Saturday September 4, 2021

September 11, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 4, 2021

Will voter engagement ramp up after Labour Day, political expert questions

The pandemic, a short election period and its timing are all having an impact on how voters are engaging in the current campaign leading to the Sept. 20 vote, says a local political analyst.

August 20, 2021

“As with everything else in our lives, the pandemic makes elections harder, the day-to-day aspects of an election,” said Michael Johns, visiting professor with York University’s department of politics. “We saw this in the U.S. (federal) election where they lost a debate.

“In the heart of the 2020 campaign, it was hard for them to even have two candidates on stage and have it aired nationally. That was hard. And now you’re trying to do it on a local level,” he added.

The entire election process is complicated by the timing. The election was called for Sept. 20 in August, when people were still in summer or vacation mode, kids are home from school and when Johns says it’s typically more difficult to engage people.

This year, that campaign goes into the start of the school year.

“This election has been harder. It has been harder to get people motivated,” he said.

June 10, 2021

“Generally, I think, the pandemic and the timing of the election in both its duration and the time on the calendar. You put all those things together, I think this is what you end up with,” Johns added.

Even all-candidates meetings have become a challenge.

“I think for a lot of people, they feel uncomfortable going to an all-candidates meeting,” Johns said. “Some of them might be so sick of doing everything on Zoom, the last thing they want to do is sit through a two-hour candidates meeting on Zoom”

In addition, some people might be uncomfortable using that technology, particularly seniors, who are typically the most engaged at election time.

Johns says he’s curious to see what happens after Labour Day. Will the pandemic have taken the wind out of the election, or will it ramp up in the last two weeks?

“That’s what we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. (Newmarket Today)

Revised from a cartoon published Thursday August 1, 2013.

Saturday June 4, 2016

June 3, 2016 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 4, 2016

Hillary Clinton’s evisceration of Donald Trump

There’s a new Hillary Clinton in town.

A speech that was billed as a major foreign policy address instead unfolded as a savage, mocking evisceration of Donald Trump Thursday as the former secretary of state adopted an aggressive new campaign persona designed to repel the unpredictable challenge posed by the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

In one of the most striking speeches of her political career, Clinton dispensed with the sober diplo-speak that has characterized her previous national security addresses and went straight for the jugular, unleashing a series of biting attacks on Trump.

February 8, 2000

In the spirit of President Lyndon Johnson’s notorious “Daisy” nuclear blast ad targeting Barry Goldwater’s temperament in 1964, Clinton warned that Trump should not be let anywhere near the nuclear codes because he could start a war when somebody “got under his very thin skin.”

“He’s not just unprepared — he’s temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility,” Clinton said during the speech in San Diego, California, days before Tuesday’s primary in the Golden State effectively concludes the primary season and confirms her as the presumptive Democratic nominee over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Trump fired back while speaking at a rally in San Jose, California, Thursday night.

“I watched Hillary today and it was pathetic. It was so sad to watch,” Trump said, calling it a “political speech” that had nothing to do with foreign policy.

“It was a pretty pathetic deal,” he added.

The speech marked a significant moment in Clinton’s campaign, as it was the first real signal of the tactics and attitude she will use to take on Trump and offered a preview of what are likely to be fierce clashes between the rivals at a trio of presidential debates later in the year. It demonstrated the kind of sardonic, unrestrained humor that she often shows in private interactions with friends and reporters but has refrained from displaying in public. (Continued: CNN)

Tuesday October 21, 2014

October 21, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Illustration by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 21, 2014

Election promises candidates should not make

Election candidates say the darndest things. For the most part, it’s all motherhood. But sometimes they overpromise. Sometimes they promise — or semi-promise — things that just aren’t going to happen. Here are some examples. We’re not saying they all do this, but we know some do.

“If elected, I will stop school closures.” Candidates who say this, or even hint at it, are either naive or misleading. The province holds the purse strings and the decision-making over all education policy, in particular around closures and matching funding. A more accurate way to say this is: “I oppose school closures, but sometimes they are inevitable. When that happens I will work with my colleagues and with city hall to ensure unused schools remain community hubs so neighbourhoods don’t suffer.”

Here’s another one. “If elected, I will revisit amalgamation.” If a candidate says this to you, here’s a suggested response: “No, you won’t.” Only the province could revisit amalgamation, and it has no interest. That egg cannot be unscrambled. The Harris Conservatives forced amalgamation on Hamilton and its suburbs. A more honest pledge is: “If elected, I will work tirelessly to ensure my constituents and all citizens get a fair shake in the City of Hamilton.” Outgoing Mayor Bob Bratina got a fair bit of traction with his pledge to revisit amalgamation. Don’t get taken in again.

Here’s a classic. “If elected, I will work to put term limits in place.” If a candidate says this, it’s either untrue or it suggests the candidate is unwise, because any work invested in this project is a waste of time. Term limits would require provincial legislation to be changed, and there is no indication this or any provincial government is interested. Why? In part, because there’s a good chance that legislated term limits would not survive a constitutional or legal challenge. And in part, because if a provincial government indicated it supported term limits, it wouldn’t take very long for people to suggest they be applied provincially.

Municipal survey

If you’re a person who believes that term limits are a good thing, the best thing you can do is ask your candidate if he or she will agree to voluntarily limit their time in office. If someone makes that commitment, take it for what it’s worth.

This one is less black and white. “If elected, I will make sure tax increases are never more than the rate of inflation.” This one isn’t untrue, necessarily. All three leading mayoral candidates say they will aim for tax hikes 2 per cent or lower. But that’s only half the story, because inflationary increases don’t get at the infrastructure deficit. And city departments are getting less than 1 per cent funding increases, which is less than inflation. Economic development wins will make a dent in this, but the bottom line is that in the medium and long term, tax hikes that low are not sustainable. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

April 4, 2007

April 4, 2007 by Graeme MacKay

Ask people for their opinions concerning those Conservative Party pre-election ads directed against Stephane Dion and the reaction you’ll receive is usually one of absolute disgust. Like someone has been forced to watch the worst kind of porn. Pure filth. “How low can the Tories go”, they’ll protest, or it’s “American style attack ads”, as a means to condemn the party while connecting it to that horrible neighbour to Canada’s south. “Is this where political decorum has fallen to in Canada”, people will rhetorically ask before they warn that, “it’s going to backfire on Harper.”

Please. The Dion ads were amusing, and they were hardly as offensive as some repulsive things we’re surrounded by in our everyday lives that ought to make people outraged. “Do you think it’s easy to make priorities“, the Liberal Leader famously whined. Apparently, you can download that quote off the Internet and program it as a cell phone ring.

To me it’s hard to condemn these so-called “attack ads” on politicians when it’s a cartoonist’s job to go after them daily in cartoons. Isn’t adversarial jousting supposed to be part of our Parliamentary system?

In my mind our political forums have two key ingredients:

a) the boring part — a forum for thoughtful intellectual debate (behind the scenes in committee rooms and on the floor of the legislatures which would send most people to sleep);
and,
b) the exciting part — a theatre which provides a verbal battleground for outwitting your adversary — be they put downs during Question Period, or commercials aimed against your adversary on tv in 20 second soundbites or newsclips.

I suppose there are limits to the art of playful chiding when it starts to look like bullying because the other side can’t/won’t play the wits game. The Libs think they’re taking the high road by not striking back, but instead they’re just looking like wimps. This weeks’ episode of This Hour Had 22 Minutes did a perfect parody ad of where the Liberals find themselves right now. The Liberal’s simply need to play the game.

Tuesday February 8, 2000

February 8, 2000 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 8, 2000

Carpetbagger Hilary Clinton

The United States Senate election in New York in 2000 was held on November 7, 2000. First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, the first First Lady to run for political office, defeated Congressman Rick Lazio. The general election coincided with the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

The race began in November 1998 when four-term incumbent New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced his retirement. Both the Democratic Party and Republican Party sought high-profile candidates to compete for the open seat. By early 1999 Clinton and Mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani were the likely respective nominees. Clinton and her husband, President Bill Clinton, purchased a house in Chappaqua, New York, in September 1999; she thereby become eligible for the election, although she faced characterizations of carpetbagging since she had never resided in the state before. The lead in statewide polls swung from Clinton to Giuliani and back to Clinton as the campaigns featured both successful strategies and mistakes as well as dealing with current events. In late April and May 2000, Giuliani’s medical, romantic, marital, and political lives all collided in a tumultuous four-week period, culminating in his withdrawing from the race on May 19. (Source: Wikipedia)