Debatzzzzzzzz.......

The debates last night screwed up my sleep pattern terribly. They put me to sleep from 8:30 to 9:30 which meant I tossed on turned until 2am. The format is not that bad but I would like to see a little more time for the leaders to really have a go at one another. Then again with these leaders it still may not amount to anything worth hearing. Some notes from what I was awake to see:

I find it funny when Jack and Paul talk about more women being elected adding civility to parliament. When I think of Sheila Copps, Carolyn Parrish, Hedy Fry, and Cheryl Gallant, civility is not the first word that comes to mind.

Paul Martin looks pathetic, tired, and defeated. He announces during a televised debate he wants to open up constitutional talks? All so he can win points on gay marriage, which is essentially a done deal and will cease to be an issue in two years. Yet he refused to open up constitutional talks for something as important as reforming the Senate. On my next drive down Sussex I will drop off some moving boxes.

I think I liked the old Jack Layton better than the new one. At least I could mock his "we're talking about missiles that could kill people" whining. He doesn't look comfortable at all and seems overly contrived. Maybe next time he can find a happy medium. I typically don't slag the NDP too much because I would rather just ignore them, but I have to say they are the party with the least credibility on Proportional Representation. For the past 20 years both the Federal and Provincial NDP have been begging for PR. Yet when they had majority governments in Ontario, BC, and Saskatchewan they did not change the first past the post system. Why? Because they were in power. Shut up and find other things to run on.

Harper did well. All he had to do was reiterate a few key issues like accountability, crime, GST, etc., smile once every 15 minutes, and not say anything stupid. He did that. One thing you have to give him credit for is a consistent public image. He's not very charismatic, not overly articulate, and you wouldn't ask him over to watch the Super Bowl with your buddies, but he knows that and doesn't try to be something he's not.

I will make no comments about Duceppe because he doesn't belong in the debates. And discussing any policy of the Bloc would be a way of legitimizing them. And I also just realized that running spell check over Duceppe gives me the word "dupe". Coincidence?