"Please proceed"

So the Parti Québécois is very, very busy right now trying to analyze what the hell went so wrong with their last election.  It's part entertaining, part pathetic.

And now they're mud-slinging and ripping their shirts open.  They're blaming poor-quality polls, and being forced to go off-message by other parties, and, especially, they are in agony over their own raison d'être - an independent Quebec.  Here are my favorite ideas coming out of the post-partum analysis by party.

1. "We lost because of PKP and his fist in the air".  Well, yes.  Yes, you did - in part.  But...  wait a minute.  Isn't Article 1 of your party's charter to become an independent state?  So, what you're saying is that you lost because the population was reminded of what you really stand for?  Ouch.
2. "We lost because we didn't talk enough about separation."  So you lost because the population was reminded that your entire reason for being is to eventually hold a referendum to become independent - but you also lost because you didn't talk about this issue enough?  My brain is starting to hurt...
3. "The Liberals used the Referendum Scarecrow to 'scare' people."  So are you saying that you don't want a referendum, and that the Libs are scaring people over something that will never happen?  Or are you saying that a referendum is, in fact, totally within your intentions, but that the Liberals are somehow cheating when they remind everyone that a referendum is your ultimate goal?  Because here's the thing: when you, yourselves, claim that any mention of a referendum is 'frightening' for voters, you are admitting that your reason for being is something to be nervous about.
4. "Marois put herself on the poster and didn't give the local candidates enough publicity".  So here's a newsflash: if you're in an electoral district that has a recognizable candidate like the party leader or someone well-known like, say, Agnes Maltais or Gaetan Barrette, then you recognize the name and face on the local poster. But at the end of the day, whether or not you actually know the person on the poster doesn't count for squat because a large number of people aren't really voting for a candidate: most of us are voting against the thing we don't want.  If you represent a separatist party, I ain't voting for you.  Period.  It's not about the platform, not about the local issues, not about whether or not I like the face on the poster or not.  Do you think another referendum is a good idea?  Do you really think that this issue is worth the m/billions of dollars it will take to achieve and that the money is not better spent on hospitals, schools and and pensions?  I'd rather vote for a crook who will give his buddy a contract to build a new hospital, thank you very much.
5. "Quebecers are cowards, unable to stand up and put on their pants." and/or "We lack vision as a nation".  Oh, yes, calling me a coward for standing up and saying no to something I do not want and that I know will most likely mortgage my child's future in the land of his birth will definitely convince to to adopt your point-of-view.  Calling me a cowardly unintelligent non-real-Quebecer will surely get my vote.  Riiiiiight.
6. "We tried good governance and it didn't get us re-elected, so we should drop the idea of building a good government and place our focus/energy/message back on the sovereignty issue." So you tried good governance and...  Wait - you actually think you tried good governance??  In the 18 moths you were in power you presented us with a governmental gong show with your divisive Charter for which you lied unabashedly about legal opinions, you tried to introduce nationalistic history classes for CEGEP students and toyed with the idea of revoking the right to attend English-language institutions at the collegiate level.  You reneged on balancing the budget deficit and ignored your own law on holding elections on fixed dates.  You called your own damn election at the time of your choosing instead of being toppled from your position as a minority government and got your asses handed to you by a party which remains on TV every day at the never-ending public inquiry on corruption.  You were like a government of circus clowns - and that is an insult to circus clowns, quite frankly.  If that was your attempt at "good government" I can't wait to see what you look/sound like when you drop "good governance" from your priorities.
7. "Our polls were wrong."  ORLY?  You're that bad at gaging public opinion?  You're that bad at picking your professional services?

And so I'm reminded of this : there was a turning point in the second Presidential debate between Obama and Romney, during which Romney sort of tries to trap Obama about Bengahzi, and Obama invites Romney to "please, proceed" with his line of thought.  Romney does, indeed, proceed, and proceeds to confirm that he is totally wrong. 

And so I sit at home reading about the PQ's plans to go back to their roots and re-take possession of the sovereignty issue - you know, the issue that over 60% of the population not only rejects but is so damn tired of having over their heads like a sword of Damocles that they would rather vote in a corrupt government for a four-year term over a separatist one?  The same issue that is losing ground with an increasingly open and worldly population, especially the young 'uns?  The issue that automatically shuts people down and turns them off at the very mention of it?  That issue?

Please, proceed.