points were clear; and three of his opponents acted like complete buffoons (Layton was OK in temperament). I've never seen political leaders appear so desperate and flailing as Dion and Duceppe. Duceppe clearly looks like he knows his jig is up. Intellectually bankrupt. Dion looks like he doesn't know his jig is up. That's even worse.

The format was like sitting around one of Jack's kitchen tables. Jack looked at Harper stunned when Harper was talking about the economy...he had no clue. Jack was so phoney with his tender voice and face trying to be Obama. Was waiting for the Grandmother story.Thought he was going to shed tears. He was trying to get the MULRONEY knock out punch but was in over his head. He was an idiot.
Dion sounded like he had the questions ahead..looked TAN...?? and had nice color in his background.
Duceppe was his usual know it all self...Lizzy Mae should of wore a blazer...
Just 4 losers attacking the prime minister and he had 40 seconds to answer 4 people while being drowned out. Harper looked like he was thinking..." What am I doing here with this bunch of idiots?" BUT he grinned and beared it...Think this will play in his favor though with the voters.

Just sent Harper a hundred bucks to help deep six the Green Shift.

Cbc had Jean Lapierre give his take on the debates. To no one's surprise he thought Dion did very well. Cbc forgot to mention what Jean did for a living before becoming a cbc hack though.Oct. 15th would be a good day to get a very big broom out and clean up that rat nest.

Ok, I shouldn't lower myself to this level... but (not so) Thin Lizzie could chew through a door!

Well, I watched lots of the debate and there were some really brilliant moments. Duceppe ranting about "14 years old and in prison" and PMSH said that the head of the Victims Relief and the head of the Quebec Provincial Police, both agreed with him. Duceppe almost fell over. Very cool moment.

Thought that PMSH absolutely dominated each time he spoke....mind you he didn't have much competition.

Happy Brew

I am surprised I don't see more anger expressed here.

Although I have been generaly dissappointed with Mr. Harper's rule, he is still the duly elected Prime Minister of Canada. I could not stomach watching more than a minute of what amounted to repetitive dogpiling.

His treatment tonight was f*cking shameful.

Good reminder Free Thinker. I'll do that tomorrow, have been too busy the last few days and forgot to drop off some money for my guy John Weston, Powell River/Sunshine Coast (plus Whister and North Van)

Pat

The MSM can't die soon enough, after watching Count Floyd and that liberal theif Jean Lapeeair and their eulogy of Harper in the french debate coupled with that boobshill, er I mean bombshell of a book by Julie Cowiiiard story, well Harper might just as well run back to the TAR sands of ALBERTA. Are you people in Toronto really that stupid to not see through your CTV CBC and the pathetic newpapers you have there? This is so much blatant hate, your news sources should be brought before the Human rights Ceasars on a hate crime against Steven Harper. Why don't you people embrace success like westerners instead of wallowing in mediocrity by voting liberal or ndp.

My thoughts, as posted on my site earlier:

I just wasted2 hours watching 5 monkeys frig a football. High point: Watching Lizzie May seethe as she was forced to say something nice about Harper. Low point: Watching them play the "I'm more socialist than you" game.

Tomorrow I get to watch those same 5 monkeys frig the same football for another 2 hours. Only in English! WOOHOO!!!

Actually, screw that!

I'm gonna watch a monkey throw poo at a pitbull on CNN instead...

truthsayer

Doctors and nurses... How long does it take to make a doctor? How long for a nurse. What lead times are we looking at. Once they start working how much does each cause to be drawn from the public purse? Yes we need more but there is the lead time.

Having worked in the post-secondary system for about 20 years, and with the medical system for the last 6 years, I could give you a rough estimate.

We don't have enough existing spaces to do the training, so we would have to build. That would take about 3 to 5 years for a nursing school and closer to 5 to 8 years for a medical school. Costs for the nursing schools would be in the $1.5 to $3 million dollar range. A medical school would be more in the $50 million dollar range with all the specialized equipment and labs.

The first cohort of nurses would graduate 4 years after the opening of the new schools. The first cohort of physicians would graduate about 7 or 8 years after opening if they specialized in Family Practice. We would also need to expand the current number of internships, not a trivial task either. We'd probably also have to build a few new teaching hospitals as well, just for good measure at a cost of a few hundred million per hospital. Then we would need to find places for them to practice and build those offices as well.

So, we would need at least 10 new medical schools and maybe 30 more nursing schools. That would give us another 500 to 600 new doctors per year in about 17 years and another 900 or so new nurses in about 7 to 9 years. Most of them will all want to practice in a major centre, not in rural areas where they are most needed. So we would also have to give them "incentives" to go into rural or northern communitties.

While we're at it, we would also need to increase the number of medical labs to take up all the new tests being ordered by new doctors, so build a few more schools for them and build their labs.

Every new nurse would cost the system about $90,000 (wages and benefits) per year on average. Every new doctor would cost the system around $350,000 per year on average. (Some docs make way more than that, some less.) So, not a trivial amount, considering that health care costs are already at a very high amount in every province.

But its all easy if you never have to put your money where your mouth is.

This is what Steven Harper said . . .

"The fundamentals of Canada's economy are strong"

And this is how the CBC reported it

"Canada is not the United States," he said, adding the country's economic fundamentals are strong and jobs are still being created.

Nice, they used "the country's economic fundamentals are" to make him sound like he was copying GW Bush.

The Prime Minister was fully in control. No wonder our Prime Minister is so admired by foreign countries; he is a Statesman in a league with Winston Churchill and Ronald Regan. The others at the table seemed to blend into a blurr - they were like a murder of crows hovering around a Lion.

Who picked the people who posed the questions?

This debate left those of us who live in the west no choice in this election; Prime Minister, Stephen Harper - the 'others'(Duceppe, Layton, May, Dion) hate us and our Provinces with a sneering venom. For some odd reason, when it was stated so blatantly, it made me feel sick to my stomach.

If you live west of Thunderbay - save yourself! - vote Conservative and be sure to vote.

"I am surprised I don't see more anger expressed here." Canadian Observer.

It's about what I expected and if I was PO'ed every time CBC-Pravda or one of their minions published Communist doctrine or anti-Conservative doctrine, I'd be wound up like a cheap watch. I'm about at the point of wanting CBC gone, TV for sure and I'm heading that way about radio too.

I sent Vince Carlin a note today about the CBC News on the Election (10:00 west coast time) where the entire clip was Dryden in a "Nice guys don't cut art funding, nice guys...ad nauseum.

I might be off base but when a government funded media conglomerate provides free advertising for one party or the other, I think that it's a criminal offence of "Interfering with an election"

Get with the program folks ... 5 (five) participant ribbons handed out ... a new record!!!! for Canadian politics!!!!

wallyj:

CTV also uses Jean Lapierre as a "political analyst" without mentioning he's a former Liberal MP. And, as Gomer Pyle said, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" - Lapierre thought Dion won the debate.

I'm gonna watch a monkey throw poo at a pitbull on CNN instead...
Posted by: Richard Evans at October 2, 2008 1:25 AM

What time is that on? Now, that sounds cool; I love watching monkeys do crazy stuff! Gotta watch that! What'll the pitbull do to the crazy monkey? I'll have to get some beer and popcorn...

Oh, there was a French debate? Four unhinged ultra-far-left-wing extremists screaming at the cool, composed, sane, rational, logical Prime Minister as he tried to say something important? Were there violins playing softly in the background? Sheesh, nothing new there...

I watched the so-called debate and thought it was a disgrace... It was an ambush on PM Harper, 4 idiots of varying degrees dog-piling on the PM...Very undignified and soooo canadian, but what else could we expect when the media are the ones who dictate every aspect of the debate structure. Dion looked like he was going to shit in his pants, and didn't seem to know what the hell was going on, or why he was there. Crazy Liz is there to pile more confusion and deflect attention away from the candidate from France, or the nation of francaphones or some such nonsense...A total set-up, smear job on the PM...just so the media can dupe Canadians out east into thinking Dijon "did really well, and was the clear winner"...what a load of shit!! The MSM are a disgrace.

I watched the so-called debate and thought it was a disgrace... It was an ambush on PM Harper, 4 idiots of varying degrees dog-piling on the PM...Very undignified and soooo canadian, but what else could we expect when the media are the ones who dictate every aspect of the debate structure. Dion looked like he was going to shit in his pants, and didn't seem to know what the hell was going on, or why he was there. Crazy Liz is there to pile more confusion and deflect attention away from the candidate from France, or the nation of francaphones or some such nonsense...A total set-up, smear job on the PM...just so the media can dupe Canadians out east into thinking Dijon "did really well, and was the clear winner"...what a load of shit!! The MSM are a disgrace.

His treatment tonight was f*cking shameful.
Posted by: Canadian Observer at October 2, 2008 1:06 AM

Just like the treatment of Sarah Palin in the U.S. by the American Far Left and its co-conspirator the MSM.

I swear... the MSM and the Left are literally conspiring to saturate the electoral consciousness with not-necessarily-true-at-all "news" such as the utterly defamatory accusations of plagiarism against the PM. The MSM also reports all over the place, all the bloody time, day after day, the same irrelevant, repetitive nonsense making the Tories look bad while refusing to give the same overzealous treatment to things that make the Liberals look bad, such as the Liberal candidate who was booted for inciting lethal violence against Aboriginals and Stephane Dion's own plagiarism as reported by blogger Steve Janke...

We don't need a front-page headline to tell us that the Left and the MSM are more or less conspiring to bash the Conservatives and PM Harper so as to try to manipulate the electorate's perceptions and opinions negatively against them.

Same as in the U.S.

The electorate MUST understand that the MSM is biased against the Conservatives and take this indubitable truth into account, remembering to take what the MSM says with as much a grain of salt as they do with the blogosphere.

Watch the MSM's audience contract further, their bottom lines to follow...

And watch new, uncorrupted-by-the-Far-Left media outlets form to compete and ultimately nudge them aside.

The People are sick and tired of the incessant attempts to mess with their minds and want reliable alternative sources of factual information and analysis.

Okay, I admit it: I actually watched some of this so called debate on-line(before nausea swept me away). That was the worst political debate I have ever witnessed, in any language.

While I won't comment on Tin Lizzy's french, the words coming out of her mouth just proved the point that she shouldn't have even been there.
And what's with the "no touching" and then the "say something nice about your classmate to yer left" thing?

The Bloc's stand of "we should be rewarded for reducing our carbon feet prints" sounded like the spoilt me, me, me separatists that they are.

The number of Harper=Bush comments got old after the first dozen and that was before the "we hate those guns" and "the misunderstood criminals" chorus.

The only good thing about this whole dog & pony show was that Mclean's live-blogged it and their chatter was far more entertaining than what was going on around the table. All in all, this was truly painful and that was only the half hour I managed to stomach.

btw, the only time I ever try my french is trying to order in a restaurant. I either get served a beer or get my face slapped. I'll stick to english.

What I expect in tonights debate is that May is going to fufill Harper's prophesy that she will endorse Dion.

My advise would be to stay clear of the blast radius of the simultanious Dion-May head explosions.

My husband and I watched the scuffle. He said if he were the PM he would have walked out. thank the good lord he is not, it would have been all over the papers this morning. I've never heard him yell at the TV before. I have to give Mr. Harper credit for keeping his cool, and did it with the slightest smile. Probably thinking what a bunch of a@@holes I have to contend with. This was no debate - it was four attack dogs jumping on a yorkie. Did not like that kitchen table format. I understand this scenario, because I've come to believe Quebecers are defintely different from the rest of us. Listened to the media afterwards. Gawd if Mr.Harper gets a majority then they will all need counciling. The moderator was a useless as teats on a bull, The PM couldn't even finish his answers without that guy jumping in and changing the channel. Don't know if I will bother watching the English debate - believe it will be more of the same. Think I will watch Palin/Biden instead. As someone above said an Economist and four Communist. Only in Canada would they call that wasted 2hours a debate. Who won - well as far as the the pundits are concerned it was ABC

I don't speak french so didn't bother watching. Interesting from many many comments how calm PMSH was facing the 4-1 attack. Isn't that a sign of a leader? On another note, type in the word "french" here and it shows it is spelled wrong. Laughing, don't know what that means but I find it funny.

cheers.

lookout: "Maybe my comments will make it out of the filter . . . (?)"

Yeah, I'm puzzled too. I got THREE messages caught in the filter yesterday. One has seen the light of day. I didn't mention S** or V**gra once.

"The economist and four communists" sums it up perfectly.

And Elizabeth May "YAPS-a-LOT!

I'm still waiting: my comments--with one or two additions--are quite in line with the comments here, so I'm at a loss to know why they're in the filter. I thought they'd be out by now . . .

The "no touching" and "say something nice" are juvenile, elementary school drivel--even in an elementary school! Maybe the moderator, or the MSM producer, used to teach primary grades.

Yes, the PM showed admirable restraint: it occurred to me that walking out was probably on his mind. He's a class act.

I might have met the Liberal candidate in my riding last night. However, my distaste for the Liberals--I mentioned "Adscam" and vote buying--and the rudeness of the canvasser, who dissed Westerners, right on my front porch, ended--quite happily on both sides--that idea.

The vitriol these liberal, intellectual and moral pygmies spew at those who have the audacity to disagree with, and even challenge, them is what’s really scary. Canadians who vote for these jackals must suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, where the victims of vicious criminals begin to identify with them and rely on them: not a smart thing to do.

All The May was held to a relative narrow script last night, given that her french is limited.

She will be a bomb thrower tonight. We saw elemements of it last night, inability to say anything nice, the post debate interview.

Dion is likely to flail tonight if he gets flustered....Is Duceppe there....he shoudlnt be but I guess the justification is that he can speak to unilingual anglos in Quebec.

Jack will be in full energizer bunny mode

I expect to be hammered by the end of the debate since I will take a drink for every mention of George Bush....goodness I think I better refill the wine cellar.

"...I will take a drink for every mention of George Bush..."
Stephen, I like your attitude. I'd probably join your game (with Jack Daniels) but I must confess if the english version is as juvenile as the french version, I'll be watching the VP debate instead. Come to think of it, the Dems are also fond of invoking the blame Bush.

Round 2 of the debates will just be the same as round 1 debates, same 4 loonies drown Harper, and more bias from CBC and CTV...

The NP had some memorable quotes from last night's debate:

"Mr. Layton accused Mr. Harper of being insensitive to the fact that the majority of Canadian artists live in poverty. Mr. Duceppe said Mr. Harper views artists as "spoiled children.""

I say, Boo Hoo Hoo. Cry me a river, you dolts.

And there was this gem from Stephan Dion: "We absolutely must not come back with a government that wants to censor the arts and will intimidate people in galas,"

Amazing. The LPC apparently believes that artists attending galas should not be "intimidated". What a pile of elitist crap. Not much wonder Dion fails to connect with the average citizen.

The filter catches words that many people don't know are hotlisted. It's necessary due to the action of persistent trolls.

So you get to have a choice here - either whine about comments being junked, or whine about me not doing anything about trolls cluttering up the comments. Apparently there's no shortage of people who do both.

Either way, I have better things to do than babysit my junk filter 24/7, so if you have a comment trapped, try rewriting it. Otherwise,take a pill. It isn't that important.

The absolute best moment of the night came from Dion. The "Thirty Day Action Plan", this from a party that has known and has threatened to have an election for the last two years and yet when the writ finally hit the floor the Liberals couldn't get their "ass" off the ground. Link that with the twenty percent of the electorate that will still vote for this party and Lizzie May is twenty percent right about "Canadians are stupid" remark. If thats the case she's less left than she professes to be.

Kate,
As long as you block new and mos and whatever other name he trolls and misspells under.
Seems an even trade.

"We absolutely must not come back with a government that wants to censor the arts and will intimidate people in galas,"

Two words, Mr. Dion: Mohammad cartoons.

It seems Kate's speaking to me. I'll respond.

Many of us here take our participation at SDA seriously. I believe we are good stewards of this place, which is very important to us. In good faith, we post carefully and, I believe, intelligently. (Losing posts that have taken time, effort, and commitment to compose is not of no importance, as Kate implies.) Some of us have even supported Kate and SDA financially.

All the while, as Jay notes, the impostor provocateur, mos, new, or whatever name of the minute suits him/her, while contributing a great deal of zilch, gets a free pass. I (and many others) have commented on this before. I think that’s really the issue here.

Now, I’m going out—to lunch.

Mmmm...Jack Daniels..

"Otherwise,take a pill. It isn't that important."

Once again Kate cuts to the chase and puts things in perspective. Ya gotta luv that gal.

here's a thought; maybe Kate could get in on the leader's debate. I'd pay to see that bloodbath.

"The others at the table seemed to blend into a blurr - they were like a murder of crows hovering around a Lion."

As far as bird metaphors go, I like "a brigade of buzzards". On the other hand, their shrieking was enough to blow a buzzard off a backhouse.

"It would be nice to hear from someone on this board who is a French Quebecer as to how this might all play out."

Well I'm bilingual and managed to survive the 2 hours without vomiting once.
All that matters from the french debate was who won between Duceppe and Harper. Duceppe was more effective because he could deliver more words per minute but his drivel was all pure left wing and collecting money for nothing from the other provinces (The oil producers of course): Kyoto, carbon exchange schemes, Bush bad etc...
He received his biggest punch of the night when Harper said that the unions of Quebec police supports his crime bill on juvenile.
Another blow was on the Quebec Nation where Harper said the Bloc was the only party that stalled for 2 days before signing on in which Duceppe squirmed and said his party were not given the proper version of the motion(?)...Harper did not do so well with the arts because of the cacaphony and bad moderating which did not give him enough time but will probably get his chance tonight in english.

The rest: Dion, Layton and May might have scored but will only split the left vote which could open some Conservative seats in Montreal and even do the same in some other parts of the province.

All Harper has to do now is concentrate on Quebec for pretty much the rest of the election to counter Duceppe's only campaign ground in which he can flood his propaganda unrelentlessly without balanced rebuttal.
Jacques Brassard's (Ex PQ minister) latest Bloc damning putdown needs to be resurected into a TV commercial and the Tories will get their required majority seats. The current french tv ads are quite powerful BTW. Outside Montreal the Bloc and C's are still tied and they were before the artsy fartsy non issue and juvenile crime bill.

You don't have to take my words for it as I am a Conservative supporter but many will agree here that one Quebec journalist that gets lots of respect and is an expert on Quebec politics: CHANTAL HEBERT: She says Harper won last night!
I'm waiting for L. Ian Macdonald (Another giant in Quebec affairs) to come out with his take too.

I watched the debate in French--for a while--I'm bilingual. I don`t think "Liz" scored too many points in Quebec--mostly because of broken French. The debate was OK--very "civil." Harper speaks very well in French, as does Layton. Tonight is the mother of all debates. Harper swings Ontario--we got her made.

I was disappointed with PM Harper’s defence of his economic policies. He could and should have made a much more forceful case why now is not the right time to impose an additional tax burden on the Canadian economy.

And, let there be no doubt. Just as the GST proved to be a wonderful revenue generator for government, the carbon tax would do likewise.

Whatever its merits as an instrument of environmental policy, Dion's carbon tax is not revenue neutral. And although I live in Ontario, I am concerned that the Dion carbon tax is a massive redistribution of wealth from Alberta and the West to central Canada.

Unfortunately this fact is very difficult for the prime minister af all Canadians seeking votes in Quebec in a French-language debate to say so openly. Hence, the result was a Stephen Harper who looked like he was sucking a lemon.

Elizabeth May and Stephane Dion will never win a seat in Alberta so they don’t care about the distortions that a carbon tax will bring.

...It would be nice to hear from someone on this board who is a French Quebecer as to how this might all play out.

My suspicion, it changes little from where the polls are today, which is the Bloc is down 11 points from the last election.
Posted by: Stephen at October 1, 2008 10:04 PM

Well, I'm a French quebecer ( and a Conservative who feels absolutely no animosity towards English Canadians or americans , yes we DO exist ) and all I can say is that you did not need to know one single word of French to see what was going on;

It was four out of control people all talking at the same time which made it confusing and hard to follow ( and French is my first language! ), and one calm and polite man who waited his turn to speak.

It was four out of control people constantly interrupting and attacking one calm man who was never able to finish his replies and who pretty much never interrupted one of them.

Like many others, I could only take about 45 minutes of the debate, the format was terrible.
I got the impression that Harper was holding back because of the difficulty of trying to listen to 4 conversations at the same time in his second language. Now that he knows their tactics he'll rip them in English.
Was it just me, but did Dion say 50 billion Chinese and Indians want to buy cars? Thats alot of cars.

"It was four out of control people constantly interrupting and attacking one calm man"
+++

From Paul Wells --
in Quebec, this chart
http://www.buzzz.tv/tufte/
logs positive or negative reaction to every instant of tonight’s debate, as reported over the internet while the debate was going on, by viewers.

The alternative is to use the closed caption on your tv with the mute button.

all I can say is that you did not need to know one single word of French to see what was going on

An interesting comment considering what happened to me last night. I live just west of Philadelphia; I was able to pick up 2 Canadian radio stations last night - one from Windsor and one (presumably from Montreal) carrying the debate in French on the car radio. My French is poor because I have not used it since high school but it was adequate enough to know what some of the topics were and sufficient to evaluate the French-speaking skills of Harper, Layton, and May but not strong enough to really follow the conversation.

In spite of my lack of skill with the French language, I listened to the debate for over one hour before I got home and finished it over the internet. My thoughts have been stated above by others. I will only add the following. I expect that no significant change will take place in the polling as a result of this debate. The reason is that the few voters who have not already made up their minds need either a reason to vote for someone or a reason to vote against someone. Harper certainly did not give any fair minded undecided person a reason to vote against him (even if he did not give the same person a reason to vote for him). As I mentioned, I was not able to follow much of the debate, but Duceppe and Dion seemed to give an undecided voter a small reason to not cast a vote in their favour due to the annoying interruption and lack of respect to Harper. In any leaders' debate some undecideds will be persuaded towards this one or that one. Even in the event that some were persuaded to go with Duceppe or Dion, I think the effect will be offset by those turned off by the one-sided impoliteness of the debate format.

Media sources have reported that Quebec voters are more inclined to be influenced negatively by the arts funding cutbacks and that this will cause a shift to the BQ soon to be reflected in the polls. That may be but any change will not be because of the debate.

Gottal love the IPSOS Reid poll that says Dion was the winner (yeah,he gained 100 votes, whew!).

I noticed on G&M, comments mostly favourable for Harper until about 1:00 AM Eastern. Then a deluge of anti-Harper pro-Dion. I guess some people don't have day jobs. These were probably the same bunch IPSOS called.

IOW who cares. WRT polls, let's not forget what happened in Alberta, where Stelmach was supposed to lose or be reduced to minority; instead he creamed the Libs and NDP.

It's clear Harper decided to keep his powder dry last night. He knew he and Duceppe were the only players in this debate, that Tory support in PQ has only dropped in Montreal area where he is not really in contention anyway. All he needs is about 20 seats there to secure majority.

Jack Layton (OK I'm harping on him) is the big loser. Until he wakes up and realized only 8 people in Canada switch from Dipper to Tory, and goes after Dion for Opposition job, he'll be lucky to get more seats this time, and will be very vulnerable to Grit counterattack. (hint: Mr Dion you didn't get it done, you abstained over 40 times, we need a proper opposition to keep Mr Harper in line).

Instead, Layton attacks Alberta, which IMO, will hurt him in west, particularly BC. It was a cynical move on his part.

Harper already has Dion's right flank vote, but Layton, once again, has failed to attack left Liberal vote.

My sense is, despite MSM meandering, Canadians will see 4:1 for what it is, plus Harper will dominate the floor as everybody attacks him.

I can't believe Layton will leave Dion alone tonight, he has a real chance to supplant Grits as second party. But this guy just doesn't get it.

Result: after full court press in Quebec and BC, with some emphasis on Atlantic Canada, following debates, Tories will move into majority territory, assuming they're not there already.

Tory attack dogs will go after Dion and his 30 day plan (yeah, to have meetings with, gasp, economists), and show he has no solution and is still trying to figure out what to do. He sounds more like a panicking day trader than an politician vying for the PM office.

Of course, CBC has already declared Mr Dion winner of the english debate.

Actually, Jay, the only way I can "block" that specific poster is by manually searching for their posts and deleting them, which come in under different names and ip addresses. Furthermore, I seldom read all the comments here - it's impossible. There isn't enough time in the day to do that, catch the emails, and create new content.

This blog, while supported by many generous readers, does not pay me for the time I commit to maintaining it. So, when I see on one hand, people complaining that they don't like certain commentors and wanting them "banned" (which can only be done through adding keywords to the spam filter), then on the other, complaining that their own comments have been captured and I haven't been quick enough for their taste in releasing them, I get a bit annoyed.

I understand that the average reader has no concept of what is necessary behind the scenes to keep this place under semi-control. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to push back when there are demands for me to improve my performance to suit individual tastes.

With respect, Kate, for all you do--and I'd agree that we don't know just how much work it takes to keep SDA up and running--I don't believe there were any "demands" made of you on this thread: some frustration, yes.

Your explanation of the problem with a certain poster, who you said uses different IP addresses is helpful: it's obviously not a simple matter to deal with this person. (It seems that Spam filters wouldn't work anyway, when the spelling's so erratic.)

If there's a thread for tonight's debate and I post, I'll use Word to store it and avoid terms like "st*nk" (as in “the format does”), which I think may have resulted in the filter catching my remarks.

This thread has been very enlightening and I appreciate it. Thanks.

I call it "Jungle Politics with a nattering Chipmunk"

We all know that Elizabeth May is the nattering Chipmunk and the rest of the left are monkeys.

Late in on this conversation but and I haven't been able to read all the comments so I'm not sure if this has been discussed:
Was that a 'debate' last night?The format was terrible and would argue that there were 5 hostile people plus Stephen Harper. I could only listen to about 20 minutes and in that short time the so-called moderater interrupted PMSH many times, yet I did not notice him cutting anyone else off.I understood a debate was a very controlled format, timed, very specific as to who would be challenged , and a balance of time to challenge and time to respond. That was not evident in the segment I watched.
Hopefully there is a more organized format with a less biased moderater tonight.

Kate,
Sorry to waste your time. Seriously. Love the blog, love the collection of regulars (mostly)and know that it detracts from your livelihood because of time and money.

I am probably the same as many who already filter out mos/new by scrolling past without reading. Once ya see that mangled english keep on scrolling.

Keep doing what you are doing. A bit of well needed sanity in Canada is what you provide.

I posted at 12:50 a.m. about seeing Lapierre on cbc giving his views on the debate. I was wrong.I saw it on CTV. I hope all the unbiased folks(R.Murphy) at cbc will forgive me....Kate,there is a reason that this is the #1 blog in Canada,and that is you,keep up the great work.

Mental illness is found in all camps of the political ideology spectrum.

We get them at our blog too. Since we don't have the volume of traffic SDA gets, it's much easier and simple to catch nuisance posts that add nothing to a discussion.

Yes, Elizabeth is batshit crazy.

like DUH! It's a shame that she's the sane one of the bunch, excepting PMSH.

I noticed that neither May or Layton managed to comb their hair for the big event. Whassupwitdat?

Soon my conservative friends, the left will unite and they will round you all up and put all of your bad ideas to work, in the mines.
The angry left is in fact very angry, and who will they punish first??? Conservatives.
To be left is not always sunshine and lollipops they have a plan for you.

Whom will the left punish first (sic)? Those this entiltled group always has:

Via its "slow march through the institutions" (Barbara Kay), the left has been punishing those of us on--an in!--the right for decades.