The political hackery of Gerard Kennedy.

Back here, commenter "t" writes regarding my whack at Gerard Kennedy:

I do have to disagree with you that an avowed centrist is detrimental for the leadership candidacy. The Libs SHOULD be centrist and they were leaning far too far to the right during the election (to try to steal votes from the Cons), but it backfired and the NDP split the vote. The only way they can regain power is to remain centrist.

I don't care if Kennedy wants to run as a progressive, a centrist or a Martian -- that's his choice. What grinds my gears is how he's been portrayed as a progressive all this time, only to hide those embarrassing progressive principles in a desk drawer for the sake of political opportunism during the leadership contest.

Everything you've read about Kennedy recently is how he's young, he's cool, he's 10 pounds of hipness in a 5-pound bag, he's the new face of the Liberal party and, by God, he's a progressive. Unless, of course, it comes to winning the leadership of the party, at which point, hey, can you hang on to these principles for me for a few months, I'll come back for them later, thanks ever so much.

If Kennedy wants to run as a centrist, then let him embrace that label. Let him own it, and stop trying to perpetuate this myth of "Well, he's really a progressive, he's just doing this for the sake of political expediency."

Given the choice between a centrist who runs as a centrist, and an actual progressive who simply portrays himself as a centrist strictly for convenience, I would without hesitation vote for the former. At least that person is being honest, while the progressive is being a douchebag for hackery.

But that's just me.