The NDP elected a new leader last night, as Tom Mulcair defeated establishment favourite Brian Topp on the 4th ballot. Clearly Topp's biggest mistake was his failure to hire a marching band to follow him around the convention center, putting Tommy over the top. For a party dependent on leadership idolatry for electoral success, Mulcair played it smart to surround himself with such a large entourage, constantly on the move. Those of us who watched Saturday's gong show got to see a never ending parade, almost like he was doing laps around the building while Topp stayed far more stationary looking as though he was on the verge of another nervous breakdown. Perhaps "nice guys" don't always finish last, but they rarely finish first; as the official opposition is now to be led by an attack dog that allegedly would have ran for the Tories had Stephen Harper offered him a cabinet seat.
Still, had the Dippers listened to Broadbent and elected Topp, they would have had a disaster on their hands. He's an effective backroom strategist, but lacks the mental toughness to fight on the front lines. If NDP voters were seduced by the marching band, then it was probably for their own good. Granted, their internet voting was hacked, but party insiders insist the vote result was legit. At the very least it showed us one of the many reasons why internet voting is a terrible idea in federal elections. Is Pierre Poutine still at large? I did not see anyone actually accuse the Tories of a cyber attack, but hey, I fell asleep half way through the 3rd ballot. The accusations will surely be coming in the near future, even if they were thinly veiled over the weekend.
Now that the Dippers have this leadership race behind them, they can get down to what's really important; finding the body of Osama Bin Laden to confirm he's dead, or that he ever existed in the first place. I know how important that conspiracy is to the new leader of the official opposition...
To celebrate his victory, I have even started a Mulcair "tag" on old blog posts if you'd like to read a history of my posts where he was mentioned.
Getting about 25.5% of the vote of the total membership is not a great mandate. Isn't that what the opposition has been yelling for years.
ReplyDeleteAlmost 10,000 fewer votes cast on the 4th ballot from the 1st isn't a great sign either.
Where did all the voters go.
Either they lost interest, were frustrated with the internet voting, or many Cullen and Nash voters supported "none of the above" between Topp and Mulcair.
DeleteI have a friend who is a registered Dipper and supported Topp from day 1. He was quite upset that Peggy Nash did not endorse Topp after dropping off, choosing instead to release her delegates. I believe his exact words were "When peggy chickened out and didn't endorse topp the gig was up. She is playing for a nice shadow cabinet post in a mulcair opposition. Too bad for topp."
Here's my theory on the voter drop off: Only one candidate openly endorsed another after being eliminated from the running. Many voting members were upset that their candidate don't do the same. And because dippers are incapable of thinking for themselves, they simply didn't vote.
DeletePoor Bob Rae. The media will now drop him like an old shoe. Fawning attention and more wonderful profiles of Mulcair and his family will now come.
ReplyDeleteStill angry that the francophone and most of the anglophone media stated that Mulcair was the only person who could represent Quebec. Brian Topp had an anglophone father and French Quebecer mother, was born, educated and worked in Quebec. But Quebec would be insulted if he had been elected.
MulCair just can't help himself, by saying more then once, that Harper only got 39% of the vote and 60% of Canadians didn't vote for him. Getting like a broken record.
ReplyDeleteStrange about Peggy Nash hanging in so long and the rest of the gutless NDPQ not saying who they support.Union guy Sid Ryan was outraged at Nash. Libby Davis...what a hypocrite. Good luck to the NDP with this guy MulCair. He is going to be a disaster....Canadians will never put him in charge of the country.Ndp running the Liberals and a Liberal running the NDP. PM Harper must be getting a real chuckle out of that one.
And mulcair only got 25.5% of the total membership of the ndpq to vote for him, that means about 75% didn't want him to be their leader. Will that 75% vote for him in 2015.
ReplyDeleteAnd with the outrage of Syd, where will the union vote go.
No matter how you slice and dice it - without a seat,Topp did not have a snowflake's chance in July of surviving as NDP leader. And I can't name one of the sitting members who would have been altruistic enough to take one for the team and offer up their seat. One of the separatists from Quebec - Libby, Pat, Peter, Peggy - naw - its for the best - let the Mulcair have this one. I predict the ROC and Quebec split will continue and grow with each passing day. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteWondering if Mulcair can pull a Tony Blair.
ReplyDeleteWatching CBC today was sickening. You'd have thought they just picked a new pope.
Picking Mulcair was a great choice, for the Conservatives. Big Labour just got stepped on.
And Rae has no more oxygen.
Fern: People only step aside for the leader when they have a chance of being rewarded. The NDP will never have a senate seat or an ambassadorship to use as a reward for 'selflessness'.
I agree that keeping that caucus united will be his biggest challenge.