Since I do not believe in the tenets of socialism I cannot think like one. For this reason I find the NDP strategy baffling. If the new polls are to be believed (and I gone with them this far) then the NDP strategy is a bad as it could possibly be.
Before Jack! threw the PM a life-line the NDP where in line to get around 45 seats in the next election. According to the new poll by Ipsos-Reid it now looks closer to 23. So pandering to Buzz Hargrove could potentially cost the NDP 20+ seats. It all just seems so pointless.
I can understand that the NDP has more to fear from the Conservatives than the Liberals and so they will do what they can to prevent a Conservative government. But at what cost to their own party? If stopping the Conservatives is a higher priority (and it seems it is) why wouldn't the NDP just fold and join the Liberals. Such an influx of members would move the Liberal/NDPs into permanent majority territory and they could shift the party to the left from the inside.
What they are doing now just seems foolish. But like I said, I am not a socialist so why would I understand their motivations.
Cross-posted to the BTGB.
Update: Robert Fife of CTV agrees with me (video with Jane Taber and Allan Gregg). This deal did the NDP very little.
