Quote:
Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz
Okay, after having listened to this (there is a big differnce between haven't listened to it, and aren't interested) I've got about two pages written about this, but it's rambling as all get out becuase i was writing my thoughts as I was listening.
Really short version/conclusion is this:
In the end I think there are 2 main questions:
1) What are the motives of the guy that released these statements?
2) Do they accurately represent Caylan Ford's views?
She did a lot of giving answers to #1, and not a lot of answering #2, which is a much bigger issue when you are trying to be an MLA.
So like I said. I'm willing to let a candidate/person change. In this case I really hope she has/does. But what I heard in that interview wasn't any explanation of her statements, or why they don't accurately reflect how she felt then or now. What I heard was a lot of "This isn't the way things should go", "I have a lot of people that support me", "These were private conversations", and "That guy is a horrible person".
Is she the monster the original story, and the guy that provided the quotes are making her out to be?
Probably not.
Is she simply the victim of a smear campaign?
Probably not.
Even if we give her the benefit of the doubt, and she really did walk away from the election so she "Wouldn't be a distraction" we are left with a couple unpalatable situations:
1) She walked away despite speaking pretty strongly at the end about how important it is that those kinds of attacks aren't how politics go, and that they not be successful, but she is now proving that they are. The damage is done, why walk away now? Not much of a principled stance on that one.
2) She was thrown under the bus by the UCP. They know it's a distraction either way, so let's get some distance instead of backing her.
The first doesn't paint a great picture of the candidate, the second doesn't paint a great picture of the party.
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I listened to this and I took a very different interpretation from the interview. It sure sounds like she was railroaded here, and her points about not being a white nationalist seemed clear to me. But this is part of the issue with these kinds of allegations, and it’s fairly obvious why she felt that she had to step down. How could she have disproved them? She gives a pretty clear rebuttal in saying it couldn’t be further from the truth, and here are some things about me and my character which make me not a racist and basically it’s up to the listener to decide whether to believe her. What else can she say? She says her friends were flabbergasted and can’t understand where it’s comjng from, but the damage is clearly done. She can either run and have that argument for 28 days or get out of the way.
Who knows, maybe I fell for her lies, but she seemed genuine and I actually feel bad for her.