Doherty on CBC Talking Bush and the Bailout

I was on Canadian Broadcasting Co.'s "The Current" program very, very early this morning talking about Bush and the bailout and what it says about the GOP's dedication to small-government, free-market principles. You can listen to it here.

Comments

[Tom Walls (Fla. not FL)]

According to the Fraser Institute, Canada is freer economically than the US.

The Fraser Institute: Canada Ranks Seventh in Global Economic Freedom Index, Just Ahead of the United States

I'm beginning to believe it.

[Naga Sadow]

Doherty smack talking safely from Canada? Sweet!

[Episiarch]

I find it humorous that you were discussing small-government, free-market principles on...the CBC.

[Dagny T.]

I'm listening to the interview now, and it's so classic how she keeps using the word "conservative" like it was "baby rapist" or something (of course, she knows full well that that is precisely how many Canadians see it). I'm afraid this will play as a bit of a freak show; the angry, tinfoil hat-wearing Americans paranoid and griping about the big, bad gov't, and look how much more civilzed we Canadians are*. Grrr.

She's not listening to Brian's attempt to distinguish between the kind of conservatism that used to mean small gov't, and its current, intervention-y incarnation.

*I get a bit of that from my family, so I know the routine.

[Dagny T.]

Just to clarify, Brian, I think you did wonderfully, but I'm just aware of the mindset of many Canadians who would be listening. Distrust of government in general is sorely lacking in much Canadian political discourse, so it can come off as slightly gauche. Kudos for getting some much-needed ideas out there into the Great White North.

[Episiarch]

Dagny, thanks for the description, but no one who has seen or listened to any CBC media types would be surprised at her behavior.

[Dagny T.]

but no one who has seen or listened to any CBC media types would be surprised at her behavior

True. I figured exposure to the CBC might be limited in these parts, but perhaps I was wrong. Next you'll be wanting to discuss old North of 60 episodes.

[Episiarch]

Let's just stick to KITH, SCTV, and the Cube series.

[shrike]

It is interesting that the reactionary Libertarians who jump sideways to defend "conservatism" are as stuck in time as the term implies it is.

Goldwater and Reagan are dead cold mummies now. Bush and the Big Government, Nation-Building Theocrats are the conservatives now. There are no other kind of "conservatives" left.

Two days ago I complimented Christie Todd Whitman on this site (as far more suited than Palin for a female GOP VP pick) and I got a full-on blitz by the conservative element here.

Its fucking hilarious and I love it.

And I am considered a crazy leftist because I support secular small-party environmentalists like Whitman. I would vote for her in a New York second.

The right is chewing off their arm while stuck in this reactionary bear trap of their own making (see Bush, failure).

Keep it up, fellas. You are running into the scrap heap of history.

[Paul]

Enough Canadian talk. Their economy is 'freer' than ours, which now makes them more conservative. Take that Canada!

BTW: what is that on your flag, a weed?

[KD]

Weed, what weed...?

http://www.marijuana.sk/product_info.php?cPath=119_306&products_id=1204

[broken window]

That the bailout would cost almost 4 times the entire 2007 Canadian national budget would of been a nice factoid to give the audience a sense of the insane scale of this plan. They are running a small budget surplus by the way, while reducing taxes AND paying off their debt.

[Rusty T.]

According to the Fraser Institute, Canada is freer economically than the US.

That's it. If this bill passes I'm moving to Canada.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I always thought that the British Columbian provincial flag ought to preciesly imitate the Canadian national flag, except be in green, with a stylized pot leaf in the center -- that is to say, recognizably a pot leaf, but in the same graphic style as the Canadian flag's maple leaf.

[Warren]

Bush and the bailout and what it says about the GOP's dedication to small-government

I am so fucking sick of people talking about "the GOP's dedication to small-government". The GOP has never had any dedication to small-government.

There are myths and legends that in the before time, in the long-long ago, Republicans use to talk about a dedication to small-government.

Of course the myth of the GOP being dedicated to small-government isn't nearly as offensive as the one that the GOP actually succeeded in reducing government. That's the one where all our current woes are the result of reduced spending and regulation, natch.

[Brian Courts]

I always thought that the British Columbian provincial flag ought to preciesly imitate the Canadian national flag, except be in green, with a stylized pot leaf in the center

Heh. Kina like this?.

[James Anderson Merritt]

Sort of like that, BC. But the green bars on left and right need to be a little bit wider, and the pot leaf needs to be more stylistic, less realistic. Thanks for the link to the graphic, though. That is definitely a good start in the direction I described.

[BakedPenguin]

Ha. Last year on Urkobold, I suggested we invade Canada. Now that we know they're a lot richer than we are, I don't see the rationale diminishing...

Also, I photoshopped a Canadian pot leaf flag, which apparently is not a very original idea.

[Tom Walls (Fla. not FL)]

Well, for all their strict gun control, Canadians can even own certain firearms that Americans aren't allowed. See the Marstar site for these goodies.

[Randal]

I heard the talk live this morning on my way to work. Its refreshing to hear a libertarian speak in public anywhere. You made great points on the current economic situation that I don't think were lost on many people. Its not a big stretch to see the Bush Republicans as evangelists rather than any kind of economic thinkers. I saw Religulous this week and it was the best comment on the state of America as I see it as an agnostic Canadian. The Republicans and Democrats are lost in a fog charging at evil wherever they smell it. I wish we had a stronger libertarian presence in Canada. I wish we could see Bill Maher on Canadian TV.

[Paul]

Well, for all their strict gun control, Canadians can even own certain firearms that Americans aren't allowed.

We know, they're just not allowed to actually use them.