en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/567264 Comments by hellomike http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/31/why-rand-paul-couldnt-help-himself/#IDComment77993374 Wow, Andrew, you really attract some nut commenters these days. Interesting piece, thank you. Tue, 1 Jun 2010 06:46:56 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/31/why-rand-paul-couldnt-help-himself/#IDComment77993374 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/31/why-rand-paul-couldnt-help-himself/#IDComment77993306 You sir are hilarious. What clown brigade drafted you to accuse Andrew of "smear journalism" for writing an open-minded and interesting short piece on the right to contract? How completely ridiculous. Tue, 1 Jun 2010 06:45:53 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/31/why-rand-paul-couldnt-help-himself/#IDComment77993306 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/28/robert-fowler-wakes-up-the-liberals-in-montreal/#IDComment64483389 The people who are saying that Fowler's speech was too inflammatory to be taken seriously says very poor things about what kind of conversations our "intelligentsia" -- or the Liberal intelligentsia, I guess -- will tolerate. Fowler had poignant and substantive things to say about our pathetic, drooping foreign policy. Why dress it up? I would like to see rebuttals, not dismissals. How patronizing and disrespectful of the man's experience and expertise -- and critically important points -- to shrug it all off as "a bit over-the-top." If that becomes the official party line, it'll be a sad, sad thing to hear. Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:56:00 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/28/robert-fowler-wakes-up-the-liberals-in-montreal/#IDComment64483389 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/22/wrong-again/#IDComment63587435 There's not actually a lot of contradiction. Wells says social conservatism is still on the radar for Harper, he's an incrementalist and always has been, and even though changes have been minor they have been taking place, and -- relatedly or not -- the Canadian public is growing more conservative at the same time as these slow and halting steps to the right. Coyne says that the conservatives are not conservatives at all, especially not fiscally, and these tiny bones thrown to the socons have really added up to very little - they're just happy to get any attention at all. By the way arg arg arg fiscal restraint arg. So, combining those two: Harper throws little bones to the social conservatives, which add up to very little but seem to be enough for them to know someone's on their side, and continues to help along the slow starboard list of Canadian society. He'll continue pushing in that direction until he isn't Prime Minister anymore, whether you voted him in for that or not. I don't think they're really arguing as much as framing things differently, but I'm sure Coyne had fun writing his piece in the style he did anyway, and it was a good read, as always. Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:51:38 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/22/wrong-again/#IDComment63587435 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/08/how-should-ottawa-go-about-balancing-the-federal-budget/#IDComment61333194 This is a terrible poll with terrible options. How about "cancel the billions of dollars of 'stimulus'"? Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:51:50 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/08/how-should-ottawa-go-about-balancing-the-federal-budget/#IDComment61333194 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/10/a-terrible-perfect-beauty/#IDComment61330109 Well, we can all stop evolving now. We have finally reached the highest form of life. Truly, a great day for us all. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:41:24 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/10/a-terrible-perfect-beauty/#IDComment61330109 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/03/and-speaking-of-australia/#IDComment59632794 huh. Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:20:18 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/03/and-speaking-of-australia/#IDComment59632794 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/03/primus-inter-pares/#IDComment59632144 How prescient. It would be nice if the UK could figure out a good way to avoid the presidential-PM problem, it might give us some ideas too. A parliament that works the way it was designed to sounds like such a good, novel idea. Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:14:54 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/03/primus-inter-pares/#IDComment59632144 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/28/closing-ceremonies-the-live-blog/#IDComment59165473 I am stunned by how horrible that got stunned Mon, 1 Mar 2010 04:11:17 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/28/closing-ceremonies-the-live-blog/#IDComment59165473 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/28/closing-ceremonies-the-live-blog/#IDComment59158816 I don't think I will ever be able to drink enough to make John Furlong's speeches tolerable. Slowly.... getting... tired.... zzz Mon, 1 Mar 2010 02:53:25 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/28/closing-ceremonies-the-live-blog/#IDComment59158816 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/28/closing-ceremonies-the-live-blog/#IDComment59156193 Even though no one has heard of her before, we are all now completely tired of her! Yet another record broken at these momentous Games. Mon, 1 Mar 2010 02:19:12 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/28/closing-ceremonies-the-live-blog/#IDComment59156193 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/24/rights-and-democracy-i-say-tomato-you-say-this-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-middle-east/#IDComment58744894 Paul, I have been waiting for the TVO piece to show up in internet form for days, and having finally watched it I came here to get up to date. Your reporting has been fantastic on this, you were a very incisive and eloquent presence on that panel, and you certainly deserve a break if you want it - but know if and when you write more on this, I will soak up every word and send it out to a lot of others as well. It must be frustrating to get this across to a country in paroxysms of Olympic mania. This is critically important reporting, and you do it like few others. Thank you. I look forward to the lying bastards being blown out of their appointed waters. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:11:23 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/24/rights-and-democracy-i-say-tomato-you-say-this-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-middle-east/#IDComment58744894 http://macleans.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/and-thats-the-kind-of-58-years-its-been/#IDComment57070923 Lloyd Robertson has always struck me as the clearest indication of how much CTV has changed over the years. I used to feel as though he and the network were cut from the same cloth, but it's gone one way and he's resolutely remained himself. Their nightly news show won't ever be the same without him. Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:58:42 +0000 http://macleans.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/and-thats-the-kind-of-58-years-its-been/#IDComment57070923 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/02/will-the-last-country-on-earth-to-use-first-past-the-post-please-turn-out-the-lights/#IDComment55090382 Sounds like grounds for... [dramatic music, crescendo, hold non-resolving chord] an instalment of Coyne vs Wells! (... or is it Wells vs Coyne...) Tue, 2 Feb 2010 23:36:37 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/02/02/will-the-last-country-on-earth-to-use-first-past-the-post-please-turn-out-the-lights/#IDComment55090382 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/12/who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-stephen-harper/#IDComment51725343 Help, I'm somehow trapped between two layers of sarcasm and irony and I can't move or think. Oh wait, I'm getting word now from our Ottawa bureau that this suffocating miasma is "our democracy at work"! I feel so much better now-- gurrrk blublubblub-- Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:38:45 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/12/who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-stephen-harper/#IDComment51725343 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/08/the-commons-canadians-are-not-as-cynical-as-he-thought/#IDComment51132857 -27 points! That's impressive. Especially considering Mr Crit Reasoning up there gets 103. I wish we could do something about the fact that just showing up gets you a point. Hey look, this comment got me a point. Point point point. Sat, 9 Jan 2010 02:28:47 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/08/the-commons-canadians-are-not-as-cynical-as-he-thought/#IDComment51132857 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/06/thats-not-the-question/#IDComment50716071 ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.'' Wed, 6 Jan 2010 22:26:21 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/06/thats-not-the-question/#IDComment50716071 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/05/on-perogies-ignatieff-speaks-or-writes/#IDComment50521170 Political party 1. n. a group of people who choose to associate themselves with a particular brand name. Historical note: political parties were originally created as an assembly of voters and parliamentarians with similar ideas working toward a common goal! Tue, 5 Jan 2010 20:32:33 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/05/on-perogies-ignatieff-speaks-or-writes/#IDComment50521170 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/05/coyne-v-wells-on-the-prime-ministers-prorogative/#IDComment50518000 This is great, I love the caps lock words! Best CBC comment parody I've seen in a long time. Cheers! Tue, 5 Jan 2010 20:17:54 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/05/coyne-v-wells-on-the-prime-ministers-prorogative/#IDComment50518000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/05/money-or-action-where-your-mouth-is/#IDComment50514183 There is no "anticonservative party" to donate money to. I would donate money to a viable, organized opposition party. [One guy, in his 20s with a beard sitting far in the back of the auditorium, yells, "whoa, sick burn dude!"] Tue, 5 Jan 2010 19:59:47 +0000 http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/05/money-or-action-where-your-mouth-is/#IDComment50514183