Anyone dislike Bush, but voting for Harper?

[Freethinker]

I realize many people in Canada will vote for Harper to punish the Liberals, but in my short stay on this board, I notice most Harper supporters are definitely conservative.

Do we have people here who dislike Bush and are still voting for Harper?

If so do you have any problem with the parallels?

Already complaining about Activist judges.
Against Gay Marriage. (mentions in lead up to campaign).
Tax breaks for the wealthy.
Ends speeches with God Bless...
Both love GW Bush.

I feel like everything I have been seeing on the daily show for the last few years is going to be repeating up here.

 

[Jersay]

I don't like the Liberal but I am not voting Harper, because i know he is a snake just like his God-hearing buddy, Bush.

 

[Gary]

First, there are'nt many people here that like george bush, most Americans don't even like him.
The Conservative tax breaks actually help low income people a little bit more than the Liberal tax break but also reduce taxes for people of all income scales.

 

[Jersay]

No it doesn't.

When Harper talked about his tax breaks, he mentioned everyone under the sun but not the poor element in Canadian society.

 

[Gary]

I did'nt know that Stephen Harper and George Bush were friends !
My God ! why did'nt I read this in the newspapers.
I must have missed something !

 

[Gary]

Your wrong Jersey, check it out

 

[Jersay]

I watched him through his campaign about tax breaks.

Now he said, middle- and high income, small-business, students, and others, etc, etc but he didn't say the low-income Canadians at all.

Now some low-income Canadians will fall into his categories that he listed, no doubt, I'm not arguing that. But he didn't say them as a whole.

Also, when you have a closed meeting with the Republican party, you have to be friends with someone in that party.

 

[I think not]

Well if it matters, I'm American, never voted for Bush, never liked him and if I were Canadian I would probably vote for Harper, as time goes be he seems more center to me than anyone else.

 

[Toro]

RE: Anyone dislike Bush,

I don't like Bush and I'd vote for Harper.

 

[Freethinker]

First, there are'nt many people here that like george bush, most Americans don't even like him.
The Conservative tax breaks actually help low income people a little bit more than the Liberal tax break but also reduce taxes for people of all income scales.

Not really. The GST cut is nothing more than a publicity stunt. That really doesn't help anyone making less than $100K.

http://www.canadiancontent.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10676&start=142

Where we thrashed this out last time...

 

[Freethinker]

RE: Anyone dislike Bush,

Toro and ITN.

What do you see as the differences between the two?

 

[Gary]

I'm sure most of the leaders and many influential people from around the world have had closed door meetings with members of the Republican party, they are the government of the United States.

 

[jimmoyer]

Actually freethinker has really hit it right.

So to speak.

Right.

Conservative economic philosophy normally favors
INCOME TAX CUTS not consumer spending tax cuts.

If Harper is to one-up the Liberals he should go
for a 2 percent income tax cut, giving more discretionary
income for consumer spending that props up the
economy and the beauty of the sales tax is some of
that economic boost redounds back to the benefit
of the goverment budget.

This election is quite a flip flop in normal conservative
liberal debates.

Rarely does the Liberal movement in any country
support an income tax cut.

And rarely does the Conservative movement in any
country support a cut in sales taxes --- your GST good
and services tax.

 

[I think not]

Freethinker

I don't live in Canada and my information comes from the internet, friends in Canada and C-SPAN regarding Harper. But I'll tell you why I think he is a moderate. He hasn't said anything that he will do that I would consider an "extreme measure".

Examples,

He said he would put SSM up for vote as opposed to saying he is dead against SSM, he is flexible in that sense.

Bush is too inflexible and arrogant, Harper doesn't appear that way.

I doubt he will ever touch the public aspect of health care despite the paranoia of leftists.

He wants to upgrade the status of your military, in my opinion, to obtain the political power it yields, and not going around invading countries Bush wants, again, despite the paranoia of the left.

He wants to introduce private property rights in your Charter, hardly a bad thing.

He knows Quebec needs to be treated as an equal, as opposed to jumping everytime Quebec snaps its fingers. That doesn't show diviseness like Bush has created.

And in my opinion, Harper presents himself alot smarter than Bush.

 

[jimmoyer]

I would have to agree that Harper and Bush
are quite different in style, manner and thinking.

Americans can probably see that better than
Canadians.

 

[Toro]

Re: RE: Anyone dislike Bush,

Toro and ITN.

What do you see as the differences between the two?

Canadians are totally clueless when it comes to the differences between the Republicans and the Conservatives. The anti-Tories try to link the Conservatives with the GOP, but the Tories are not even close. The differences between the two parties are much greater than Canadians understand.

The GOP is tremendously influenced by the Religious Right. In the primary elections in Ohio, GOP candidates are displaying the bible in TV ads to brandish their conservative credentials. There is no way that would happen with the Tories. Also, during the 2004 GOP convention in NYC, there were several workshops on religion. How many workshops are there at Conservative conventions? I'm a Christian, and I love Jesus Christ, but the overt use of religious fundamentalism within the Republican Party, as well as its current prominence in the party, concerns me greatly.

 

[Semperfi_dani]

RE: Anyone dislike Bush,

I don't quite see the connection like everyone else does between Harper and Bush. Maybe on a fundamental level, they agree on the same issues, but "conservative" in Canada seems to be different than "conservative" in the US. I think in general, our conservative tends to be more moderate right relitive to the Republican Party.

If voting for Harper means we have better relations with the States, than thats a good thing to me. But again, not quite seeing the parrallels like you are. We have fundamentally different political system, senate system, court system, constitution.... Our systems are so alike that it will probably be a lot harder for Stephen Harper to push his more so called extreme agenda on Canada.

 

[Triple_R]

I don't flatout dislike Bush, but I much perfer Harper to him. Harper is genuinely articulate, well-spoken, and very knowledgeable. It would probably be fair to call him an intellectual. That creates in me a level of trust with him that I don't really have with Bush.

I don't think that Bush is a moron, but he's not an intellectual either. He doesn't give me that 'statesman' feel. I can easily picture Harper becoming a statesman; I can't picture Bush as one at all.

I do think that Bush has his good points, but he's a bit fumbling for my tastes. He's exceedingly good at winning elections for him, and his party, but he lacks a certain polish that I admit that I like in political leaders.

Actually, in personality and style, I find that Bush is more like Martin than he's like Harper. Bush, and Martin, both play upon patriotic sentiment to try to get elect (Bush by essentially calling the more passionately anti-war Americans "unAmerican", and Martin by his devisive talk of "Canadian values"). Both can be very heavy-handed at times. Both aren't particularly good with nuance, in my view.

 

[Freethinker]

Freethinker

I don't live in Canada and my information comes from the internet, friends in Canada and C-SPAN regarding Harper. But I'll tell you why I think he is a moderate. He hasn't said anything that he will do that I would consider an "extreme measure".

Examples,

He said he would put SSM up for vote as opposed to saying he is dead against SSM, he is flexible in that sense.

Bush is too inflexible and arrogant, Harper doesn't appear that way.

I doubt he will ever touch the public aspect of health care despite the paranoia of leftists.


And in my opinion, Harper presents himself alot smarter than Bush.

On SSM, he calls it a free Vote, but he is personally against it and will be voting against it, and with a large swath of the party like this guy, what does that really mean? A political maneuver nothing more.
http://www.voteholland.com/video060110.html

As far as flexiblity and arrogance, he hasn't been elected yet. I remember a certain compasionate conservative who was going to be "uniter, not a divider".

Health care is not mere paranoia. His closest adviser (Flannagan) wants to replace medicare with private medical savings accounts. Flannagan is essentially Harpers Rove.

I will give you that harper appears slicker and smarter, but that is not a policy issues, but a personality one.

Toro: I am not clueless about the differences. This is not the same conservative party I voted for in the past. They definitely have a strong religious right element in their viens. See Rondo above. The only thing that has changed from the last election, was the muzzling of the candidates. Harper ending his speeches with God Bless is eerily familiar.

Dani: The paralles I have mentioned. You say the systems are differrent, but already Harper has been attacking "activist" judges. We never had an issue with the Judiciary in this country until Harper.

SSM, Activist Judges, Regressive tax breaks, God bless. More parallels than difference from where I sit.

 

[Triple_R]

Toro - Sadly, I don't think that many Canadians are as well-versed on the issues as they should be. For example, the idea that Harper would change abortion laws is nothing short of bizarre... and this should be obvious to any Canadian who follows Americna politics closely. America is a more pro-life country than Canada is, and you've had the predominently pro-life Republicans in complete federal power there for 6 years or more now... still no substantial changes in American abortion laws. How then is Harper going to change Canadian abortion law with likely less power, and a less pro-life country?