The English Debate between the party leaders has come and gone. How would I grade them?
Gilles Duceppe gets an A- from me. I was very surprised by his performance -- he was the model of a calm, passionate inquisitor, getting his points out with a minimum of fuss and a lot of style. He especially seemed to fluster both Harper and Layton, as he either agreed or disagreed with them with such equanimity that neither of the former two leaders could really get around him. Therefore, the separatist gets my grudging admiration.
Paul Martin gets a B+ -- he still waves his hands around FAR too much, but he was excited and passionate, and said everything I wanted to hear from him about protecting minority rights and spending realistically on the military. He also made several attempts to appear Prime Ministerial and above the ranting fray that was seething on either side. But a bit too much stuttering towards the end gave him a less than stellar closing statement.
Jack Layton gets a B for being the energizer bunny on crack. No wonder Paul Martin asked Jack if his handlers told him to speak all the time. Jack was a force of nature, to be sure, but he wasn't exactly smooth as ice. If anything, he became very irritating after a while, and there were a few times I yelled at his TV image to "shut up!" That said, no one can deny that he certainly made his case in pit bull fashion. But I've never been one to like pit bulls.
As for bigot boy Harper? Well, he nearly lost it as Martin's needling on minority rights cracked his bland facade. He tried being calm and rational throughout, but there was certainly very little in the way of warm or exciting body langauge. He was as stiff as a petrified forest -- a far cry from the silver tongue of Brian Mulroney and the gentle humour of Joe Clark. He gets a B- for giving it a good try...but he's still the used car salesman of the group.
So now we head into the end game, and it looks as if Ontario will once again decide the electoral future of this country. We certainly live in interesting times...
