Here's a quick run down of the candidate's performances at last night's Edmonton-Strathcona all-candidates forum at the Myer Horowitz Theatre:
Rahim Jaffer, Conservative - Rahim Jaffer is a seasoned retail politician and handled himself well in the face of a fairly hostile audience. As a veteran politician having spent 11 years in Ottawa, this type of forum is clearly old hat for Jaffer.
Linda Duncan, NDP - She didn't steal the show, but Linda Duncan performed much better in last night's forum than she did in the 2006 forum at the same location. Duncan was disciplined with her reponses and was clearly on the NDP message as she took on Jaffer.
Jane Thrall, Green - Out of all the candidates, Jane Thrall impressed me the most. As a first-time candidate at her first forum, Thrall was well-spoken, succinct with her points, and was impressively clever when she wasn't sure what a Green Party policy on a specific issue was.
Claudette Roy, Liberal - Thanks for showing up. If Roy is a strong candidate, her performance at last night's forum sure didn't show it. After being nominated over a year ago, Roy either wasn't able communicate with the audience or simply didn't have a grasp of what her party stood for. Next.
Kevan Hunter, Marxist-Leninist - If there was a Sarah Palin Award for Preparedness, it would be awarded to Kevan Hunter with distinction. At the beginning of each response, it seemed that he spent half of his allocated time trying to think of ways he could relate his responses to Marxist or Leninist theory, rather than actually answering the question.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
edmonton-strathcona review: the candidates.
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8 comments:
I've voted Liberal all my life. I hate to say it, but I'm thinking about voting Green for the first time ever, because:
1) I'm totally disappointed with Dion
2) NDP vision is a little narrow, and Jack reminds me too much of a car saleman
3) Would rather pass a kidney stone than vote Conservative
4) Green actually has a well-articulated comprehensive platform that goes way beyond saving trees and capturing carbon - people should actually read it before blowing off the party
5) Could they REALLY be that much worse than what we've got?
I'm not a real fan of their leader - she always seems to be clarifying something she said. But since my vote is unlikely to matter much in Alberta this year, may as well pump up the popular vote numbers even if it doesn't translate into seats.
And at least I wouldn't have to hold my nose when I vote.
I would surely hope that people in this riding who are not conservative voters, voted for Linda who has a real chance of de-throning Jaffer.
There is more than one ways of skinning a cat here, and by voting for Linda is better than passing a kidney stone, and also gives some satisfaction that your vote went to a collective good.
Was the Green comment not a reference to this: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/223578_taser10.html
tjk: I don't think Thrall was referencing anything specific as the question somehow tied tasers and abortion together. I think she just came up with it and it's unfortunate that we live in a world where these events actually happen.
Dave: C'mon Kevin had to tie every answer to either monopolies or the other Business parties, on some of those questions he did have to work to tie it together.
Also, having 11 years experience seems to have only given Jaffer the ability to not answer questions and weasel out of responses.
After thinking about it a bit, I think that I would vote for Linda Duncan if it didn't mean that the NDP would get $1.75 out the deal.
So unless the NDP slips me a fiver, I'm voting Green!
Something that resonated with me was the general disrespect the crowd showed Rahim. Even if you hate the man or disagree with his policies, I dont think he deserved to be booed and hissed at while he was giving responses. It's a debate, he should be able to respond to questions fully and, more importantly, be heard by the audience.
The "attack questions" were all fair game to me though... the Greenpeace one made my day.
I thought that the crowd was disgusting in their treatment of Mr. Jaffer and would doubt if he is seen at a campus forum again. His performance was solid, despite the adversity, and Duncan didn't do herself any favours. If anything, the Greens strong performance will bleed votes from the weakened NDP and non-existent Liberals.
I thought that the crowd was disgusting in their treatment of Mr. Jaffer and would doubt if he is seen at a campus forum again.
The rest of your call was pretty off the mark, anon, but you were right on this part--and so early on, too! Kudos!
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