Re: Canadian Republicans
> The Wisdom of Justin Trudeau.
...As filtered through election ads.
> "The budget will balance itself."
Honest people would include the entire quote, "The commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget will balance itself.", and perhaps even refer to the CPAC interview from which that statement was cherry-picked.
"If A then B" is not the same as "B! Absolutely B!", and even you should know that.
> "It's very worrying, especially because Russia lost in hockey, they'll be in a bad mood. We fear Russia's involvement in Ukraine."
So... "We welcome Ukraine's new Russian Overlords" would have been more suitable? Or "What, Russia is invading the Ukraine? That's fine with me!"
> "I am not going to talk about this anymore because I am setting a new standard for transparency."
When you put those little quotey things around a sentence, you're making a claim that it's something that was actually said, and not just a half-assed paraphrase you found on a twit-list called "Shit Trudeau Says". The actual quote was "It is very clear that MPs can have supplementary sources of income in things they do, In my disclosure I've been more transparent than any politician ever has and I stand by what I said. I have set a new level of transparency." The quote comes from an interview given while he was running for the party leadership and refers to the fact that he gave a number of speeches and collected speaking fees even while sitting as a Member of Parliament. He discussed this business with the house Ethics Commissioner to ensure that there was no conflict of interest or violation of parliamentary rules and provided details about every engagement. When pressed for even more details he replied that he had already answered the question and was not hiding anything.
> "I don't read the newspapers, I don't watch the news. If something important happens, someone will tell me."
...In 2001. At the age of 29. Seven years before running for a seat in Parliament. And he was quoting his father. But don't let that stop you.
> "[Do you regret making the comment about China, that it was the country you most admire]:
>
> ''Maybe we shouldn't be so smug about Canada.""
Again, I'm looking for some context here. Would you be happier if he wore a red baseball cap with the slogan "MAKE CANADA GREAT AGAIN" written on it, and refused to hear anyone ever say that anything was wrong with his country?
> "[Is Canada better served when there are more Quebeckers in power than Albertans?]''
>
> ''I'm a Liberal, so obviously I think so."
>
> "Canada isn't doing well right now because it's Albertans who control our community and socio-democratic agenda. It doesn't work."
Trudeau's predecessor, Stephen Harper, represented traditionally Conservative Alberta. Both quotes come from a 2010 interview with Tele-Quebec in which Trudeau was asked about how the people of Quebec were feeling let down by the current Canadian government and responded, quite correctly, that the government was being led by ministers with very different values from those held in Quebec.
> "I've always known that it's sometimes an advantage to be a Trudeau."
And I've always know that it's sometimes an advantage to pick a few words out of the middle of a 2008 interview with Macleans. Especially when the rest of the quote goes like this:
"People forget he left politics when I was 12, 13 years old; I had just turned 13. And he spent the rest of his life raising us. From 13 to 25, I lived in the same house as him. Every night at dinner, every morning at breakfast, every weekend, conversations, he raised us. And his capacities as a leader were great, his capacities as a father were better. So the idea that he could somehow raise his sons so that we would somehow expect the world to be handed to us is completely misunderstanding the kind of father that he is. I mean, I know that the name Trudeau can be a great advantage. It can be a disadvantage in my riding and in some other places, but it also can be a great advantage. But if I want it to be an actual advantage, I have to work two or three times as hard as anyone else. But that’s the way I was raised anyway, so it’s no big shocker. "
> "[Do you think the claim to the North Pole is with Canada?]''
>
> ''I'm going to defer to scientists."
As opposed to... "Durr, no, I'm just going to say whatever gets me the most votes and doesn't piss off my American friends. Can I have some money now?"
As for the others, I would ask for a citation which is more than 140 characters long, but I can't spend my entire day doing your homework for you. Nobody is asking you to like or respect the guy, but if he really was as terrible as you said, I'm sure you could find some sort of honest arguments against him.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
