One thing that we can all agree upon is that Elizabeth May talks too fast and this has got her into some trouble in the past surrounding her February 2007 comments on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin where she says “All the other politicians are scared to death to mention the word ‘tax’. And they think Canadians are stupid — and cannot — and I fundamentally agree with that assessment.”
As I mentioned in my interview on CBC, I was never of the mind that she had said “I” rather than “they” in the sentence where she says “they think Canadians are stupid”. What stunned me was the part where she said “and I fundamentally agree with that assessment”. I didn’t realize there was ambiguity over the pronoun until it was raised by other who saw my video and made comment over at Buckdog.
Now, as it has been confirmed, the audio was “they” but now May reveals that the real difference in interpretation was that she either meant “agree” or “disagree with that assessment”. In Steve Paikin’s Friday interview of May, the Green Party leader explains that she said “disagree”.
However, on Sunday’s CTV Question Period May has a different story that contradicts her explanation to Paikin. May said that she said “fundamentally agree with that assessment” in reference to another panelist who had made an observation that wasn’t recorded.
Most people that run for political office do it out of a love of service for their fellow Canadians. I do not doubt that May’s heart is in the right place. However, her reported off-hand comments after the panel discussion might reinforce for us another element of her thinking. She said “No I want [Hummer drivers] shot actually, jail is not good enough for them!” Of course, any reasonable person would understand that May was joking. However, some might interpret this as a streak of elitism in Ms. May. Some Canadians may get the impression that while she wishes to serve Canada, she likely thinks she knows what’s best for us.
Stephen Taylor is a scientist, political analyst and a blogger. Taylor writes here regularly and is the founder of bloggingtories.ca. Taylor has contributed to Macleans, CTV, talk radio and has been a featured speaker on new media at numerous events including the Western Standard Cruise and the Forum for Public Policy. In December 2008, Taylor organized Rally for Canada, a series of rallies held coast-to-coast to protest the proposed coalition government.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Some hear “I” and some here “they”, but either way the woman spends more time spinning her own comments than explaining what her party stands for, other than the ruination of the economy through a carbon tax. She even claims “the Green Shift” was her parties idea and not the Liberals leading me to believe she's a closet Liberal. Throughout the TVO video clip from 2007 she was speaking in the first person. Her explainations, after the fact, ring as hollow as a dug-out canoe. She's the architect of her own demise, just like Paul Martin was way back when. If you're goint to shoot from the lip it's better not to use blanks. Keep up the good work Stephen, your blog is always a good read.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Stephen,
all leftist like May are elitist, this is nothing new. Elitist spend their time telling us how we should live our lives and their way is best. Global warming is only the latest in a long history of attempts to control the ignorant masses. As the weather slips backing into a cold cycle in the coming years, May and her ilk will tell us that its man's carbon emmissions that are causing global cooling.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:38 am
It's plain as day that she said “agree”. But I think she has too many competing thoughts going on in that noggin of hers and her sentences are always interjected with other angles and conversations. She needs to clean that up to avoid another brouhaha.
I'm more upset about the Hummer comment. That craziness is what turns people off of the Greens.
She also lost credibility yesterday when she suddenly announced that she is pro-choice. I thought she always maintained she was pro-life? Get some heat from the feminists? Desperate for their vote? Change your fundamental values, it always works!!! See Catholic Paul Martin.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Sorry batb, Ormiston had it right. I first posted the Youtube clip under my Youtube username “stimpyloveseggs” on September 10th and blogged about it the same day around 7pm. Leftdog saw the clip posted on my site, followed through the the YouTube video and copy/pasted the embed code of the video I made on his own blog. Leftdog's site was probably the site that came to the attention of John Bennett (the Green d.comm) and Bennett threatened to sue Leftdog.
So, I made the video and posted it first on my blog. The Buckdog site re-posted it after seeing it here.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:19 am
The timeline Ormiston describes is completely accurate.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Perhaps you should read more books and less DailyKos.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Here's a good Western Standard post on this:
http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2008/0...
September 15th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Apparently Bam Bam is quite afraid we are not taking his green religion seriously enough.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I would have suggested more sunlight but the same principle applies. Yikes.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Glad you picked up on this.
So now we have three different explanations for the 'stupid' remark, when you count the one that her spokesman gave on MDL as well.
Mmm…. I think this could be a good question to send into Steve Paikin for the Leadership Debate.
“What do you hear Elizabeth May saying in this clip?”. Of course, since Stephane Dion says he has a hearing problem, that likely wouldn't work.
September 15th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
And what politicain in Canada doesn't think he/she “knows whats best for us”? They all treat us as imbeciles by trying to buy our votes with our own money through their election goody bags. What makes me truly sad is: we then vote for them which proves the point that we are imbeciles! Thus far, Ms May has yet to attempt to buy anything from me; I wonder if this is a factor of her party's extremely narrow scope, or, maybe that the Greens are not far enough along in their stategic development.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I keep seeing posts about Climate Change being de-bunked, wrong etc and I am simply astounded.
Shall we check the agree / disagree score ?
In the “Climate Change is very real, very serious and requires immediate and bold action” column we have:
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Climatologists from around the world)
http://www.ipcc.ch/
GE Corporation (Multinational)
http://tinyurl.com/6xlyg5
Shell Oil (One of the largest oil companies in the world)
http://www.shell.com/climate/
George Bush (president of the USA)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/global-change.html
The Arch Bishop of Canterbury
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/1366
The Pope
http://tinyurl.com/3rqcby
And in the against column we have
Nickname “Durward ” (reads and comments on spurious blogs)
Well it was a close contest but I think the For's have it.
September 15th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Thanks for the clarification, Stephen. When you write “I first posted the Youtube clip under my Youtube username 'stimpyloveseggs' on September 10th,” who would know?!!!
That's why I was puzzled that Susan Ormiston stated that when the clip was posted to YouTube, “it went viral.” What seemed to make it go viral was the Green Party's threat to sue Leftdog's Buckdog Blog.
Even if the timeline is accurate, it was nevertheless a convoluted piece, and though Susan Ormiston left it up to her viewers to decide what Eliza May said, she played the same clip a number of times in which it was clear that Ms. May said “…Canadians are stupid…and I agree with that assessment.” Ormiston doesn't even mention the DIS-agree controversy begun when Ms. May asserted that she had said “disagree,” though made it clear that YOU were the one who was “up to” “political tricks.”
It also still remains for the Green Party to apologize to you for accusing you of doctoring the tape. That wasn't made clear by Ormiston either. Rather, the piece was ambiguous about who John Bennett apologized to. It wasn't you! But, again, who would know?!!!
September 15th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Anyone wanting to know more about Elizabeth May would do well to read Elaine Dewars 1995 book, Cloak of Green which, though somewhat dated, is an excellent expose of the environmental movement and Mays part in it. Now she comes across as your innocent, maiden aunt but, in reality she''s a dangerous idealogue.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:00 am
so for all those who were ranting tha the Greens MUST be in the debates for the LEADERSHIP of this country, how y'all liking this Eleizabeth May so far?
May 10th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Nice video but it was low in quality.
Try to provide a clearer one.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I can say that Ms. May is really a frank one..
December 21st, 2009 at 6:57 am
For Elaine May to claim the King said to her “personally” he was outraged by Climate Change and it was more important than AIDS which affects over 70% of his population could not be true. The Dane caught it immediately that this U.S. educated “King” would never break with protocol and speak in such a manner. It has been rumoured that May, like so many other environmentalists have dangled a carrot…you back us on climate control and we will make sure you receive transfer payments WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Of course, this did not happen at Copenhagen.
When May was losing the debate it was evident what a churlish shrill woman she is. She started to attack her worthy debating opponents on a personal level. This demonstrates to the “stupid” Canadian voters that she is not worthy of any political position of power.
December 21st, 2009 at 2:57 pm
For Elaine May to claim the King said to her “personally” he was outraged by Climate Change and it was more important than AIDS which affects over 70% of his population could not be true. The Dane caught it immediately that this U.S. educated “King” would never break with protocol and speak in such a manner. It has been rumoured that May, like so many other environmentalists have dangled a carrot…you back us on climate control and we will make sure you receive transfer payments WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Of course, this did not happen at Copenhagen.
When May was losing the debate it was evident what a churlish shrill woman she is. She started to attack her worthy debating opponents on a personal level. This demonstrates to the “stupid” Canadian voters that she is not worthy of any political position of power.