Saturday, September 20, 2008

You Know That Freaky Guy Who Posts On Your Blog...

....well I met him today, and he's scary because he is so stupid, he thinks he's making a point.

I like door knocking, but I'm here in Alberta, Conservative country. We targeted areas today that voted for our MP, but not by a majority. Our MP, James Rajotte, won ALL polls in his area. Think about that, every single poll voted for him. I know, I know, all you other door knockers can only wish.

Let me be clear, (doesn't Harper say that?) James wins votes from all parties because he is an excellent MP. He listens to his constituents, he helps them, and he ran one of the only committees that got anything done, the industry committee. For that alone, he should be re-elected. Okay, enough praise for James. To all my (2, okay 3) Edmonton readers, vote for James if you live in his area.

How did door knocking go? Most people were not home. Seeing as we were in a fairly affluent area, I suspect most people were closing their cabins for the winter. Most people who were home, were still undecided or not paying attention. It's a non-election in Alberta. I just hope the Conservatives come out to vote.

One guy mowing his lawn, was way over the top. He complained that the $100 a month childcare benefit meant his stay at home wife was now taxed. She had to go out and work so they could keep their house. Remember we were door knocking in an area where the houses were huge, and the yards were even bigger. This jacka$$ is telling us they only get $18 a month from the universal childcare benefit. I was glad to have a male door knocker with me, because this guy was seriously out of control. All blogger's get those weirdo commentators, but they are viewed from a distance, this guy was up close and personal. Okay, as all doorknockers know, you do not engage creatures like that, you move on, so we did.

As we were door knocking on the opposite side of the street, his wife pulls up, with their tiny little baby that they were getting $100 a month for.....she was 14 years old if she was a day. He looked over at us and didn't even blush. Typical lefty, lie, shout, lie some more and shout it louder.

This made me think about what door knockers in the GTA area are going through right now, and I appreciate your courage and dedication to the Conservative cause. Don't give up. Go get 'em!!

5 comments:

Joanne (True Blue) said...

I love this post, Hunter, because it is a personal story.

I covered miles door-knocking in the previous election, and it was an exhausting but rewarding experience. You get to see first hand what people are thinking.

But it is a bit intimidating when someone sees your candidate button and says "Conservative?", "ewwww", wrinkles their noses and slams the door in your face.

Of course I live in Lemming land.

Southern Quebec said...

Just because they didn't answer the door doesn't mean they weren't home. They probably thought you were a Jehovah's Witless -- especially if you were dressed like Dear Leader.

Reid said...

Nice story Hunter. I'm doing phone canvassing here in Calgary, which is nice because about 70% of the phone calls are supportive. But when I get that rare angry lefty they usually just hang up when I say I'm calling from the Stephen Harper campaign.

And funnier is that on the call display people see "Stephen Harper" and I've had a few people very disappointed when they learned it wasn't infact the PM personally calling them.

Anonymous said...

I remember when I volunteered to get our current MP elected in the last election. First, one guy thought I was the MP, and secondly, after another guy listened to what I had to say, he pulled up his sweater revealing a shirt that said "Don't blame me, I voted PC!" That was classic.

jad said...

"This made me think about what door knockers in the GTA area are going through right now, and I appreciate your courage and dedication to the Conservative cause."

Just back from a visit to friends in the GTA, and it's a different world there compared to Alberta or BC. Our friends are young, urban professionals, with degrees who work in the magazine/book industry, but their opinions seem to be cast in stone, courtesy of the CBC, which they really do admire. We were treated to comments like this:

- Harper hates gays
- Harper hates the arts community
- Harper hates Toronto (Why? because he cut funding to the arts and doesn't care about the environment, both issues apparently dear to Torontonians. I pointed out that out here in BC, there is a thriving arts community, and we are generally considered to be at the forefront of the environmental movement. We also according to the current polls are prepared to give the Conservatives the keys to the farm.)
- Dion is a caring and thoughtful person.(Well I know who I would prefer on my side going toe-to-toe with other world leaders).

People talk about the overwhelming strength of Conservatives in Alberta, but I always felt when we lived there that it was by no means an unconditional love affair. But in the GTA, it seems that even after 2-1/2 years the Conservatives are seen as illegitimate and unworthy. The fact that the Liberals have not exactly done much for the GTA in terms of such things as infrastructure in spite of 13 years in power is apparently irrelevant. They really are the natural ruling party.

It was extremely depressing.