Canadian Election 2011 Update 2-The Leaders Debate

The May 2 Canadian federal elections are fast approaching, and the jockeying between the major parties is getting hot and heavy as the Conservatives, Liberals, BQ and NDP continue their Drive For 155..  

The first debate between the major party leaders happened Tuesday night and it was contentious and fun to watch.   I found the YouTube video for it, so have fun political junkies.

 

Why Y'all 'Scurred' To Debate Us?

One of the things I see constantly is our opponents, be they foaming at the mouth fundies, radical feminist haters, selfish cisprivileged lesbian and gay people, or bigoted transphobes are always running off at the mouth with long held inaccurate stereotypes about transpeople that they pimp as the gospel truth about us.

The interesting thing is that when we transpeople challenge them to debates about us, they run like Usain Bolt away from those confrontations. 

We in Houston have recently had an example of that.    In the early days of the publicity over the Araguz case Fox 26 set up a debate with local hater Dave Welch and Cristan Williams in which Cristan (not surprisingly) pwned his behind.

Ever since then, he's been ducking and dodging having to debate an actual transperson.  The right wing opponents want to continue to bear false witness against us all day long and are used to doing that with impunity.

Kinda hard to lie about a group when there's an articulate representative of said group there to instantly rebut everything negative thing you say about them and make you look stupid in the process..

So is that playing a role in why Dave Welch and other haters are giving off the distinct odor of Southern fried chicken when we ask for one on one debates ?

Probably so.  They know that as long as there isn't a transperson standing there to defend themselves, they have free reign to say anything they want and have that impression stick in the minds of people who are persuadable about our issues.    

We then have to work twice as hard and expend a lot of energy to debunk that lie that has acquired a veneer of plausibility because it went unchallenged before we can even get our information and story out there.

We have evidence of that in term of the scurrilous lies and disinformation that radical feminists have scrreched about us since the disco era and are still regurgitating in this century.

Because many of our peeps were in stealth mode in the 70's and early 80's, those rad fem lies about transwomen went unchallenged until the out and proud generation of activists and transpeople began to hit back in the late 80's-90's .   .

Now every time a rad fem posts that hate on transpeople BS online or in print, she's confronted and refuted by an avalanche of information from transpeople and our allies that make her look like the bigoted transmisogynist she is.

So trans haters, why don't y'all man and woman up and actually debate the people you wish to tear down for your own nefarious political agendas?

Or are you too 'scurred' to do so?

How Not To Win A Political Debate

While we Texans wait for Gov. Chicken Rick to set up a debate with Bill White, the Arizona governor's race debate will probably become one of those shown in political science classes for quite a while.

Check out Jan Brewer's stellar performance in her debate against Democratic gubernatorial candidate and current attorney general Terry Goddard

McAttacks, Obama Coolly Wins Debate

For its August 2008 issue Ebony Magazine put together a list of the 25 coolest brothers of all time. To no ones surprise, Sen Barack Obama made that list.

That cool served him well in this third presidential debate at Hofstra University. McCain had promised his supporters he was going to 'whip his you know what' and came out swinging.



But in the face of unrelenting attacks on him from John McCain in this debate, Obama was so cool that ice probably would have frozen to his forehead while smoothly countering the angry McAttacks. McCain either needed a overwhelming victory or a major gaffe from Obama and got neither.

Take that James T. Harris.

With 19 days to go it isn't looking good for Team McPalin. They are getting outgunned in the money raising game. They're being forced to defend traditional reliable GOP turf or fight tooth and nail for it. Obama's also blanketing the radio and TV airwaves in these various battleground states with ads and has plenty of cash to buy more.

Obama also has as an ace in the hole in terms of the 30 minutes of TV time he bought on CBS and NBC on October 29. If that date rings a bell, it's the anniversary of the 1929 stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression.

But 19 days is an eternity in politics. Anything can happen, but with the debates out of the way and Obama winning all three, it's looking better and better that he may have a new address after January 20.

The Final Debate

Tomorrow night at Hofstra University is the last debate before we go to the polls on November 4.

The stakes couldn't be higher for John McCain.

He's trailing in critical battleground states, he's changed his message once again and he was forced to turn off the race-baiting part of the GOP 'Southern Strategy' when he started losing even more ground as a result of it.

McCain promised his supporters that he'd 'kick Sen Obama's derriere' in this last debate, but he hasn't done so in the previous two and we;ll definitely be watching to see if he can back up his trash talk or is just selling woof tickets again.

With 20 days to go, Sen. Obama is in an enviable position. He's starting to get newspaper editorial endorsements, he's forcing McCain to burn up money defending GOP turf and is raking in the cash.

His task in this final debate is to not make any mistakes. He must continue to look, act and sound presidential and be the cool brother we know he is. Since this debate is focusing on his strong suit, domestic issues, he gets to showcase that formidable intellect he has laying out his agenda for tackling our nation's economic problems.

It should be fun to watch.

Debates-Round Two

In a few hours Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama will conduct their second round of debates from the campus of Belmont University in Nashville, TN. While it's a town hall format and McCain's favorite debate format, the stakes couldn't be higher on the heels of a week in which the Dow dropped below 10,000 for the first time in four years and Sen. Obama starting to build an eight point overall national lead.

Most ominous to the McPalin campaign in addition to the lead that Obama's built up in the critical battleground states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania is that some of the GOP 'Solid South' is starting to slip. Virginia and North Carolina are beginning to lean to Obama in addition to Florida.

Other states that Bush took in 2004 such as Missouri, New Mexico, Colorado, Indiana and Nevada are either leaning Obama's way or are uncomfortably close



McCain's campaign is reeling thanks to his party's mismanagement of the economy, his attempt to rebrand himself and his intellectually challenged running mate as 'mavericks' has failed, and hot on the heels of his pullout in Michigan he's now resorting to a 'ramp up the negative attacks' strategy.

And every time the worst president in US history goes on TV, it helps Democrats everywhere.



While the trends are looking good for Team Obama, we still have four agonizing weeks to go. They also realize that another solid performance in this debate and the next one at Hofstra University on October 15 could set the stage for a Democratic landslide.

While I'll be stuck at work for this one, I will get an opportunity to watch the replay later.

VP Debate Blowout?

Tonight we get to watch the only vice presidential debate from the campus of St. Louis' Washington University. And if expectations hold to form, it will be Sen. Joe Biden taking Gov. Sarah Palin to school on the big leagues of national politics.

The Rethuglicans are already trying to lower the bar for their not ready for prime time political Barbie doll. They're trying to whine that Gwen Ifill, tonight's moderator for the debate is biased. They're trying to paint the picture that mean ole Joe Biden and the 'liberal media' is gonna ambush and beat up on poor little Sarah.

Spare me that bull feces, okay?

The bottom line is that the conservative darling and paragon of 'small town values' is George W. Bush in drag. She's a politician who left her high heel pump prints all over her Alaskan GOP rivals and I don't underestimate her. She needs to be smacked down and shown to be the unprepared, unfit for national office fundamentalist idiot she is.

Palin may be a representative for conservative white women, but I would submit that there are sizable segments of the American population that look at her and are appalled by what they see.

Sen. Biden on the other hand has to be careful not to come off as condescending or arrogant while he rips her butt to shreds with a smile on his face every time she makes a gaffe.

But as a sports junkie I'm aware that predictions don't necessarily play out when you play the game. Ask the New England Patriots about that.

Whatever happens, people will be watching. 52 million tuned in for the first presidential debate between Sen. Obama and Sen McCain. This one has the potential to become the most watched vice presidential political debate since 57 million people watched the faceoff between George H.W. Bush and Geraldine Ferraro back in 1984.

So I'm popping the popcorn, have the pop chilling in the refrigerator and will have the TV tuned in to watch the debate that starts at 9 PM EDT.

Get Ready To Rumble, er Debate!

Tonight is the first of the three presidential debates on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, assuming John McCain shows up to take his azz whupping like a man.

Time for me to get in boxing announcer mode.

In this corner, at 6 foot 4 inches tall from Chicago, Illinois Barack 'Change Is Good' Obamaaaaaaaaa...

And in this corner, at 5 foot 10 inches tall from Sedona, Arizona, at 5 foot 10, John 'the Ancient Mariner' McCainnnn.

Let's get ready to rumbllllllle.

This one's supposed to be focused on foreign policy, but who knows, it wouldn't surprise me if a question on the current financial mess pops in.

At any rate, I'll be tuned in at 9 PM EDT to watch the fun. And I'm really looking forward to watching Sarah Palin's stupid (yeah I said it) behind crash and burn versus Sen. Joe Biden.