Pecksniffery- good word.
For what it's worth, I pasted and posted lenny's post.
As for SK., unfortunately it is almost certain Kate's beloved yahoos will form the next government. Woe is us. As Calvert once observed, the right-wing alternative (whatever they call themselves this week) doesn't believe in government, and every once in a while they get elected and prove it.
The truth is, you're probably right. The seemingly endless din of smugness and na-na-na-na-na silliness emanating from SDA may just be a case of premature triumphalism. But it's so damned contentless. Now, for example, they're making a big deal of an NDP website glitch. Pretty soon they'll be saying, "Lorne Calvert's mother dresses him funny, and his wife is ugly."
This is what passes for political commentary these days at award-winning Small Dead Animals.
On the other hand, I wish I had something to do with Calvert's re-election strategy. Attack ads were imported from the US by the Tories, and are out of place here. They dumb down political discourse, and Canadians instinctively object to them. It's a bad miscalculation not to run on one's record and one's plans for the future, but instead to spread scary stories about the other guy. Canadians (rightly) get suspicious about that sort of thing. If they don't change course soon, Calvert's NDP is going to pay the price.
So, as a regular at SDA, who doesn't live, and has never lived, in Saskatchewan, enlighten me please, without bias, if that's possible, on how well Calvert's run that Province.
SDA does tend to give one the impression that it's a vast, underexploited wasteland, and the MSM here in B.C. limits its reports on Sask to football games, Lions/ Roughriders.
I dunno, dmorris--I'm from Ontario. But if his only "mistakes" are website glitches, non-apparent digs at speech impediments, risible claims of subliminal seduction and invented encouragements for under-age drinking, I'd say he's doing OK.
Dmorris,
I'm also from Ontario, so take what I say with the requisite grain of salt, but I am of the opinion that the Saskatchewan Party will probably win the next provincial election. Frankly, they're overdue. I believe that for a democracy to continue to function, there needs to be a change in government periodically, to shake things up at the top and bring in some fresh blood. I believe this change will be good not only for the people of Saskatchewan, but for the Saskatchewan NDP as well, who could use some time in opposition to "get hungry" so to speak, and challenge the Saskatchewan Party properly in subsequent elections.
From my side of the fence, I would say that the current Saskatchewan NDP have nowhere near the problems of other governments that have gone past their sell-by date (like the Chretien-Martin Liberals, and possibly the Stelmach Tories), but the signs of lethargy are there. More importantly, the Saskatchewan Party has adjusted themselves and are a credible alternative, in my opinion, to take over for a spell.
But from my view of the fence, the Saskatchwan NDP has served the province well. It was the second province, after Alberta, to balance its books, after all. Unemployment is down and growth is up. The economy seems to still be ticking along. So, on the whole, I'd say under Calvert, the province has been well run.
But it may still be time to change things so it can continue to be well run.
Commenting by HaloScan
