Sunday, February 24, 2008

Open letter to John Tory

Hi John,

Congratulations on your tenuous victory.

If you would like some advice on how to win the next election, please feel free to drop me a line. I'm not going to broadcast it here.

I'll give you a hint though. It has something to do with the previous post.

Conservatives vote with their brains. Liberals vote with their gut.

If you're truly interested in listening to the grass roots, send me an email.

Looking forward to working with you,
Joanne (True Blue)


* * * *
More reaction from blogs and MSM:

Raphael - John Tory won, Can we move on now? (Better check comments, Mr. Tory)

Stephen Taylor - Tory gets 66.87%

Kirk's Blog - 66.9% is smack dab in the middle of nowhere...

ASTTR
- Number Crunch - The math behind John Tory’s “defeat from the jaws of victory” performance in the 2007 election


Star - Let's move on, Tory says.

Blizzard - Yet another bad judgment call by leader.

* * * *
Monday Update: This is a MUST-READ: I am one of the 33.1% - Christian Conservative.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

To John:


Its time to reconsider your future: genuine small c-conservatives want a legitimate social and fiscal conservative, rather than three left of center candidates in the next election again.We want an alternative from the three tax and spend, big government, big regulations, quasi,neo-socialists who ran in the last election.

To revise a famous line: John, believe me, I know what a genunine, social/fiscal conservative looks like, and your not one of us.

Help us save Ontario John: quit

Anonymous said...

John:

Its time to re-consider your future: genuine small c-conservatives want a legitimate social and fiscal conservative, rather than just another quasi, neo-socialist candidate for the next election.

To recycle a famous line: Believe me, I know what a genunine conservative looks like, and your not one of us.

Help us save Ontario John, quit

Anonymous said...

Well, I don't find 2/3 support to be tepid, especially when you consider that McGuinty got 46% of a 50% turnout to win last fall.

Your letter is very much like one I plan to write myself.

Basically, it's 'call me' and I'll give you some old-fashioned advice.

I'm a progressive conservative, not an Alliance type but I agree that the message needs to be simple, loud and clear, not complex and scholarly, in order to reach the average lemming.

Let's face it, most people don't follow politics, don't have a clue what's being legislated or discussed, don't understand party differences and just vote the way their friends or media advise.

Apparently, only about 6% of the population follows this sport closely so that reinforces the fact that the message has to be geared to the regular Joes who don't use big words and don't understand the issues.

The ones who vote Fiberal, in other words.

Anonymous said...

So what i am hearing is that the will of 67% must be subjugated to the will of 33%.
I am not up on all the machinations of leadership contests, but it seems to me that this should be examined.
Does the party constitution have a magic number?
-Lee-

Kirk West said...

Party constitution says 50% + 1. 66.9% gives him legitimacy, but given all the other mitigating factors, I question the logic behind his decision to stay on. However, what's done is done, it's our duty now to push forward. I agree with another poster that subjugating 66% of the party to the will of 33% is not right, either.

Joanne is exactly right when she says that it's time for the PC Party to be clear on what it stands for, that gives party members the option to have an easy decision as to whether they want to stay or go.

Another poster somewhere said that average voters lack the intellect to understand the policies. I disagree with this, the problem lies in the inability of politicians to 'sell their positions' to the electorate. Instead of just saying that lower taxes are better, perhaps we should actually try to explain it to them instead of dragging out tired one line expressions which the Liberals can counter by reading from their 'scare tactics and obfuscation are us' playbook.

Note to Tory: Some of us bloggers would make excellent advisors.

Matt said...

@anon: The party's constitutions magic number is 50%+1, but in politics perception is everything. IF you're perceived to have alienated an entire third of your base, it's generally perceived as a problem, be it true or not.

maryT said...

It looks like a lot of those voting for TORY, vote the same way liberals vote according to Greg Weston. ROTE ROTE ROTE YOUR VOTE.
I think that is the best line he has ever written. (nationalnewswatch)

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Mary, I agree that Weston's article was one of his best. I linked to it in the previous post.

Burton, Formerly Kingston said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Burton, Formerly Kingston said...

Ok now that this is done and over with, I believe it is time for one huge policy convention. A take no prisoners type, where policy is decided put on paper and adhered too, so we have no more crazy surprises like the last elections. The leader has to represent the wishes of the party and it time to get back to that, the party is subservient to the wishes of the leader and his chosen few be it Federal or Provincial are done and it is becoming more and more obvious with the information age

Möbius said...

Note to Tory: Some of us bloggers would make excellent advisors.

My guess is that either he or his advisors paid some attention to the blogs, before and during the last campaign. They simply chose to ignore them, even though political bloggers and posters are more politically aware than your average voter.

OMMAG said...

Actually LIberals vote with their parents.

Raphael Alexander said...

Well, we can't all be Tory-haters. I find myself in the vast minority on the BTs, but so long as Tory wants to stay and the party wants him to stay, I want him to stay.