Post SFTT
The Liberals are sounding an awful lot like they are weak in the knees and are going to back the government – who is actually surprised at that?
PS: Where is Dion?
The Liberals are sounding an awful lot like they are weak in the knees and are going to back the government – who is actually surprised at that?
PS: Where is Dion?
Designed by Gabfire slightly modified by stageleft
Dion may feel he “needs to go”? What an interesting concept, Ignatieff has to be working really hard to hide his grin.
Dion poked his head out of a hole and said 6 more weeks of government. – Election on Dec 3.
SFTT? I didn’t get enough sleep to pick up on what that means.
But it did give me an idea for electoral reform. Second Past the Post would add needed confusion into our electoral system, possibly breaking up the hold parties have on our country.
“PS: Where is Dion?” CTV has a brief (really brief) clip with him, and longer with Iggy. I think Dion had to go home to change his underwear. This has not been one of his better weeks.
Come to think of it, has he HAD a good week since winning the leadership race?
“SFTT? I didn’t get enough sleep to pick up on what that means.”
It’s either:
a) An onomatopeic rendering of the sound emitting from Stephan Dion’s trousers when he realized how adroitly he’s been outmanoeuvered, or
b) An abbreviation of “Speech from the Throne”.
I prefer the former, but suspect the latter was intended.
Naively, I never thought I would see the day day that the Liberals would be in such disarray. Their malaise is pretty similar to the implosion that the Conservatives went through for the 10 years after 1993. Martin was barely better than Kim Campbell. Dion, who is probably a decent guy with some good ideas, seems rudderless. The knives in the back room are being sharpened and it is doubtful he will survive. I doubt Iggy will be much better.
Dion was probably better off hiding from the media last evening. He is between a rock and a hard place courtesy of the Bloc and NDP. He can’t win either way and this moment will be his downfall – soon.
Dion lacks the basic political ability to convey any vision, decisiveness, and/or fortitude he may have (whether he has any of the three is a whole ‘nuther discussion) , and as a result of that the party looks visionless, spineless, rudderless, and stupid.
If he cares anything at all about the party he will leave as soon, and as quietly, as possible….. I’m sure there’s a spot at the podium for him this afternoon.
It’s hard to blame the Bloc and the NDP for his woes, they are doing exactly what the Liberals would do if they were in the same position; talking big because they can.
Politics is a dirty game. The Bloc and the NDP would love an election right now in the hopes of picking up votes from disenchanted Liberals, and if they have to hang some poor sod from Quebec City out to dry to accomplish that they will…. and not lose a moments sleep over it.
The only thing that can topple the goverment would be if Iggy’s supporters pearl harbour Dion by not voting for the Throne speech.
Dion would go into the election unprepared, get his ass kicked and step down so Iggy could be crowned as leader.
That’s what I would do, and I’m a frickin’ genius.
Whooee! I ain’t sure about Iggy bein’ the guy to save the Grits. He ain’t liberal enough to lead the Liberals. I ain’t got no rason to think it would happen but I’d like to see Dion take down Harpoon then come out swingin’ in a hardball campaign.
Canajun politics is turnin’ into the same sorta cult of personality like the Merkans have. So far, Dion has not come across as either a strong fighter or a strong leader. A whole lotta Canajuns want a PM who’s the country’s gladiator on the world stage. Despite the fact that Harper has used his international platform to deride Canada, many still think his bullyboy posturin’ makes him a better gladiator than crybaby backpack boy.
Dion could use an election campaign as a perfect opportunity to re-invent his image by goin’ toe-to-toe and showin’ he ain’t a wimp. If he passes the SFTT , Dion ends up reinforcin’ the idea that he’s the Coward of the Country. If he ain’t willin’ to fight fer his principles, why would anyone give him their confidence?
JB
I don’t think anyone except Harper, Layton, and Duceppe want an election right now, and if Dion votes down the speech, the voters are going to send their apathy and ire against him. I agree that Dion needs to prove himself on a battleground, but there’s no use riding into certain death if it makes your opponent stronger.
The Grits should voice their opposition, but let the TS ride, then make every future vote a confidence vote, and make the Tories fight the war on the battlefield, not during a ceremonial show of force.
If he does that though, Dion’s gotta actually show up and take a stand.
Wow…leave the site for 6 months and everybody starts drinking the Kool-Aid.
Dion is going to be the person that resurrects the Liberal Party. While many Liberal supporters and anti-Conservatives are busy sharpening the cutlery for Dion because he won’t challenge Harper, Dion is doing what he has to in order to avoid fighting futile battles. The MSM are more interested in blood-sports than objective reporting, and so they are propagating this meme that Dion has no guts. The Kool-Aid drinking Liberals and Lefties are so aghast that the Conservatives have **DARED** to lay their hands on the levers of power in Canada that you have them wobbling between suicide and bouts of Harper Derangement Syndrome. Either way, they’re pretty much useless for the democratic renewal that the Liberals need.
Dion has managed to take a broken political party and make it a little less broken. He has managed to avoid a general election that would see Canadians venting a lot of anger on the Liberals for bringing it about. And he can still bring the party together over the coming year. The fire that he will walk through over the coming year will temper him. And if he is able to shed some of the moonbats and crooks from the Liberal Party, then he has a chance of bringing the party in from the wilderness.
Will he be Prime Minister? Probably not during his tenure. But if he is forced out of office by factional fighting, then the Liberal Party is pretty much doomed and will likely be supplanted by the Greens (sorry Jack!) and even they won’t have the political trust among voters to allow them to be anything more than official opposition.
Face it, Canada will have a Harper government for many years–and that is why he is able to move as confidently as he has in his tenure as compared to the rather limp approach of his predecessor, Martin. Yeah, I know, democracy’s a bitch–ain’t it?
Conservative values are Canadian values after all.
Who do you think is causing the turmoil around Dion? Iggy and his friends. Do we want a back stabber as the next leader of the party? I think not. Dion has been underestimated before. Who thought he would win the Liberal leadership?
Who thought he would win the Liberal leadership?
Cherniak.
Iggy and his friends. Do we want a back stabber as the next leader of the party?
Paul Martin?
Neil has a point.
No one thought he could do it, and yet here he is. No one thinks he can take out Harper, or at least survive an election intact…
The other night I was listening to some conservative radio, and the topic of the night was “Theme Songs for Dion after the SFTT”. Of course conservatives were calling in and suggesting all kinds of silly songs.
What I wouldn’t have given to be Apollo Creed with Dion for 10 minutes…..
“Eye of the Tiger, Rock. Eye of the Tiger!”