Seeing the red handwriting on the wall, this evening Dexter spared himself hours of suffering at the hands of televised party flacks and professional entrail inspectors. He went instead to a movie, "Starsky and Hutch", which he deemed a worthy giggle-fest and came home to find that after millions of votes had been cast, a Liberal minority had replaced a Liberal majority. No surprise there -- the scary Liberal and NDP ads had worked well enough to keep the Conservatives from power.
What was surprising was the look of glee on the face of Paul Martin. The last time I saw a similar expression, it was on the visage of O.J. Simpson who was just coming to terms with the jury's verdict. Can this capering doddard be the same Paul Martin whose party had just lost 33 seats, seen the revival of a credible right-wing alternative, witnessed a record vote in his home province for the party who wishes to destroy his country, and who finds himself slated to spend the next two years as Jack Layton's love-slave? Never has the sheer delight at the acquisition of power been so plainly written on a Canadian politician's features.
I urge those conservatives who are blubbering in their beer to consider some positive outcomes of the 2004 election. It is true that blots on the democratic escutcheon such as Hedy Fry and Bill Graham were returned to Ottawa. But look on the bright side: No more Svend Robinson. No Olivia Chow. No Glen Murray. No more Shelia Copps or Ethel Blondin. No Joe Clark.
The new left-wing coalition will be fun to watch. The Conservatives with their greater numbers will have plenty of opportunities to hold Liberal-NDP feet to the fire and allay some of the overwrought fears that were engendered in the campaign. The lack-wits who ran the Tory media campaign and who failed to respond to the around-the-clock televised accusations of extremism will be taken out and shot and a new team prepared to put sensibles policies before the public will take their place.
The real question is whether the ruling gangsters have been truly scared into good behaviour or whether they believe themselves invincible. The look on Paul Martin's face seemd to suggest the latter. The fun is about to begin.
Posted by Dexter at June 29, 2004 01:14 AM