Calling it a "debate" is stretching it!
It was not a debate,it was a personal attack on Harper, both in french and english,even down to Layton making smart-assed remarks about the sweaters Harper wears.
Low class.
That is not politics,it is a personal attack for no good reason,and it has no place in a real debate.
It seems as if at least three of the wannabe's used the personal attack on Harper to keep the heat off themselves.
None of them had much to say of any substance regarding their own parties.
-Layton showed that he has the I.Q. of an ashtray,and is very much a used car salesman from the bad part of town.
He has a smile like moonlight on a gravestone.
-Dion came across as a man grasping for power when he knows those around him have lost all confidence in him,if they ever had any.
He was all most begging.
His Green Shift is going to hang him, and his mutilation of the english language will clinch the deal.
After the Liberals take a severe beating,they are going to eat him alive on french bread.
He is done.
-May was rude and cocky and spent far to much time showing just how superficial and immature she really is.
She is NOT a leader and WAY out of her league.
She was annoying and offered nothing but the usual green rhetoric.
She was downright embarrassing, and for her to even consider herself in Harpers league is an insult to the intelligence of canadians.
She is NOT ready for primetime and should go back to hugging trees or saving whales.
Preferably in the U.S.
-Suprisingly,Duceppe actually came across with a bit of class, and even showed a glimmer of logic at times.
But unfortunately for him,anywhere outside of Quebec,he just doesn't matter.
Now,I am no fan of Steven Harper and the Conservatives,but he showed great control and diplomacy and least conducted himslef like leadership material.
He was cool and collected and didn't waste his time taking cheap personal shots on his opponents, even when they were begging for it.(well..maybe one or to cheap shots)
His party platform was in fact vague at best, but then it is not as if the others gave him time to speak without interruption,so that is not really suprising.
And where the hell did they get that moderator?
What a loser he was!
All in all,I learned something that I did not expect.
I will go with Harper inspite of my personal dislike for the man and his party, because the Liberlas, NDP,and the Greens, just plain scare the hell out of me!
I really don't think I have much choice.
No way in hell can we trust our country to the likes of Dion,Layton,or May.(aka as the 3 Stooges)

It was a school yard pissing match! None of these clowns deserve to represent us especially at a moment where canadas economy could be in severe jepordy.

I thought the debate was good. Harper got the most air time as a result of being attacked on all fronts and looked uncomfortable at times as well. As he should, he is a liar and was called on it. The reality is this...politicians are more apt to be listened too if they are talking about the other guy rather than about themselves. This is a reflection of the Canadian electric...suffice to say. I am with Danny Williams ABC - anybody but the Conservatives !!

If we are so smart and so much better than them - how come they are the roosters on the fertilizer pile and we are the ones that shovel the stuff?

It could have been worse. At least they didn't throw any cold water at each other!

I enjoyed it and the Palin/Biden debate at the same time!

Oh, I don't take any of that stuff too seriously - it's just a gong show!

No policy, no platform, nothing except a smug face and why everyone else's plan won't work. Harper exudes un-trustworthiness, as leader of a party that's made every recession and downturn as difficult as possible for ordinary Canadians.
Elizabeth May made the most intelligent points, the Jack Attack stayed 100% on course and Dion managed to state what he was selling except to those intolerant dinosaurs who can't handle ESL.
$50 billion in tax cuts to the largest corporations, that's over $1200 per citizen in services that will be forgone, will save us? How big a fool do you think we are?
From a Softwood sellout to the continued poisoning of China trade, to an expensive and bloody tangled mess in Aghanistan led by people who think you can fight guerillas with leased tanks to a 1950 mentality that tries to claim Russia is the main threat to our Arctic.
Albertans have a reason to vote Tory when they directly benefit. What reason do Northern BC'ers have when they only get kicked in the you-know-whats?

cryptkeeper, great wrap-up analysis of the debate and its participants, in my opinion!

It was like Brian Mulroney was casting a dark shadow in the room...interesting times are coming.

An hour of CBC and CTV past debate didn't get down to the core of the matter but you did in just four short paragraphs!

Personally i'd rather just trust the words of the cartoonist.

Andyfreeze covered it pretty well. There is no need to say more.