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.