To The Pundits And Bloggers Who Think Gerard's French Will Stop Him From Being Leader...I Pose A Challenge
To all of those who think Gerard Kennedy's French is the reason he will not be Leader, I offer challenge. Argue Why.
It's that simple.
As to preventing poor arguments, let me refute some right now.
Bilingual Argument - Answering, "Well a Leader must be bilingual, as that is a requirement to be Prime Minister," is not applicable, as Gerard Kennedy has been objectively tested to be bilingual.
Representative Argument- Answering, "Well a Leader must be able to talk French to represent the Quebec people," as above, Gerard Kennedy can speak French, and he will represent Quebec.
Election Argument- Answering, "Gerard would lose a debate against Harper and Duceppe in French," does not hold water either, as in the debates it is clear Gerard can understand French and respond.
Now I do admit, as stated above that Gerard's degree of French is lower then some candidates, but in regard to the Election Argument, understanding and being able to communicate his ideas is more then enough to beat Harper and Duceppe. As Gerard, and some Liberal Candidates already do so on substance alone.
Delegate Argument- Answering, "Gerard only got 1.6% of the delegates proves his French will not get Quebec support in the next election," is so flawed on many levels.
First, an election between Liberals does not even begin to represent how the actual population would vote. If that was true, Paul Martin would have had over 80% of the seats in his election, which he clearly didn't.
Second, only 10% of the Quebec Liberals voted, putting the whole delegate system in question about fair representation. So if you use this premise, you would have to admit all candidates in Quebec are not representative of Quebec.
Third, Gerard Kennedy was at the beginning and apparently still is a dark horse, when Liberal organizational leaders were selecting candidates they chose candidates they knew. I know someone who was at such a meeting of Liberal Organizers, and had let slip they got key organizers in Quebec even before the race begun.
It is your job, you the pundits or bloggers who repeat the same conclusions without providing your premises, to tell me why Gerard's French will prevent him from becoming Leader.
The Comment Section is open to all responses.
It's that simple.
As to preventing poor arguments, let me refute some right now.
Bilingual Argument - Answering, "Well a Leader must be bilingual, as that is a requirement to be Prime Minister," is not applicable, as Gerard Kennedy has been objectively tested to be bilingual.
Representative Argument- Answering, "Well a Leader must be able to talk French to represent the Quebec people," as above, Gerard Kennedy can speak French, and he will represent Quebec.
Election Argument- Answering, "Gerard would lose a debate against Harper and Duceppe in French," does not hold water either, as in the debates it is clear Gerard can understand French and respond.
Now I do admit, as stated above that Gerard's degree of French is lower then some candidates, but in regard to the Election Argument, understanding and being able to communicate his ideas is more then enough to beat Harper and Duceppe. As Gerard, and some Liberal Candidates already do so on substance alone.
Delegate Argument- Answering, "Gerard only got 1.6% of the delegates proves his French will not get Quebec support in the next election," is so flawed on many levels.
First, an election between Liberals does not even begin to represent how the actual population would vote. If that was true, Paul Martin would have had over 80% of the seats in his election, which he clearly didn't.
Second, only 10% of the Quebec Liberals voted, putting the whole delegate system in question about fair representation. So if you use this premise, you would have to admit all candidates in Quebec are not representative of Quebec.
Third, Gerard Kennedy was at the beginning and apparently still is a dark horse, when Liberal organizational leaders were selecting candidates they chose candidates they knew. I know someone who was at such a meeting of Liberal Organizers, and had let slip they got key organizers in Quebec even before the race begun.
It is your job, you the pundits or bloggers who repeat the same conclusions without providing your premises, to tell me why Gerard's French will prevent him from becoming Leader.
The Comment Section is open to all responses.
posted by Daniel Mosely at 10:14 PM
3 Comments:
Because perception is everything in politics and the perception, right or wrong, is that (a) Kennedy can't speak French; (b) Quebeckers don't think he can speak French; (c) Duceppe would kill him in a debate; and (d) Quebeckers prefer other candidates.
You can try to change people's minds, but time is running out.
Well that is the purpose of this post. To challenge ill conceived perceptions.
Anonymous: you're right, Quebecers prefer other candidates --- the conservative ones and mostly the Bloc. GK's French may not bring back voters immediately, but neither would the other candidates who have their own problems...
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