[Newsbot]

<strong>Filibuster Cartoon</strong>
<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="http://www.filibustercartoons.com/archive.php?id=20061115" target="_blank">John and Justin</a> (click to view)
<strong>Date: </strong> November 15, 2006

This is the first time in over a dozen years that a Conservative Canadian Prime Minister will co-exist with an American Congress controlled by Democrats. It seems likely to challenge some preconceived notions about which country has the more liberal government. <br> <br>Of course, if there was to be a Democratic president, a Democratic Congress, and a Conservative Prime Minister, well THAT would really be something. It hasn\'t happened since the early 60\'s. If you don\'t count Joe Clark that is (and I don\'t).

[andrewcool]

I LOL'd when i saw that.

[Rhoffman]

Good comic.....

I really get the feeling that J.J. loves taking a whack at that stereotype!

[andrewcool]

See I Lol'd

Hmm Long Live Republicans.

[Psudo]

Some from both sides of the aisle are claiming that Conservative Democrats were able to take votes from corrupt and/or liberal Republicans. Thus, while the 2006 election is a loss of Republicans, it's a gain for conservatives.

I don't know how much I buy that, though.

[JJ]

I read that of the 27 seats the Dems picked up, only four can be considered "conservative" and even then that's only on a handful of social issues. Economically, the party has moved farther left than the Liberals in Canada, that's for sure.

[Beldar2000]

Not only do I like the "Who's more liberal?" debate, but also the Mac-vs-PC parody (another group of Canadians, Truenuff TV, did a great series of "Macspoofs").

[NoodleSlayer]

But Justin Long is no longer a Mac! (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35620)

That being said, I think the reason why the commentary has been that a number of the Democrats that were elected were conservatives is because a lot of the Democrats that have been highlighted, Tester in Montana, who is a pro-gun control, anti-gay marraige, is decidedly conservative. In Pennsylvania they ran Casey, a "anti-abortion" democrat. Jim Webb more notably said that it made him sick when he saw Bill Clinton returning a salute from some Marines.

However I certainly wouldn't say that Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT), Rick Santorum (R-PA) or George Allen (R-VA) were "more liberal" or even "slightly more left-leaning" then their democratic counterparts that are replacing them.

In other cases I wouldn't call Sheldon Whitehouse more conservative then Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) who was largely ousted because of how dismally unpopular George W. Bush is, despite having a very liberal voting record and being notably anti-Bush. Whitehouse didn't run on Chafee being "too liberal" but on stopping George W. Bush.

Other things of note. Four anti-stem-cell research Senators were replaced with four that are for it.

Not to mention that the Democratic leadership in the house under Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will be at least somewhat Liberal, although probably more reserved that Democrats had been in the past. Gun control and abortion bills are less likely to be addressed and we certainly aren't going to see flag burning or gay marraige amendments coming to a full house or senate vote in 2008.

[Schizo]

Noodle, I think you're missing something here. When the Democrats were ousted in the 90s, the political debates were in a very different section. To call Tester conservative is misleading at best - if you check his positions the only thing 'conservative' about him is the gun control issue, which I'll get to in a minute. Jim Webb certainly was no Democrat before, though if you read his recent Op/Ed in the Wall Street Journal you'll see a populist if ever there was one.

The debate has changed because the Republicans have brought their agenda into entirely different ground, and because Democrats realize now certain topics just won't fly.

Gun control is no longer, in my opinion, a relevant political topic anymore. Its been years since I even heard it mentioned, and you won't see ANYONE bring that up pro or con, aside from discussions over heavier weaponry (perhaps the enacting of a serious assault rifle ban, as Republicans used the talking point of it being poorly defined, and didn't suggest that the public should have access to M-16s and AK-47s) and such.

Of the other topics (abortion, gay marriage, flag burning), most Americans are pro-choice, and the status quo is more or less acceptable to the Democratic Congress I imagine (though I'd like to see some legislation to prevent pharmacists from refusing to dispense prescriptions because they don't agree with it), while gay marriage and flag burning were brought up only as wedge issues, and the American public finally showed some awareness of that.

I wound off topic, but my point is that Tester's conservative position, gun control,is irrelevant, while Webb and Casey are clearly populists when it comes to the economy. All told, Congress is decisively to the left of where it was before the elections.

Edit: Rephrasing

[B-Man]

"Of course, if there was to be a Democratic president, a Democratic Congress, and a Conservative Prime Minister, well THAT would really be something. It hasn't happened since the early 60's. If you don't count Joe Clark that is (and I don't)."

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Actually, it happened during the first few months of the Clinton presidency, under Mulroney and Campbell (the Dems won both houses in '92), but I guess that was also brief enough to ignore.