She didn't light the room on fire, but I was still impressed by the well-spoken and articulate Danielle Smith during her closing speech at the recent Wildrose Alliance leadership forum in Edmonton. Her campaign has posted the video:
Mind you, Aberhart's speeches also led to the election of a government that wanted to print its own provincial currency and tried to pass legislation that would have forced newspapers to print government rebuttals to stories the provincial cabinet objected to. Perhaps Aberhart isn't the ideal example?
Wow, Alberta began a century ago by settlers eh?
ReplyDeleteNot only is she wrong in the timing (European settlers have been here much closer to two centuries) but she shows an appalling lack of awareness for the first nations people that have been here much longer than the Europeans.
Not that I was expecting much to begin with. When did the Stupid Peoples Party that is the WRAP start attracting so much valid attention?
Ok, watched a bit more of her tripe. Raising the royalties was the single worst decision ever made by an AB premier? REALLY?!? Seems to me that the forced sterilization program was probably somewhat worse, on ye old moral scale.
ReplyDeleteThis woman's insane. I shudder to think that Alberta's political culture is so wounded that this nutbar qualifies as something "exciting and new". Does anyone here pay any attention to the rest of the world? Electing the far right didn't work out so well for the US over the last decade. We don't need to elect our local version of Sarah Palin.
She is a great speaker. However so was Mark Norris, so was Jim Dinning, and where are they now?
ReplyDeleteIt takes more to be a successful political party than a sympathetic media and one byelection.
Let's not forget that the Alliance is very much opposed to abortions and same-sex marriage. This fact seems to be conveniently overlooked by many during this so-called leadership race.
There are only 2 possibilities for the Alliance here:
1. Dyrholm wins and the Alliance social cons continue to dominate the party. The media can no longer continue to try to show the party as an actual alternative to moderates.
2. Smith wins, the media goes nuts and continues to show the Alliance as a credible alternative. Unfortunately the policy wonks in the Alliance party cannot stand for a social liberal as leader and they do what they always do, they go form a new party....again. Leaving the WRA to be another flash in the pan.
Hmmm, controlling the media is nothing like employing a partisan public relations department. Mailing people cheques is nothing like printing your own money either, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThe only difference between Ralph and Bible Bill is that Ralph believed in dinosaur farts and Bible Bill didn't believe in dinosaurs at all.
Well, a slightly damp sponge would be a better orator than Mr. Stelmach. His constant utteration of 'Olberta' is getting on my nerves. Let's not also forget that Hitler was considered to be the greatest political orator in history. So perhaps oration should NOT be a key selling point.
ReplyDeleteDanielle is certainly capable of getting her points across, but it's what she isn't saying that bothers me. She has been utterly mute on points of social conservatism. Maybe it's just that she is a female, and unlike her challengers, does NOT seem to be preoccupied with gay sex. Maybe, given she is a female, she believes that a woman should have the last say over her body.
All in all it's wierd. Here's a woman that's openly supported by Byfield and Morton (remember Morty's little gay and feminist agenda tirade). We all know in our heart of hearts that these guys want women in the kitchen and popping out babies. Danielle is a tough one to figure out.
Danielle and her party are going nowhere till she tells us her stance on social issues. Fess up Danielle!
I don't understand why Danielle is in such a hurry....i mean here we have a very astute political woman who has visions of running, she is not a supporter of Ed Stelmach but is a conservative...so why doesn't she do what every other PC non-Stelmach supporter does and just wait another 4 years until he leaves? why the rush?
ReplyDeleteI think Danielle is ruining her future at the expense of the present...unfortunate.
"I don't understand why Danielle is in such a hurry. . ."
ReplyDeleteIf she were in that much of a hurry, she would have run in the last by-election. I still wonder why she didn't--because there was a chance she might have lost? If so, that's the kind of caution that often defeats people in politics.
The people who "cannot stand" the prospect of Smith as leader are not what I would call "the policy wonks in the Alliance party".
ReplyDeleteThe speech is actually a bit of a snoozer. She can speak clearly, but the content is remarkably close to Stelmach's speeches during his leadership, albeit with fewer references to grandson Ethan.
ReplyDeleteAlso it's not "the" Ukraine. It's just "Ukraine."
As far as I know, Danielle is a fiscal conservative and quite "liberal" on social issues.
ReplyDeleteNot that I support her policies, but she is no Sarah Palin. She is quite intelligent.
Look at all the white haired males in the audience!
ReplyDeleteBehold, the next premier of this province!
ReplyDeleteIt is delightful to read the many previous posts confidently predicting Danielle's rapid demise when her "hidden" social conservative agenda is revealed. Because we all know, based on how well the Libs and Dips do in this province, how anathematic social conservativism is to Albertans.
As to Danielle deciding not to run in the by-election before having actually been elected leader of her party, I'm quite certain that will prove to be an equally large millstone around her electoral neck. I don't doubt that her embittered rivals for the WAP leadership who, likewise, decided not to run in the by-election prior to the leadership convention, will repeatedly make this point during the next provincial election.
It's refreshing to see so many posters to this thread appreciate the true relevance of the Glenmore result - that it demonstrates the massive shift of political momentum in this province to the "progressive" side of things - no wonder David Swann and Brian Mason are smiling so much these days!