U.S. groups urged to keep quiet on Conservative victory

[whirlygigspin]

The Globe & Mail
By ALAN FREEMAN AND CAMPBELL CLARK AND GLORIA GALLOWAY

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Right-wing groups in the United States have been urged to avoid crowing about the likelihood of a Conservative victory in Monday's election for fear of scaring off potential voters, according to a leaked e-mail written by the leader of a prominent American conservative group.
"Canadian voters...believe that American conservatives are scary and if the Conservative Party can be linked with us, they can perhaps diminish a Conservative victory," Paul Weyrich, president of the Washington-based Free Congress Foundation, wrote Thursday in an e-mail forwarded to other conservative leaders in the US.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was also accused yesterday of trying to muzzle his socially conservative candidates in the final days of a campaign in which he has worked hard to make Canadians feel comfortable with him and his policies by hiding them on separate buses and not letting them speak to the press. Mr. Weyrich suggested to recipients of his message that "if the Canadian media calls, please do not be interviewed until Monday evening, at which point hopefully there will be reason to celebrate."--believing that Liberal-leaning news media in Canada were likely to phone U.S. right-wingers "in the hopes that someone will inadvertently say something that can be hung around the Conservatives necks."

"They're treating us as if we were some aberration politically," said Weyrich, who once provided training for Canadian conservatives in winning elections and governing. "No one has asked us to do that for a number of years," he said. "They generally are afraid of any association with the United States."

[bluestateguy]

1. Some victory

A majority of Canadians are going to vote for center-left parties. The conservatives win will only be because of their warped parliamentary system.

[Warpy]

2. I've been linking their conservatives to our conservatives

for a long time, reminding them that our conservatives often sounded quite reasonable as long as we kept them safely out of power.

Conservatives should never be given power. Their function is to put the brakes on any radicalism that turns up. Once into power, they become the radicals.

[mom cat]

3. I believe that American "conservatives" are scary too!

[Toots]

5. The whole friggin world believes Conservatives are scary

They are mean spirited brutes who care only about themselves and their friends and will brutalize anyone they want for both sport and monetary gain. Evil as the day is long...

[spooked911]

14. nice katrina site, mom cat.

[mom cat]

17. Thanks. It was a lot of work, but worth it.

[applegrove]

4. Link?

[whirlygigspin]

6. link

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060118/elxn_us_conservatives_060120/20060120?s_name=election2006&no_ads=

[rodeodance]

7. "believe that American conservatives are scary "--you betcha!

"Canadian voters...believe that American conservatives are scary and if the Conservative Party can be linked with us, they can perhaps diminish a Conservative victory,"

[mom cat]

9. Isn't it amazing that they even have to silence their own glee!

Canadians better wake up and realize that the neocons want Canada for themselves.When the Arctic thaws, they will want to exploit it and ruin it like they have the rest of the world!

[applegrove]

12. We have almost as much oil in Alberta as Saudi Arabia. Believe you

me. We know.

[Flucius]

23. Not quite

If you count only conventional sources, S.A. still has a lot more. If you count the non-conventional (oilsands), there are estimates that put Alberta's reserves at as much as 14-15 times more.

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about when it comes to the CPC. In the last Parliament, close to a quarter of the Liberal caucus were social conservatives and the other opposition parties had a few who might be classed as such; this does not account for the MP's and cabinet ministers who towed the party line. The simple fact is that the Tories are not all that conservative. They may appear to be according to the hyperventilating on this board, but on the U.S. political spectrum they would be centre-left, at least on fiscal matters. Their platform isn't so different from old PC party platforms. (Jeffrey Simpson covered this in The Globe and Mail a few days ago.) The system and Canada's contemporary political climate also constrain them from bringing about the sort of radical changes so many people here are crapping their pants over. People are making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Darth_Kitten]

28. Oh please....the Conservatives here and the Republican party...

have long been associated with one another.

You say Tories are not all that conservative, actually there ARE a lot of progressive conservatives in the party that have no real love for Harper. But moderates are not the ones running the party.

If they are hiding their true agenda now (I believe they are) they will be found out when and if they get swept into power. :(

[sarcasmo]

29. Don Cherry for Prime Minister. This Yanks vote doesn't count but, Cherry

could win.

[Darth_Kitten]

31. Yeah, another loud mouthed right winger, Cherry.

;)

[sarcasmo]

32. He is considered right wing in Canada? I guess my mistake on Canadian

Politics.

[Darth_Kitten]

35. Oh, yes, for sure.

He would be considered right wing anywhere. :(

Though I wonder how much of his schtick is real. :)

[applegrove]

33. I'm waiting to see if the gags come off or if the Thrid largest

daming project in Canada history or if the gags lasts the whole minority long (think of the fun neocons will have with our system of random election calls). The first is James Bay. Second Churchill Falls.

[CHIMO]

34. Harper, Bush Share Roots in Controversial Philosophy

Harper, Bush Share Roots in Controversial Philosophy
Close advisors schooled in 'the noble lie' and 'regime change'.

What do close advisors to Stephen Harper and George W. Bush have in common? They reflect the disturbing teachings of Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish émigré who spawned the neoconservative movement.

Strauss, who died in 1973, believed in the inherent inequality of humanity. Most people, he famously taught, are too stupid to make informed decisions about their political affairs. Elite philosophers must decide on affairs of state for us.

In Washington, Straussians exert powerful influence from within the inner circle of the White House. In Canada, they roost, for now, in the so-called Calgary School, guiding Harper in framing his election strategies. What preoccupies Straussians in both places is the question of "regime change."

Strauss defined a regime as a set of governing ideas, institutions and traditions. The neoconservatives in the Bush administration, who secretly conspired to make the invasion of Iraq a certainty, had a precise plan for regime change. They weren't out to merely replace Saddam with an American puppet. They planned to make the system more like the U.S., with an electoral process that can be manipulated by the elites, corporate control over the levers of power and socially conservative values.

http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2005/11/29/HarperBush/

It helps if one knows what they are talking about. So I thought that I would start here.

[Demeter]

8. The Two Parties Resemble Each Other

Even the lack of manners is similar.

[applegrove]

10. Has Stephen Harper really changed? Toronto Star

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2382283&mesg_id=2382283

[applegrove]

11. Be interesting to see how "exit polls" play in this. Supreme Court

just re-affirmed the "gag rule" on election day in Canada. We have two more time zones than the USA. And Court said it was illegal to leak any information on the Internet. The fine is only $1000 dollars. I wonder what role the conservatives in the USA will play in releasing the over-enthusiastic polls on Liberals (because Liberals strength is in the Eastern half of Canada).

I'm really curious.

[Vinca]

13. I don't see how anyone can win a Canadian election if they are

in any way, shape or form connected to Bush. Canadians need only to look south and observe the misery to know how to vote.

[UpInArms]

15. information on US rightwingers manipulating Canadian politics

http://canadiancerberus.blogspot.com/2005/12/american-christian-conservative.html

excerpt:

excerpt:

Funny, the Canadian Christian conservatives I have been following have been arguing that we are moving away from Canada's traditional values. So what is this "new Canada" this American wants to see? And which party does he think will bring it? Those are rhetorical questions: I think the answers to both are pretty obvious.

I already commented on how American far right Christian conservatives are spending millions funding opposition to the Liberal same-sex marriage legislation and directly interfering with out sovereignty. Now Ralph Reed and others are coming up to tell us how to vote. Is this the face of the future of Canadian conservatives and Conservatives?

I'm not talking hidden agenda here, and I don't think Harper is actively courting American intervention (others may beg to differ) but these types of Americans are the ones pushing for Harper and, as they are doing to Bush in the US, they will expect some payback. It's one thing for American economy and culture to spill over the border. It is entirely a different thing when Americans and especially fundamentalist Christian conservative Americans start trying to influence our elections. And yes, this is scary stuff.

...more...

[xchrom]

16. paul weyrich -- one of the original heritage foundation guys.

cohort of grover norquist -- one of those largely responsible for the conservative revolution in this country.

[wordpix2]

26. I truly despise HF because they've destroyed the West. Hear that,,

Spyman *????

[AlCzervik]

18. First to my Canadian du'ers i can only imagine how pissed you are at

having these assholes cross the border and insert themselves into your countries political process and second, is there any way the liberals might win? Is the Canadian public aware and pissed enough about our nut jobs coming north to vote against the tories?

[Darth_Kitten]

30. I don't know......we got a hint of the hidden agenda in some Liberal...

t.v. ads, but if they do expect payback don't expect Canadians to want to give it to them.

Of that I am certain. :)

[Joanne98]

19. Canada is being taken over by PAT ROBERTSON!

Scream it from the rooftops for the next two days!

[54anickel]

20. Gotta love this quote from Weyrich - obviously he fears the truth

"I was concerned because I've seen things happen where people who are not sophisticated or involved in the (political) process will say things inadvertently that become a big story."

[norml]

21. "American conservatives are scary" and how!

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

[glitch]

22. The CBC should rerun H20

that TV special with Paul Gross really hit hard on what American Conservatives want from Canadian Conservatives. Excellent movie, very creepy.

[yurbud]

24. at least these parasites know what the rest of the world thinks of them

somewhere between the stepford wives and Jeffrey Dahmer.

[wordpix2]

25. LOL: American conservatives, you're scary, don't call us in Canada!!!

Says a Heritage Foundation guy???

American Conservatives are totally nuts as well as scary.

CAnada, what o what are you thinking? You really WANT to folow in King George's footsteps?

[HuffleClaw]

27. its stuff like this that gives me hope for monday

most people i've spoken to consider the liberals the 'lesser of two evils' and this is one of the main reasons why