...born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

Troof and consequences: Cashiered Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes (who looks to be around 95 in the photo on the Ceeb site) has decided to run as an independent so that voters in her Winnipeg riding can decide for themselves whether they want to send a troofer to Parliament:

Former Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes announced Thursday that she'll sit as an Independent if she's elected Oct. 14 in Manitoba's Kildonan-St. Paul riding.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion fired Hughes last week over an article she wrote six years ago as a freelance journalist. She had suggested Israeli intelligence warned the U.S. in advance of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, and that Israeli businesses vacated the premises before the attack.

Hughes, a former CBC journalist, has defended her writing, saying the article is "very clearly innocent of any kind of anti-Semitic feeling," and noting that she taught about the Holocaust for more than a decade at the University of Winnipeg and wrote a biography of a leading figure in the Jewish community.

Hughes has continued to appear at debates and discuss issues with constituents.

Her former Liberal campaign manager, Selina Bieber, is still at her side.

"I've been pleasantly surprised and heart-warmed by the level of support she's received," Bieber said. "It's really good. It gives me confidence in the electorate, in their intelligence, and their ability to read and speak English, and comprehend it and really be objective."

Hughes said running as an Independent would send a message to the Liberal party: "That I'm not a willing victim, that the democratic process is a factor here.

"We need to consider how this is playing out in the community," she said…

I predict that, come election day,  it won’t play out all that well, and the geriatric-appearing Ms.  Hughes will be sent packing.

Posted by: scaramouche at 20:16 | link | comments

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