Monday, September 28, 2009

Ignatieff: More Win Unhad

Back before and during the last election, there was a sense that the Liberal party not only did not respond effectively to the smears and attacks directed at leader Stephane Dion but that the party chose not to defend the leader. Or perhaps more accurately, the factions of the party lining up behind presumptive front runners Ignatieff and Rae left Dion to dangle in the breeze. That was a breeze that the Conservatives were only too happy to populate with feces. The curious failure of the Liberals to mount any sort of defence of their leader, and by extension their party, saw them drop a handy number of seats to the poop flinging Cons.

In the fallout, a brief tussle between Ignatieff and Rae made it apparent that Ignatieff had assembled the greater internal faction and he went on to leadership by acclamation. There is now a strong sense that the Ignatieff Liberals are run by a cadre of back-room boys working out of Toronto. Watching the Liberal's recent performance (using that term lightly) there's a stink of focus group in the air with just a hint of waffle. Among the war room heroes are such noble creatures as Warren Kinsella, a fellow whose name has appeared in more than one paragraph adjacent to the term douche bag. Kinsella is a long time Liberal... um, thingie person. Apart from his eternal combativeness and reputation for litigiousness, perhaps his greatest public claim to fame is as a former scribe for the National Post. A status that lends him an air of credibility equivalent to that afforded Raphelxander MacNadrian.

Mere weeks after serving the public up a helping of mock bravado loaf, wherein acclaimed leader Ignatieff threw down the gauntlet and declared his intent to bring down the Harper government, the Libs bumble along. And now there are deep cracks forming in the Liberal ice. In a display of political acumen worthy of a two year tenure limit as leader, Ignatieff has played a game of internal politics in Quebec against his own respected
lieutenant Denis Coderre.

Days after federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff overuled one of his decisions, Bourassa MP Denis Coderre has announced he is stepping aside.

He said at a press conference that he no longer has the "moral authority" to continue as Quebec lieutenant after former cabinet minister Martin Cauchon was confirmed as the Outremont candidate.

Coderre had favoured newcomer Nathalie Le Prohon for the Outremont nomination but was overruled by the party leader.


Nothing says victory like playing the autocrat from Toronto card in La Belle Province. Michael Ignatieff, snatching defeat from the jaws of, um, a slightly less harrowing defeat. If the leader can't lead within his own party and compounds that by flip-flopping on promises made to important and loyal advisers, why should the electorate trust his word? Quebec is, arguably, the battleground for the next potential Liberal upsurge. If the Liberals are ever to form another government, they'll have to hold the Cons at bay in the rest of the country and rout them in Quebec. Well, if your legs are going to get cut out from under you, you might as well do it yourself I suppose.

8 comments:

Lindsay Stewart said...

Smoochies Ti!

Anonymous said...

Rather amusing to see some Liberals call Coderre a traitor, backstabber and other kind words (when they once defended the Fred Flintstone wannabe imitator)...

The Montreal Gazette had stated to rip into the Liberal party for their ineptitude....

The blame should go to Coderre and Iggy (and by extension the has-been WK).

You have to hand it to WK, under his "guidance" the Liberals are making the Conservatives more palatable to Canadians.


Makes you wish the BQ would run across Canada don't it?

(oh and to most Liblogs bloggers - told you so - now fuck off with the sanctimonious shit)

Ti-Guy said...

Smoochies Ti!

Heh.

I only took the bit about Kinsella seriously. Frankly, it's a mystery to me why other Liberal bloggers have let him dominate the Liblogosphere (which is now partitioned off into two aggregators, for reasons that escape me now, although I understand the original reasons for it).

He increasingly strikes me as an old man trying desperately to be hip and techo-savvy, minus any of the buffoon-like charm that that suggests. And whenever he's on a crusade about something, he looks for the least powerful, influential (and likely intemperate/illiterate) person to savage as an example to the rest of you. It's pathetic.

Almost made me start my own blog at one point, but then I remembered I hate blogs.

liberal supporter said...

Rather amusing to see some Liberals call Coderre a traitor, backstabber and other kind words (when they once defended the Fred Flintstone wannabe imitator)...
I think the funniest are the BTs, now trying to claim Liberals are blaming CPC/Reform. They never ceased to spread the hezbollah canard, now they're spinning furiously that it's still bad for the Liberals that he's out, despite their earlier lies.

Should keep the pundits busy parsing and interviewing each other. As they say "doesn't matter what they say, as long as they talk about us and please spell our names right"

Frank Frink said...

Makes you wish the BQ would run across Canada don't it?

Pretty much.

Jennifer Smith said...

It's all part of our grand scheme to bring the whole party crashing down so we can burn off the deadwood and rebuild the whole thing from scratch.

CC said...

You're halfway there, dear.

Lindsay Stewart said...

Are grease fires within the environmental protection laws?