Monday, February 06, 2006

Emerson the Turncoat

So, days after being elected as a Liberal, David Emerson changes sides.

With all the Tory gnashing of teeth that went on over Belinda (and the alleged attempted seduction of Grewal), it seems a touch hypocritical now.

But we urge our readers to keep one thing in mind: At least Belinda tried to make it work with the Tories. She ran for leader. She moved in the circles of Tory power and found herself increasingly marginalized. She tried to move the party to the centre (sidebar: I wonder how much of the Tory party now is the party she tried to make it - how many of the ideas and policies she advocated which were rejected are now being used?) and failed. She tried to make it work with Harper and it didn't.

Only after realizing that the Tories were increasingly out of synch with her beliefs and (given her re-election) those of the people in her riding, did she switch.

Emerson on the other hand ran under the Liberal banner. The people voted Liberal. And now, before Parliament even sits, before the seat of Martin's pants are cold, before the smell of Ablonczy's perfume fades from the benches on the Speaker's left, he says, "oh no, well, I think I should go Tory."

Perhaps he conforms to the worst stereotype of Liberals. He just didn't like not being in Government. Power for power's sake.

Disgusting, really.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So much for Reform/Alliance party cleaning up government. No wonder they are all over Dingwall. To deflect the fact(LIAR)Emerson was just elected Liberal, not Reform/alliance and is paid off with a plumb cabinet position to join them. How do we as voters get rid of these people when they do this. Where is the laws for this Harper? Can't wait to vote Harpers butt out of office.

Anonymous said...

Bwahahahaha... Paybacks a b*tch isn't it?

Don't try to insult your readers by saying that Belinda jumped over "principles". EVERYBODY knows why she jumped.

If anything Emerson made a better choice for Canadians by bringing a moderate and experienced voice to the governing party, from a city which up until now would have no representation in government.

Either way, even Stephens. Hope it feels good.

Anonymous said...

Bwahahahaha... Paybacks a b*tch isn't it?

Don't try to insult your readers by saying that Belinda jumped over "principles". EVERYBODY knows why she jumped.

And don't even bring up the "she waited 11 months" BS... She waited for a plum position on the eve of a non confidence vote. If she had such strong principles against Stephen Harpers leadership, she would have made her intentions know earlier.

If anything Emerson made a better choice for Canadians by bringing a moderate and experienced voice to the governing party, from a city which up until now would have no representation in government.

Either way, even Stephens. Hope it feels good.

Anonymous said...

I don't agree with what happened, but there presently is no law forbidding it. I alaways thought David Emerson was an honest man compared to some of his Liberal colleagues. I guess you could look at it as the "future considerations" in the Belinda trade. But I have to believe the conservatives came out on top in that deal. Maybe we should throw in a first round pick or perhaps a "get out of jail card free" would be more useful to the Libs.

Anonymous said...

You hit the nail on the head. "Power for power's sake". That has been the Liberal mantra for many, many years.

Anonymous said...

I think a lot of it had to do with the Olympics... There has to be a minister in charge of it and I don't think it would be good if it wasn't somebody who was actually from Vancouver...

There are no Tories in Vancouver...

So that probably played a part.

Also, if you watched the CBC Town Hall with Harper, somebody asked him the very question of what he'd do about turncoats, and he said that while he's had to face the brunt of several of them, he had no plans to support any law which limits the right of MPs to change parties whenever they think it is best for the country.

He cited the formation of the Conservative party and how it involved MPs jumping from 3 parties into one. If there were any laws against turncoats that would have either been impossible, or meant 75 byelections.

Anonymous said...

...so, it took us what an hour to screw up??? I helped a Conservative candidate...I've been on blogs and chats trying to figure out what scares people about the CPC....I'm so pissed right now?? This is just goofy and dumb and stupid and goofy, I know I said that already...but my God Stevey...Emmerson??? So now we are no different than the people we railed against last year!! And Pete...payback?? How do you explain that to the people who voted in a Liberal MP only to find out today he is a Conservative?? He should resign, Harper should get a grip and remember all those things he said last year...I'm a Conservative and this is wrong!!! Harper is Wrong!! Emmerson is very Wrong!! And the people who really get screwed are the poor schmucks who had the decency to go out and vote!!

Dean P said...

For those who've been saying how great it is that Vancouver now has representation, it should be recalled that really, Vancouver didn't want representation in the Tory party. The CPC candidate in Emerson's riding came THIRD. It's not like he was 10 votes behind Emerson such that Emerson could make a colourable claim that his riding supported the Tories. His riding overwhelmingly rejected the Tory party.