Federal Election Called for Oct 19, 2015

[Thor]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

It's hilarious that you think Americans give any kind of crap about Canada.

Oliver shouldn't be commenting on who we should vote for regardless of who he endorses and who he doesn't like. He didn't opine on the uk election or Scotland referendum, I wonder why he felt the need to bash one of our candidates.

lol he commented on all those things. Why not just say, you are a conservative and dislike liberal comedians. Thankfully you have many great choices in conservative comics like,... ummmm.... wait...

[Caged Great]

I just voted for Cundal, which is as close to Kodos as my riding would provide. We need better candidates Canada.

[Coach]

Scottish Referendum - "Very informative coverage about something i otherwise wouldn't follow much!"

Indian Election - "Great for Oliver to shed some light on important democratic processes in nations other than the USA!"

Canadian Election - "Don't talk about my country! Unless you like the same candidate as me."

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Scottish Referendum - "Very informative coverage about something i otherwise wouldn't follow much!"

Indian Election - "Great for Oliver to shed some light on important democratic processes in nations other than the USA!"

Canadian Election - "Don't talk about my country! Unless you like the same candidate as me."

Considering the way U.S. politics are followed and covered up here, it is pretty hypocritical to get upset when they decide to cover ours, whether serious or satirical.

Politics of nations has influence on their neighbours, so it is good to know what is going on.

[Thor]

This is what my PC friend posted when he saw me sharing the John Oliver video, this stuff is just gold.

Ahh the old liberal media machine, chugging along spewing it's BS everywhere it goes. Because John Oliver, a Brit doing a talk show in the US knowns anything about what's happening in Canada. Please let's hear more about hats he thinks about us.

[Bunk]

I can't believe the Conservatives and/or NDP didn't use the Trudeau cascading down a set of stairs. That is gold right there.

[Ozy_Flame]

I can't believe Oliver didn't bring up Harper's buddy-buddy schmoozing with Rob Ford. That was a golden arrow missed.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I can't believe Oliver didn't bring up Harper's buddy-buddy schmoozing with Rob Ford. That was a golden arrow missed.

Too many idiotic things to choose from.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by Thor

He's a progressive liberal, you are a Conservative?

No I'm definitely not a conservative. I agree with a lot of what he says, I just don't like his show much. His style just irritates me for some reason.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I can't believe Oliver didn't bring up Harper's buddy-buddy schmoozing with Rob Ford. That was a golden arrow missed.

Ford references, in conjunction with anti weed, would have been perfect. The Harper 'I like TV and movies' bit was excellent - afterwards it went off the rails some, in his usual over the top fashion. Oliver's schtick is the skit he ended with. He needed the full 3-4 minutes to play it out.

[Blaster86]

John Oliver just reuses a lot of the same jokes that both Colbert and Stewart have done before him. He's not particularly funny or original.

[The Goon]

Looks like the election's going to be a close finish that could go in any number of directions. To that end, here are some non-partisan excuses you can use tomorrow when you don't like the result:

"(Guy I don't like) didn't get a mandate - 50+% voted for someone else."

"It's always those idiots/sheep in (region of country that's not mine)."

"He's not MY Prime Minister - I didn't vote for him."

"Our stupid electoral system is always going to favour (party I don't like)."

"Four years from now, no one is going to admit having voted for (party I don't like)."

[nik-]

The "X% didn't vote for X" argument is so maddening. The last time a party had a majority of votes was the PC's in 1980, and it was 50.03%. Before that was 1957.

This is the parliamentary system people, popular vote majorities don't happen. Deal with it.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by _Q_

No I'm definitely not a conservative. I agree with a lot of what he says, I just don't like his show much. His style just irritates me for some reason.

Kind of like me with Colbert. I probably agree with his political leanings most of the time, but I couldn't stand his schtick.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

John Oliver just reuses a lot of the same jokes that both Colbert and Stewart have done before him. He's not particularly funny or original.

Could not disagree more, he shares a similar approach, they all do of course.. However what separates his show from them is how far they go doing journalism to the stories he dedicates the majority of each episode on. They have been outstanding. From the US penal system, pay day loans, etc.. They all have a well done bit of journalism mixed in with humor.

I get some people don't like him, or his style but there is no denying his success and ability to get people interested in a whole range of topics that are not covered in the media.

Why John Oliver Never Goes To Parties With Celebrities Or Politicians

Last Week Tonight was one of the most talked about shows in 2014. It has a similar style to The Daily Show or The Colbert Report but more journalistically sound. It actually dives deep into real issues, and gives real solutions to problems.

Yes, Oliver cracks a lot of jokes in the process or sometimes shows a cat video to lighten the mood, but he stays on point so much so, that it gets the public talking. I think I saw more bits from Oliver’s Sunday night show go viral this year then even SNL sketches. But with Oliver’s strong opinion and well-deserved popularity comes a price.

Oliver has become a bit of an outsider. But he explained to NPR that he likes it that way and that comedians aren’t supposed to fit in. He said:

http://www.cinemablend.com/televisio...ans-69257.html

Also great Time article on the "John Oliver Effect"

His show has crashed websites, boosted donations and inspired legislation

Comedians mock our cultural and political institutions on TV all the time. But it’s not every day that a comic’s jokes crash a government website or directly inspire legislators to push for new laws.

John Oliver, host of HBO comedy news program Last Week Tonight, is quickly building up that level of cultural cachet. While his forebears and former colleagues Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart spend as much time lampooning the news media covering world events as they do analyzing events themselves, Oliver’s show stands out for its investigations into topics as varied as the militarization of the police state, Net neutrality and Argentina’s debt crisis.

http://time.com/3674807/john-oliver-...-miss-america/

[Coach]

I think Oliver is more "news" oriented than his predecessors. Colbert was the satire, Stewart was more about finding a few things and doing very in depth coverage of them. Oliver seems to be taking more of a news side of things and using the obvious faults in the stories as the humour, rather than pumping home jokes. Just more presenting ludicrous, but true, things and throwing his hands up going "are you serious?"

Anyways, I like them all for different reasons. Noah is doing well, but it will take him a while to get his teeth into anything in particular. He's been pretty "safe" so far I think.

[starseed]

Heads up. Andrew Coyne just started tweeting again a few minutes ago.

https://twitter.com/acoyne

So anyway… I have resigned as editor of Editorials and Comment for the National Post, effective immediately. I will remain a columnist.

2. Postmedia executives and I had a professional disagreement. Their view was that the publication of a column by the editorial page editor…

3. … dissenting from the Post’s endorsement of the Conservatives would have confused readers and embarrassed the paper.

4. My view was that that was what I was paid to do as a columnist: give my honest opinion on issues of public interest.

5. I don’t see public disagreement as confusing. I see it as honest. Readers, in my view, are adults & understand that adults can disagree.

6. The confusion, if any, would have been to have left the impression that the paper’s views were mine, or that my views were the paper’s.

7. To be clear, the owners and managers of a newspaper have a perfect right to set the paper’s editorial line as they wish.

8. Likewise they have a perfect right to decide who and what they wish to publish in their pages.

9. Nobody has a God-given right to be published and the country will get along very well without me telling them how to vote.

10. My concerns were and are merely a) that there should be no suggestion that I was personally endorsing or voting for the Conservatives.

11. And b) that I could not do my job as a columnist if I was obliged to stay silent where these conflicted with those of management.

12. While Postmedia’s intervention was unprecedented in my experience, I could not allow the precedent to stand.

13. So to protect my reputation and to preserve my editorial freedom as a columnist, I felt it necessary to resign the editorial position.

14. I think that’s all I need to say on the subject. If anyone’s still interested, I will be voting for the NDP candidate in my riding.

15. The short-form reasoning: the Conservatives don’t deserve to be re-elected, and the Liberals don’t deserve a majority.


Finally, my prediction: Airheads 143 Fascists 116 Commies 71 Traitors 5 Ewoks 2 Unabombers 1 (#rathagainstthemachine - oh let me dream…).

[starseed]

Wow. Never thought he would vote NDP, but I guess its not so shocking that his reasoning is to boot the government and prevent another majority.

Also, I think looking past how diplomatic he was in that statement, it is still a black eye on the National Post. Unprecedented intervention...

[FLAMESRULE]

^ Just read Coynes tweets. Good for him as a journalist. His point 5+6 is what I totally agree with. The "confusion" is a complete cop-out by the NatPo and he can't allow intervention as the editor.

[calgarygeologist]

I was pleasantly surprised to see a Marxist-Leninist candidate on my ballot. Vote not wasted.