On the (yawn) election

Watching the leaders' debate today, I have managed to cement this one conclusion: pretty much the only thing the opposition has going for them is the Liberals' problems and mistakes. It is disappointing to see all of Harper, Layton and third leg Duceppe turn almost every question around to first do some mudslinging on Martin and then come up with a response that often does not deviate much from what the Liberals have been doing or are planning on doing. At one point Martin looked close to exasperation as he called on his naughty playmates to play fair and stop ganging up against him.

The Liberal record in the past decade or so has been exceptional, at least in economic terms, with a lot of credit due to Paul Martin as then finance minister. But no party that has been in power for so long consecutively can be expected to have a completely flawless record. It's easy for the NDP and the Conservatives to point out Liberals' broken promises on this or that, but we should be mature enough to realize that they too if elected would not be able to keep a lot of campaign promises.

That being said, the Liberal party has shown itself to be complacent and careless. It seems a shame though to put all the blame on Martin, who has been party leader for barely a couple of years, for mistakes made during the Chretien years.

I am in favour of a stronger NDP presence in parliament, but I'm turned off by Jack Layton consistently hitting Martin below the belt, understandable because the only way the NDP will get more seats is by taking votes away from the Liberals. Still, cheap shots don't win points with me.

I remember being excited about the last election and staying up to watch the results trickle in on TV. This time around, I'm mostly bored.

Last word: Politics is dirty, and the winner is whoever can get away in the end with the least dirt on them.