We have them right where we want them...
No. Seriously. There is a lot of depth and breadth to Mr. Ignatieff, and we will be getting our story out (with a bit more urgency now). We know we've been holding back... "saving it". Waiting for the 10th round. The "election rhetoric" was just that - rhetoric. We can be pretty sure the NDP was going to back the Reformers... There was no way they couldn't. Now we get to spend many weeks/months defining ourselves by the very task of OPPOSING the Cons. It's a good place to be.
Glad to see our party hold together, and continue to focus on the battle at hand. We will ensure that we give no quarter, and back from no challenge, when our leader and our party come under attack. A vicious, calculated, and efficient defence is JUST the answer to the recent polls and Conservative attack ads/and recent public mispending for their own PR.
What Ms. Hall-Findlay and Mr. Kennedy are accomplishing in Parliament WILL get people listening... More of us need to echo those words.
One thing we certainly are, is a good team. We are a team united against a "one man show". Let's not forget that.
Remember this: We don't need to "take the high road" anywhere. Politics is politics. Let's not resist "being political". We tried to be nice for a while... and it backfired (and has for 5 years). That doesn't mean we shouldn't pursue "a new politics". We should - if the new politics involves calling the Reform-a-Tories on everything they do. If that new politics involves presenting clearly Liberal ideas that will challenge and encourage Canadians to grow with us through this Conservative Recession...
Eloquent and intellectual as our tough leaders of the past were, backed into at corner they would not hesitate to tell their opponent (or the media) to "fuck off".
Time to roll up our sleeves and be that proud "Big Red Machine" we know we all are. We have the money, and we've assembled quite a team. Let's put it to proper use.
4 comments:
The Liberals were unprepared to fight an election and were called out the face the voters in October 2008. The worst pop in over 100 years.
The Liberals have increased 2,000 contributors to reach nearly 6 million in six month vs entire 2008.
Nominations are below 35% complete.
You really want to risk going back to the polls to prove it again?
http://punditsguide.ca/finances_e.php
http://punditsguide.ca/index.php
When the guy's approval rating is wobbling at 19%, the Liberal Party isn't holding together. WG you are definitely exhibiting a bunker mentality. Trust me, there were a lot of Libs among the 51% who disapproved of Ignatieff's performance to date.
The guy has essentially kicked party progressives to the curb and is now finding that, without them, he's shrinking the party.
His vaunted advisors have done a brilliant job, haven't they?
Here's something Iggy should have instinctively known. It's a lot easier to lose progressive Liberals than it will ever be to win them back.
Gaza, the Pinata Budget, the Tar Sands, carbon taxes - looks very conservative to me. We in BC already have one Liberal party that's anything but liberal. Don't count on that working federally. It won't.
Mound... you probably didn't read my comment about "real Liberal ideas"...
My point is, we're better painted into a corner, as are most intelligent, thoughtful people with ideas. Let's see what the next few weeks unfold. We all knew there would be a "hit" taken from doing what the public "doesn't want right now"... I'd say this is the bottom. A few weeks of real opposition - with 100 MPs opposing (including Bloc) - should help. I mean, who really listened to the handful of Dippers when they opposed everything? Fact is, when you have over 100 Cons spouting one line, it is a lot easier to have that heard in the media. Now you have almost the equivalent number of Opposition MPs talking back... and really opposing.
There is a different dynamic right now. Yes, we have f'd up again, by letting them define Iggy, BUT, there are advisors who want to strike back - HARD. Let's let them at it.
In this climate and era of hyperpartisanship in the US and Canada, it seems the tough words are the only things the Canadian public understands..
Well WG, if optimism would solve the party's problems you could single-handedly salvage it. I may not share your enthusiasm but I can't fault you for it either.
I think re-establishing a platform based on what you describe as "real liberal ideas" is the key. What I can't grasp is how the current leadership, which has struck out on its own path, can be turned back.
Michael Ignatieff is no Pierre Trudeau. He's possessed of no great vision for the country. Perhaps the time for grand vision has passed in any case.
Mr. Chretien discovered that when he had to devote his administration to bringing Canada back from a fiscal abyss. That didn't leave much room for implementing grand liberal policy.
Today we face a host of unprecedented problems and threats from preventing runaway climate change to global realignment and nuclear proliferation.
It's curious, nay troubling, that all three supposed leaders still pursue a form of politics that became outmoded at least one, arguably two, decades past. I fear that's because they're all seeking to advance their personal political aspirations instead of tending to the interests of the nation and our people. Sad, really.
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