anti-war screed
Jack Layton: Canada's Cindy Sheehan
 |
| Canada Free Press's version of Jack and Cindy. |
By arthur Weinreb
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Slowly but surely, NDP leader Jack Layton is morphing into that darling of the american anti-war left, Cindy Sheehan. The only major difference between Layton and Sheehan is that Sheehan is naturally a pathetic dullard whereas Layton has to work extremely hard to achieve that status.
Layton revved up his anti-war rhetoric last week when, in addition to his regular claptrap about Canada being peacekeepers and not warriors, he suggested that the only way that peace can be achieved and war ended is to sit down and talk to the Taliban. according to Layton peace can never be achieved unless the parties sit down and negotiate. It sounds all warm and fuzzy to sit down and talk to those who seek to destroy us but history doesn't bear out Father Layton's theory on war and peace. The allies didn't sit down and talk to Japan and Germany during World War II -- they simply bombed the hell out of both those countries. Let's look at Japan. Sure, Japan has had minor disputes with other countries such as Russia and China, but since atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have they ever really bothered anybody lately? Ditto for Germany.
One thing about Jack Layton -- he's no Svend Robinson. If Fingers was still around, at least he would go over to afghanistan looking for a couple of Taliban to have a little chat with. and after he returned, if he returned, we could count the number of hands that he has. But Layton just talks and when he's finished talking, he talks some more.
Like Cindy Sheehan, Jack Layton is simply self absorbed and mean. He kept up his "we have to pull out" speeches in the wake of four Canadian soldiers sacrificing their lives on the same day in afghanistan. Layton didn't care. He showed no respect for the military and more importantly, for the families whose loved ones had just been killed. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Opposition leader Bill Graham were expressing their condolences to the families, Layton was continuing his anti-war screed. It was a disgusting exhibition of self-aggrandizement.
Father Layton is always telling us how he and his party "support our troops". He tells us that he supports our troops more than Prime Minister Harper says that he supports the troops; but then again, Harper doesn't have to keep saying it. Jack says that anyone who says that he doesn't support our troops is simply employing rhetoric from the south.
Rhetoric from the south. For someone who hates all things american, Jack can't say a sentence about why we shouldn't be in afghanistan without using the word "Bush". and his arguments in favour of cutting-and-running are taken straight from the Democratic Party's talking points. We don't have an exit strategy. There is no chance of success against the mighty Taliban so Jack wants to negotiate with them (actually never said that "he" wanted to go to afghanistan and negotiate; would be nice if he sent the lovely Olivia over to talk to the Taliban though).
Much like Mother Sheehan, Father Layton should just be ignored. He's not that important. The fact that Layton happened to be the leader of the NDP while Paul Martin Jr., the weakest prime minister in Canadian history headed the government gave Jack an exaggerated sense of importance. He passed a budget and played a greater role than that which was to be expected of the leader of the NDP, even in a minority government.
Political polls change constantly. The Liberals go up and the Liberals go down; the Conservatives go up and the Conservatives go down. But the NDP remain rather constant with support in the high teens. and with the Green Party having elected the high profile Elizabeth May as its new leader, Layton should perhaps spend more time watching his back and less time insulting the families of those who have lost love ones in afghanistan.
Much like Cindy Sheehan, Layton is preaching to the converted. and like Sheehan, he says more about himself than he does about the war.
Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2024 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2024 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement