Emerson draws biggest protest yet

[tuvor]

Few politicians can draw 500 people out on a Sunday afternoon to march for them.

David Emerson can, although it's unlikely he's happy about it.

Two months after the MP defected from the Liberals to join the Conservatives, his detractors are not giving up their quest to shame him into resigning.

Yesterday's march in Mr. Emerson's Vancouver-Kingsway riding was the largest yet. Nearly 500 protesters carried banners and shouted their demands for the MP to resign and force a by-election.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060403.BCEMERSON03/TPStory/National

[glarius]

1. One thing I don't get is why nobody from the Liberals is pointing out a

fact that I believe is very pertinent. The Conservatives keep equating Emerson's defection with Belinda Stronach. To me there is a big difference, in the fact that the case can be made that Stronach had a year as a Conservative member to evaluate them before she decided she could not support them. Emerson was elected as a Liberal and immediately defected to the Conservatives! after having just run an extremely negative campaign against them. Perhaps I'm missing something, but the way I see it there is a vast difference between the two cases and I have wondered why I have never heard anyone on TV point this out.
P.S...Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, considering the complete incompetence of those running the Liberal election campaign!

[Bassic]

2. It was pure opportunism.

A) Run for one party in order to have a chane of being elected.
B) Switch and go to the party that was sure to get demolished at the polls.

Belinda's switch was also pure opportunism, but the case can indeed be made that she had more than enough time to evaluate her position.

[Monkeybumper]

3. The reason you don't see the press pointing out the difference

is because there is none . Stronach wants to be PM plain and simple and she is willing to take or buy the shortest route there .

500 people is now a big protest in Canada ? We drew almost 1200 people to our neighborhood BBQ last year but we did have Glass Tiger for a band .

[glarius]

4. Crossing the floor has been accepted as legitimate for a long time.

CROSSING THE FLOOR HAS BEEN GOING ON AS AN ACCEPTED PRACTICE FOR A LONG TIME! The difference this time, which stands out like an elephant in the corner, is that Emerson didn't even wait to get into parliament in order to symbolicly cross the floor. This has never happened before...Your conclusion that Stronach did it to be PM is YOUR conclusion (we all have our own ideas of many things that happen) and does not alter the facts of how things happened in these two defections....

[HEyHEY]

5. So 1,200 people showed up to boo the crappy band you booked?

[IntravenousDemilo]

6. There is a difference.

Paul Martin didn't have a fuckin' screaming fit and throw a chair at David Emerson. And Emerson doesn't consider Martin socially conservative to the point of backwardness, nor did he feel he had no place or future in the Liberal party.

Also, Emerson's not as dumb as a box of dirt either, though he has the ethical sense of one.

[Mother Jones]

7. Lest we forget

those upstanding conservative MPs who called Belinda a 'whore' when she crossed, yet embrace Emerson whole heartedly.