And another one bites the dust.
Whose ear will Layton whisper into now?

The leaders of the coalition are dropping like flies. Hopefully the moonbats will ditch Layton now.

You mean the first American to lead the Coalition Party of Canada...Welcome to the show Professor Dithers.

Apparently, Ignatieff is still considering the coalition, now that spin the wheel for PM has ended.

"Leadership if necessary, but not necessarily leadership" is now the guiding power principle of the LPC.

Seems that the CTV made a mistake and came up with the truth.
Layton will stay, even with the vast amount of useful idiots the socialist have. The current one is particularly obnoxious, the quality that the socialists need in order to impress the “journalists”.

God, at this rate, Canadian politics could remain interesting for years!  8^>

If I was a strategist in the CPC war-room(s), I'd be painting Iggy as a Yank (NTTAWRT), a coalitionist (sleeps-with-separatists), and an out-of-touch academic starting RIGHT NOW, and I'd also be working on the inevitable response required to the hyping of Iggy as a potential "Canadian Obama."  There's lessons to be learned from the O!'s campaign, particularly for those of us who don't want to see a repeat of the election of His Total Empty-Suit Awesomeness up here in the Great White North.

Mind you, the O! was able to avoid pesky laws regarding campaign finance, whereas the Libs will have a harder time doing this, so without the complicity of Central Canada's Lame Stream Media, perhaps we won't be exposed to as much Iggy-idolatry as we might otherwise expect.

Ah, who am I kidding?  The LSM will probably be in the tank for him starting today...

Garth

Is the comment about Mr. Ignatieff being an American a wry joke or does he really hold American citizenship? I scrounged through his biography and didn't find any mention of a claim to American citizenship. Wouldn't that be as controversial as Mr. Dion's French citizenship?

Your anti-americanism is astonishing. By the same logic, I lived for 6 years in Vancouver (more time than Iggy lived in the US). Does that make me a westerner?

With a real leader in charge of the Liberals now, I dearly hope that we can all start focusing on policies instead of this kind of irrelevant spin and feable attempts at "framing". I think that is beyond a conservative's capabilities though, certainly Harper.

Puffins hide their poop. Where will the foreign leader of the Coalition of Saviors of Canada hide Rae and Dion, in a cabinet or a cupboard?

Needing to intellectualize every thought that passes through his turgid brain, Iggy is going to make Mr. Dithers look like the Great Communicator.

Is that a smirk on Harper's face?

Had the deadline to enter the leadership raced passed?

Wow, don't post after a night shift.

That should read: Has the deadline for entering the leadership race pass?

I should get a say as to who leads the LPC. After all, I’m part of the majority that never voted for them.

Ted....."real leaders" don't lead from the back....like Iggy. He is an empty suit.

And as for Layton, if anyone needs to be removed, it is that slimy egotist. He has been hiding a bit lately...popping up from his spider hole from time to time to give the MSM a sound bite and then he disappears again.

It will be interesting to see how much of the Liberal support now bleeds to the NDP given that Rae has been shown the door.

Just so, SomeGuyinOttawa.

Michael Ignatieff is now the Leader of the Bloc Coalition.

There really is no Liberal Party of Canada.
Anybody who donates money to the Bloc Coalition shouldn't be able to write the donation off as a legitimate Party tax writeoff.

The fix is in with msm.Dan Matheson told Bobby Fife,'there is no doubt that Iggy is an outstanding candidate'

John Luft- right on with the layton comments, and let's not forget the big enablers Cretch and Broadbent.
BTW CTV commentator already saying Iggy will probably quit the coalition.

Actually, ted, anti-Americanism has been a major 'policy' of the Liberal Party for over a generation. Trudeau, Chretien and Martin used it on a daily basis.

As for policies, my argument is that the Liberal Party, again for over a generation, ignored such trifling requirements; it became A Ruling Party, which requires only Power, rather than a Political Party which requires policies.

My question is whether the Liberal Party can move out of this focus on Power as its infrastructural base and actually develop any policies. So far, this hasn't been the case.

Remember, Ignatieff signed that coalition, which has to be the most outrageous attack on our democracy in our history. He signed it; he made a choice; he didn't speak up against it.

And I strongly suspect that Ignatieff is going to be set up, by his propaganda arm, as the Obama of the North. The same elitism, the same empty rhetoric about 'change', and the same focus on special interest groups. Can Ignatieff resist this and work on actual realistic policies or will he, as he did with the coalition, go along for the vapid rhetorical propaganda ride?

Kate, you forgot C.D. Howe ;o)

Mrs. Sauga Matt: works for me! Let's write in Robert Winters's corpse....or even worse, reinflate Hellyer.

This really is fun to watch.

>"Iggy will probably quit the coalition."

It matters not.
Dion said he wouldn't consider a coalition and here there is now a coalition.

People who have been supporters of the LPC and NDP in the past should be told that a vote for the LPC or the NDP is a vote for the coalition.

Five Liberal leaders in five years. What an absolute joke the LPC has become.

video of ignatieff and rae showdown here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=4sNWcSpRFz8

Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Leader of the Liberal party... In his own words.

"To defeat evil, we may have to traffic in evils : indefinite detention of suspects, coercive interrogations, targeted assassinations, even pre-emptive war."

http://www.vigile.net/Lesser-Evils
Lesser Evils
Michael Ignatieff
New York Times Magazine
dimanche 2 mai 2004

Here I am thinking that most of the Liberal party doesn't have a clue about this devil they don't know.

Mr Yankee Doodle Dandy has spent his adult life as a foreigner to this country. PM Harper needs to pummel that liberal egghead supremacist and kick his sorry ass back across the border.

Ted, stop being obtuse. Ignatieff refers to himself as American in a NYT's article updating his support of the Iraq war a couple of years ago.

Oh, and to all you Liberal supporters out there, since the backroom brokers have selected your new Liberal Leader for you, sans constitution, who do you think they will select for you next time?

Bwahahahaha.
Lovin' it.

This is not good news for the Liberals. The coalition and coronation will be the final blow to the party.

The coalition deal destroyed their voters trust. The polls shows Canadians are disgusted with the coalition without election idea Forget about gaining support they will be lucky to hold on to what they had. It is impossible for the LPC expect the previous voters to disregard their willingness to sign on with socialists and separatists. After all, during the election, Dion said he would never do it. They also cannot entirely blame Dion since Iggy and all the other MPs signed the paper and pledged support. The election ads will write themselves.

Now because of the Iggy coronation, the left side of the LPC is more likely to support the NDP. So the Liberals strongholds in the big cities are in jeopardy. The process is also a slap in the face to LPC members, making it that much more difficult to raise funds and keep a stable voter base.

In Que., the coalition gave the Bloc legitimacy and a strong argument that they can again be effective extortionists and bring home lots of goodies. The Bloc will increase support not just from separatists but average Quebecers wanting more freebies from the ROC. The LPC will lose as much as the CPC, maybe even more if Liberals selling themselves to the Bloc disgust federalists.

So where does this leave the LPC...in more financial difficulty, losing to the CPC in the middle class suburbs because of the coalition coup attempt, losing to NDP in cities because of the Iggnation ceremony and losing the Bloc in Que. Where are they planning to pick up support?

I think everyone should start collecting Iggy-videos ... Soon enough we will be in an election and they will be (very) useful for portraying him in the correct light on youtube

Who stomped on the bush doll? Who said I hate those bastards? Who called bush an idiot?
Don't preach to us about being anti American!

RE five leaders in five years. Lets look for some root causes as to the Libs descent that began in 2003. How about bill C-24. Looks like having to raise funds from your supporters has proved difficult, and 1.95 per vote doesn't come close to covering the operating expenses of sustainting the framework designed to keeping the NGP in Power. My guess would be that requirement would be more like $195.00 per voter in the Libs case.

Tsar Michael Ignatieff:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/stevekog/MichaelIgnatieff.jpg

"Where are they planning to pick up support?"

Intravenous drug users, gun control freaks, ad agencies, golf resort owners...

Just trying to list the benefactors of Liberal policy in the last 10 years.

Liberals,so inept - five leaders in five years. Sounds like a mantra to me.

Iggy has spent the vast majority of his life not living in Canada. He doesn't understand the country. His view of the country is Toronto-centric and overly influenced by his liberal education and time working for the BBC.

A new Liberal King is crowned when what the Party needs is two years of time-out and a good top to bottom shake up to get their policies and platform sorted out.

King Iggy will just put more lipstick on the already heavily made up Liberal pig. More paint powder & perfume isn't going to help them. The Party needs surgery not cosmetics.

The liberal party, and especially the grassroots of that party, need a lesson in democracy. Why should the Liberal Party care about the grassroots? In fact, if I were Mr. Big Wig Liberal I'd wonder if maybe the Liberal party should ditch the idea of purchased memberships and voting rights altogether. And here's why:

No representation without taxation.

The Liberal party gets the majority of its money from public subsidy and the grassroots have shown very little interest in donating money beyond a nominal membership fee. If the grassroots won't donate to fund the party why should they get a vote in how the party is run? At least the Big Guys work for the party. In the long run I think removing the subsidy would be good for Liberal grassroots guys because the party, for once, would have to listen. Assuming they began to donate to the cause.

Overheard in Ottawa this morning (amid faint sounds of someone whistling Hail to the Chief): ".....I know I had some black shoe polish around here somewhere..." (then faint sounds of someone whistling Hail to the Chief again) ".....almost forgot - I need to find out if they've already had Christmas too....." (followed by faint sounds of someone whistling Hail to the Chief again)

"If the grassroots won't donate to fund the party why should they get a vote in how the party is run?...... In the long run I think removing the subsidy would be good for Liberal grassroots guys because the party, for once, would have to listen. Assuming they began to donate to the cause."
~The Rat

The grassroots of the LPC don't even get to select the candidate for their riding. The "Big Guys" can override their selection, and do, any time their want.

Personally I wouldn't donate to such a party either.

So what if Iggy has spent 30 years in the US?

The interesting choice for the future course of the Liberal Party is ... will it continue to bash America now that they have a leader who spend a good part of his life there?

There's no need for Harper to mention anything about this fact, since the US is Canada's largest market.

Let the MSM take care of this issue, they'll turn their knives on Iggy soon enough.

How many times does King Iggy imply that he's an American?

"There is only one thing we can do about this: live the way we are supposed to live, as our Constitution commands us to, with dignity and respect for all. Being an American is not easy. It is hard. We are required to keep some serious promises. We are judged by a high standard, one We crafted for ourselves in the founding documents of the republic, the ones that talk about the equality of all people, the ones that tell us that government is of the people, by the people and for the people. We need to live by this, at home and abroad, and it is just about the only thing we can do to face the hatred of those who want to destroy us. Our best defense is to stay true to who we are. Our best defense is to refuse to live in fear, of them, of ourselves, of anyone."

Is bob exploring his chances at the Brotherhood of the far Left taking him back into their folds, Now that his chance of Leader & pm have faded within the Liberal ranks.
Would Not Surprise Me At All

Ted,
Your body may have been in the west but your spirit is of Toronto.

Manley, McKenna, Tobin - too smart to want to be leader of a dying party.

Free: "Let the MSM take care of this issue, they'll turn their knives on Iggy soon enough."
Don't count on it. I predict that the MSM will inaugurate Iggy and have all the flower children voting that way by next election. Never count the Dippers out.

Zip:

Sounds like Iggy has some pretty good ideals which are more in tune with the average responsible Canadian, the type who rallied FOR Canada against the marxist coalition.

I happen to think Canada could use MOVE American values and reject the slow leftward drift of the opposition parties.

Speaking of which, one marxist leader out, two to go.

One Trojan Horse out (Rae), nowhere for the Liberal Party to go, since the Conservative Party has firmly planted themselves in the centrist positions the Libs used to hold before their leftward shift.

What territory are the Libs going to stake out? Further right of the Conservatives?

48 hours until the first Anti-Ignatieff ad is aired.. haha..

I can already hear the conservative war machine starting up. pwned!

48 hours until the first Anti-Ignatieff ad is aired.. haha..

I can already hear the conservative war machine starting up. pwned!

The coalition candidates in the next election would presumably consist of most Bloc-heads, Libs, NDPers, who won seats last time plus the first runners up from any party who came second to a Conservative who won his seat. That sounds very fair because the choice would be limited to vote Coalition or Conservative. I should email this to Iggy, Booby, and JackRat just to be sure I have this correct.

Neoconservatism is a political philosophy that emerged in the United States. Its key distinction is in international affairs, where it espouses an interventionist approach that seeks to defend national interests.

The term neoconservative was originally used as a criticism against liberals who had "moved to the right". Michael Harrington, a democratic socialist, coined the usage of neoconservative in a 1973 Dissent magazine article concerning welfare policy. According to E. J. Dionne, the nascent neoconservatives were driven by "the notion that liberalism" had failed and "no longer knew what it was talking about."

Irving Kristol remarked that a neoconservative is a "liberal mugged by reality," one who became more conservative after seeing the results of liberal policies. Kristol also claims three distinctive aspects of neoconservatism from previous forms of conservatism: a forward-looking approach drawn from their liberal heritage, rather than the reactionary and dour approach of previous conservatives; a meliorative outlook, proposing alternate reforms rather than simply attacking social liberal reforms; taking philosophical or ideological ideas very seriously.

Finally a true Neo-con to vote for!

Go Iggy!

So now we know why we didn't see nor could seem to find Ralph Goodale when the news of the coalition was breaking. Now we know the reason. Ralphie was one of the backroom boys for the Liberals cooking up the deal with the NDP and the SEPARATISTS (tough sh-t if Quebers are offended by that term)!

Saskatchewan's own Ralph Goodale was turning his back on his province and Western Canada as a whole in taking an active part in this travesty. He was more than willing to disenfranchise the West. Never mind that in both Saskatchewan and Alberta we voted greater than 50% for the CPC. Our votes mean nothing to Mr. "I Worship at the Alter of the Eastern Liberals" Goodale.

Ralph needs to know that no effort will be spared to kick his sorry a$$ out of the Commons in the next election.

Ignatieff lived stateside from 2000-2005.

The MSM will have to make the CPC look far-right so that the Liberals will appear to be the center. Get ready for a full assault of the Neo-cons are mean-spirited, nasty, knuckle-dragging, heartless rednecks stories. Articles filled with anonymous sources, sensitive papers found and delivered to the CBC, days upon days of manufactured outrage over one petty issues and an unending parade of "experts" to condemn every CPC initiative. I suspect they will also throw in a lot of region-baiting stories to attempt to demonize the west to gain support in Ontario and the East. That is why the progressive MSM want Harper gone. He has outsmarted them too many times and they would prefer an easier target.

Let's see. Having failed in a clandestine backroom coup to replace Canada's duly-elected Prime Minister without going to the Canadian electorate, the Liberal Party of Canada has responded by . . . well . . . conducting an INTERNAL clandestine backroom coup to dispose of its own elected leader, the chief knock against whom is that he is a hopelessly out-of-touch academic, and replace him with another hopelessly out-of-touch academic without going to the Liberal Party membership.

Somehow, I don't think that this will play well in a democracy.

Conservatives must stress how this episode exposes the incredible insularity, elitism and Toronto-centrism of the Liberal Party of Canada. For the Liberals, it's all about catering to the ever-changing whims and whispers of the backroom elite in Toronto. This is a political party that has turned its back on its own rank-and-file, just as it has turned its back on ordinary Canadians.

The Tories should be welcoming with open arms those centrist Liberal Party members who are having second thoughts about jumping into an ill-conceived coalition with socialists and separatists on the eve of a Global recession and who want to know just how a Russian aristocrat (I, for one, will be insisting that Count Ignatieff be addressed using his proper title) who has spent the majority of his adult life outside of Canada came to be their party's leader without their vote.

Strange - Iggy is a rookie MP who has never been in government except for opposition; has never had to make any decisions on policy for the country; was the original "Green Shift" carbon tax guy during the first leadership race and whose claim to being a Canadian "Liberal" is that he worked as a volunteer for Trudeau when he was a teenager.

Harper has more than 15 YEARS experience in Parliament and has spent the majority of his adult life developing policies for this country which he has lived in and contributed to for his entire life.

I really don't get why the so called smart people in the Liberal party recruited Iggy in 2005 to move back to Canada after 30 years away and truly believing that an insular professor whose only insights into our country for three decades has been filtered through the media and what he read from other sheltered acasdemics.

If we wondered if the Liberals were out of touch with Canadians we now have absolute confirmation.

Scary indeed. The latte Toronto centric media elite want one of their own I guess. How about US????

When will the MSM rise up and blame Stephen Harper for the hole that the Liberals have dug for themselves?

Enter, the leader of the band: Iggy Pop and the Stooges!

Stephen Le Drew, a big Liberal party guy (past President I believe) wrote in the National press before (I assume) Iggy's crowning.

[ A party cannot choose a leadership candidate to be interim leader, and expect anyone to think it is a fair race. That is why parties traditionally demand that any interim leader sign a pledge saying he or she will not run for permanent leader. It is also wrong to deny thousand of people their say; it is undemocratic and bad politics. It smacks of an elitist club.]

[ .. ]

[ In response, some Liberals contend that the party needs a permanent leader to run in the election that surely will befall us before the Liberal convention in Vancouver slated for May. But anyone who says that the Liberals should vote down the government has rocks in his head.

The Liberal party has no money, precious few new ideas (I am being generous here), an embarrassing leader and the least voter-support in its history. It desperately needs to rebuild before it can expect any respect from Canadians.]

[ Looking at the results of the leadership convention that tapped Paul Martin, the Liberal party does not gain from a coronation. Let the race begin. - Stephen LeDrew, a Toronto lawyer and a radio host on CFRB 1010, was president of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1998 to 2003.] NP

IMO, the only thing that explains the LPC conduct lately is that all rational thought has been displaced by a fit of rage. The fit of rage, resulting from the threat of loosing the taxpayer teat.

If the Liberals we're worried about collecting donations before ... try knocking on a door now.

Vote for us! If you don't like us now, how about with a new leader? We change them often, as snow tires, they can be seasonal.

Iggy - Maclean's 2003 Canada's Sexiest Cerebral Man!!!

Guess that'll teach Rae from show his butt on national television in prime time!

Imagine the MSM tolerating a Conservative candidate that spent 30 years outside this country. Ha.
The Libs think that by putting new lipstick on an old skunk it will keep it from smelling. The honeymoon with Iggy will last about as long as it takes for the old smell to cross the room.

Sadly though, it would be a very healthy thing for Canada to have an opposition with a semblance of integrity and decency.
However, since the party funding changes that cut them off from their large corporate buddies and their corrupt hold on power its like watching a penniless Paris Hilton trying to survive on the street.
All it can do now is pimp itself out to the highest bidder like the NDP and the Bloc to survive.
Pretty sad spectacle.

The reality of the LPC is that they are bankrupt: ideologically, morally, and financially. Instead of new ideas, ethical behavior, and effective fund raising, we have seen ill conceived notions (Green Shift, Coalition), smear jobs (Mulroney, Cadman) and feigned indignation (how dare you take my voter subsidized money from me?). OK so they have a new leader - but expect more of the same...

So the liberals, who have been getting all their policy ideas from the leftwing side of the American Democratic Party, have now decided to import their Coalition Colonel as well

True SYF

This is exactly how the Liberals hamstrung themselves(politically). For the last 2.5 years the Liberals have been out flanked by the Dippers and the Cons. This is why Liberals must abstain from voting on bills in Parliament, the best they can do is agree with one of the two parties they must disagree with; therefore, don't say anything. It surprises me that people in Ontario stuck with the Libs after the last 2.5 years. After all, a vote for the Liberals is a vote for nothing.

For those Liberals that can not vote for the Cons or the Dippers do yourselves a favor and stay home on election night! (or vote for Lizzy May hahahahahahahahahaha)

Democracy. Liberal Style. Parachutes. Coronations. Leadership with Elections. Gender Bias. No grass roots nominations.Backroom dealing. Top down Policies.

Of the 77 Liberal Members of Parliament, only ten were actually democratically elected to carry the Liberal Party banner in this election.

The other 67 Members of Parliament were appointed this time around.

Why would anybody pay $10 to be a member of a party that doesn't care beans about what you think.

I'm just curious.How come no Liberals are on here bemoaning the fact they didn't get to vote in their new leader? Hell,even us conservatives are PO'd at the way the Lieberals are "electing" their new Poo-Bah.Is there a Can in Zimbabwe??

The January budget has, IMO, just got to include a cut in political party subsidies.

From $1.95 down to a $buck.

A no-brainer. Morally right, Fiscal responsible. A vote getter.

If Liberals will not give to the LPC, why should taxpayers ?

Liberals tried to give Canada a French citizen as Prime Minister in Dion and failed and now they want to give us an American in Ignatieff.

Oh Yes. the great democratic liberal party of Canada. I remember Trudeau unilaterally suspending my human rights in Oct 1970 for a regional dispute. It was outrageous.

Looks like Rae couldn't muster enough of his union supporters to cough up ten bucks to infiltrate the Liberal party.

Doesn't come as a surprise really because Liberals and NDP supporters don't feel it is up to them to support their own parties....it is up to the taxpayer. You know....."entitlement" and all that.

Another Liberal saviour with high expectations. You know where that leads. Paul Martin, anyone?

From $1.95 down to a $buck.

And cut the 75% political donation tax rebate down to zero.
And freeloader farm subsidies to nothing while we're at it.
A no-brainer. Morally right, Fiscal responsible. A vote getter.
And right whingers won't have to wear that hypocrisy tag quite as often.

Mike, Iggy the Ditherer may have lived "stateside" for five years but wherever else he was, he was out of the country for some 30 years.

The media will all be so giddy with excitement, orgasms all 'round with this new and exciting news of Iggy being crowned. We'll be having another professor giving us lectures and double talking his way to the bottom of the heap with the mess called the LPC.

Hedy Fry must be very upset to have her choice for leader, Rae, be basically forced to quit the race without any say by the ordinary members of the party. Bottom line, they just don't get it.

Things are unfolding as one would expect and it's all going to cave in around them in the end.

I wonder if the typical Torontonian will have the same reaction to him as they do all Americans.(à la Carolyn Parrish). Do you think the CPC could capitalize on the anti-American bias most Canadians have towards Americans and get a stronger majority?

Hmmm...

favill

ron in kelowna ... "down to a buck".

I agree - but only for "national" parties (1 candidate for every riding - coast-to-coast).

Kills the Bloc and the Greens and stops future non-compete agreements.

Will the Liberals support it - you bet (after pragmatic consideration) - $1.00 is better than a kick in the nuts.

Will the NDP support it - no - they will vote with the Bloc - further soiling their bedding.

Works like crazy glue for me.

MM

Can any of you imagine the absolute and abject OUTRAGE if Stephen Harper has spent 30 years of his life in the USA!!!

Funny how it isn't even an issue when it is a Liberal???

What's Iggy's stance on corporate welfare bums ... like the auto industry?

The US has approved a $15 billion loan, their Canadian branch plants would like to hook the Canadian taxpayer for $6.8 billion.

Who's about to take the bait on behalf of the taxpayer?

Who will defend the interest of the taxpayer?

Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of ‘we know how to spend your money better than you do."

From A Liberal Blog:

Why I Despise Michael Ignatieff:

First he only only irritated me, as a panglossian cheerleader for American imperialism (Empire Lite), the Iraq War, and a jesuitical apologist for torture (coercive interrogation). I thought, he's a foolish supporter of bad things, acting the intellectual without being one (have you seen the Channel 4 chat show? I have. He was good at that, and should have stuck to it). But there are many such, so I just thought he was a fool.

More here: http://eugeneforseyliberal.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-i-despise-michael-ignatieff.html

I bet he drops out this afternoon .

"down to a buck"....No way...cut it off completely. Polls have shown that most taxpayers agree with Harper that politicians should raise their own funds.

I know it will be tough for the Liberals since they have to be in power to steal it!

From CTV:

Liberal Sen. Céline Hervieux-Payette, who participated in the conference call, was reportedly furious over the process by which Ignatieff will take power.

“This will destroy the Liberal Party, I’m devastated by what this will do to the party, they don’t understand anything about democracy,” she said, according to Fife.

There you go. Even senior Liberal senators say that the Liberals “don’t understand anything about democracy”. The attack ads against the coalition pretty much write themselves after that…many thanks, Céline!

About that terrible Economic Update:

Don Drummond, pathalogical Liberal economist for TD Bank said:

"The economic update is exactly what the country needs. I could not have written it better myself."

This is the guy the Liberal quote ad nauseum. Havn't heard them repeat this time.

Funny that.

"And cut the 75% political donation tax rebate down to zero."

Does this tax break only help right wingers?

This tax break makes it possible for all people (especially low income) to participate in Canadian politics at the grass roots level. The political subsidy allows political parties to avoid grass roots input because the money has already been extorted from the electorate; therefore, the parties do not have to earn it. Very Liberal!

Leftards like Manny also fail to mention that under the Conservative's canceled plan to cancel the subsidy, the Conservatives would have taken the largest loss in $$, so one could say the Conservatives would be leading by example.

Perhaps Manny would prefer some type of income test for the subsidy so all parties that operate in the black can be excluded from the subsidy. After all, in the words of their infamous leader: "It's not fair!"

Re liberal party members voting for their leader.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but there seems to be a notion that the liberal party of Canada operates democratically.
Un like conservative party members liberals do not allow just every liberal the chance to vote in their leader.
The liberal party assigns "delegates" that task and those delegates are chosen by some other equally elite system of dorks. The unelected "delegates" choose their leader at their convention, NOT their own party's members.

Conversely, Conservatives allow every conservative party member who has paid for their membership the right to vote for their party leader.

Kate,
Little blitz at night and lots of help from velvet mafia was all that it took to persuade Bob Rae to give up on his dreams of glory.

"Liberals don't understand anything about democracy." What a wonderful statement for the upcoming Conservative elections ads. Someone said earlier that the majority of Liberal candidates are parachuted into the ridings (bypassing the voting process). No matter: It's 'Do as I say, not as I do.'

Great Employment Opportunities Now Available For Disaffected Liberals:
"...We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old - and that's the criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges...." - Barack Obama

Appoint a Prime Minister !

Appoint a Party Leader !

Choose which industries will survive !

Decide which employers will employ !

What's left ? The weather !?

(Actually, The Weather Network has been known to favor th...... )

Heads up. WK, in his infinite wisdom, is calling SDA racist.

Kinsella needs to lighten up. Big time.

stephen harper must resign....resign.....resign...is the boob rae chant...but harper is winning in the body count department...leblanc, dion, and now rae....i'm waiting for the cage match with the "duly elected" american iggy going after the true canadian harper.....mister mean from alberta.....lets get ready to RUMBLE!!!!!!
i wonder if boob got his deposit back...

The Liberals in-the-know on TV have been hinting that the May convention could be a policy convention if a leadership contest is not needed. Iggy has said he wants to reach out to the grassroots and rebuild. In his and the rest of the elite's minds, I am sure that is roughly translated as "when we want your opinion, we'll give it to you... just send money" to the members. The policy convention will be MSM-hyped show dominated by university profs, progressive experts, artists and various other activist. The result being ideas completely out of touch with mainstream Canadians.

BTW how does PUMA translate into French?

Note how the Liberal party just assumes that all 76 of their elected MPs are just a number of sheep that they can herd one way or the other without them even bahhhhing the direction.

Now, little Liberal MP sheep, you just have to follow the big bad Iggy wolf - he knows best what is good for you and the party and the country.

After all - he can quote Aristotle!!!!

"I wonder if the typical Torontonian will have the same reaction to him as they do all Americans."

Surely I'm not the only one who has noticed the left's new found love for the United States. After all we MUST take their lead and "bailout" the auto sector and we MUST have "cap & trade" because the Americans are doing it.( they would probably like to bomb Pakistan also)

All of the AmericHATING in Torontard over the last few years has been a sham . There is no jurisdiction in Canada that wishes they were American like Torontard. Torontards have always looked to NYC for approval like a young sibling looks at a big brother. For proof of this one must just look at the pathetic Rap scene in Torontard. For the most part, it's a bunch of rappers who wish they were from "the hood" or "projects" in NYC. They flaunt their brown $100 bills, with their plated medallions in their rented cars hoping that Jay-Z, or some other sophisticate from NYC will recognize them as peers not realizing that Jay-Z never got a subsidy to make a video. In truth Torontards are no better than Sarah Palin, a bunch of bumpkins who should know their place; but, unlike Jay-Z they're not welcome back home.

(And the streets say Jigga can't go back home
You know when I heard that? When I was back home)
Jay-Z

Wayne-WK is lighting up as we speak,he's on vacation in Jamaica.

"And cut the 75% political donation tax rebate down to zero."

Sure, I'm willing to bet this wouldn't hurt the Conservatives any more than the Liberals or NDP parties; where a Conservative will see a problem and say "I should do something about that" someone who supports the NDP and Liberals would say "The government should do something about that".

"And freeloader farm subsidies to nothing while we're at it."

I can't speak for farmers in Ontario or Qubec but I suspect that many Western Canadian farmers would accept that if they were finally free of the Canadian Wheat Board, and could sell their crop at a fair price.

While we are at it, we can also cut all subsidies to all industries ... I'm certain that the manufacturing industries in Ontario and Qubec would survive in a fair market.

Many of these comments about the purportedly 'undemocratic' nature of Iggie's rise to leadership are simply false. He will be elected according to the LPC's constitution. Fact. Character assassination is the bread and butter of a party without direction or proper leadership.

77K jobs were lost in ON in Nov. And the Con gov't has done nothing to address this. Flaherty and Harper purposely neglect and insult Ontario to win votes elsewhere. Justified regionalism aside, these are CANADIANS that are being ignored by their own government. That is inexcusable.

You gotta know the end is near when WK is citing the last refuge, racism. Hope he doesn't blow his mind on too many rim swizzles in Jamaica Mon.

Seems he realizes the Liberals have lost all credibility as a viable alternative to govern the country.

"popping up from his spider hole from time to time to give the MSM a sound bite and then he disappears again."

This is so true -- he reared his ugly head again today, stating Harper's economic update was "stupid" and he must be fought at all costs.

Rae is the best at injecting hyperbole -- well, next to Jack Layton.

Oops, the should read ......RUM swizzles, not rim swizzles!

Tom Stephane Dion, Bob Rae and Dominic Leblanc. Is that a brown smudge I see on your chins? Opps almost forgot, Christmas is coming. Must be the fudge!

Will wk be Iggies point man ?

Didn't take him long to shed the (sorta)nice guy thing - you know, hand wringing about how his man doesn't hate the right as much as Rae's crowd. So shallow.

Today, wk is already attacking. Barking at sda again. And Bourque.

Just posted there(watching Rae live) - 'I Have, just now, changed my home page to bourque.com from NNW.

As entertaining as this Liberal leadership race is, shouldn't we be dealing with the issue of Harper not being able to get a majority. He was up against the weakest leader in Canadian history and someone who couldn't pass a first year economics course. If Iggy can even pronounce words correctly, the CPC is in trouble. Is there something going on in the party to replace Harper?

Daniel, exactly how are the 77K Canadians being ignored? I expect they're eligible for EI like everyone else. I don't go crying to the government for handouts in tough times. I would hope the government would handle yours and my tax dollars sensibly.

Harper won a resounding majority in the Rest of Canada if you exclude Quebec.

In fact, they even have more than 50% of the seats in Ontario.

All this for a political party that is less than 5 years old.

Nope - I don't think there are plans by Canadians or Conservatives to replace our leader.

The seething and frothing about replacing him by opposition parties re-confirms he is the right choice.

Time to bring in Justin Trudeau. Ignatief is yesterday's man. Canada needs the audacity to hope for change.

OK, never mind.

There is still a labour SHORTAGE in Canada. Of those 77,000 who lost their jobs there are new jobs waiting for them.
Also, severence pay and Employment Insurance; tax payer funding retraianing programs, etc.

Do you really think a company that is producing things that nobody is buying should stay in business? Especailly indistries that depend oon exports to countries that are not buying?

A job is something every one of us has the free choice of getting training for, applying for and even moving for - nanny state does not OWE us a paycheque or job security - we work for it.

>"Is there something going on in the party to replace Harper?"
~Steve

Heck NO.
You don't replace a leader who has won 2 elections in a row with an increased seat count.

If an election comes again soon, and it will, the Bloc Coalition won't be able to afford to fight it.

I expect Bob got some plum out of this, something helpful to the Company Behind The Curtain. UN job? Promised a portfolio? Chair of a Foundation? You can bet its somewhere not far from a pipeline of public cash.

We'll just have to wait to hear what it is. Perhaps a lottery would be in order?

An interesting look at Iggy, very ruthless man...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060825.wxboat26/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

I am disappointed, I badly wanted Hedy Fry as leader. There is no cocoa-coloured skin here, no hopey-changey, lesbian-inclusive marxism.

Everybody (CBCPravda,CTVTass and most daily editorial-papers) keeps telling me we need change like Obama. Ignatieff is-the horror-a white man, thats soooo unprogressive. Of course Boob is white too but at least he was marxist, we can ignore a lot when your marxist.

The lieberal party keeps disappointing me. Why, I did not even get to see Bob Rae's countrywide tour, where did he go exactly? Toronto, Toronto and Toronto.

Nothing has changed for me, Free the West!

Bestest MSM headline seen since "Citoyen Dionky's Lost His Tail".
Who has da biggest asset now?
...-

"From Ignatieff's problem to his biggest asset
Globe and Mail"

Daniel:

Even though my Canada includes Ontario, what evidence do you have that 77,000 jobs were lost in Ontario?

Near as I can remember, that was a November figure for all Canada.

It follow's September's increase to 100,000 jobs.

Are you suggesting all of September's increase was in Ontario?

C.D. Howe wasn't ever PM or leader of the Liberal party but he came close. I have often wondered to what extent the splits in the contemporary Liberal party go back to the frictions between St. Laurent and Howe. But back then the Liberals kept their counsel, so it is hard to know.

One Liblogger's take on the subject -

The Liberals should not forget that they have found a magical cure to the curse of a delegated leadership convention. Sure, they had to bend a few rules to get to the point of installing Iggy as leader, but at least they saved the millions of dollars they don’t have.

Do you hear that? As long as they'e saved cash, who cares about bending rules? Screw their membership, we elites will do as we please.

Just..........wow.

Daniel Oetti: "Many of these comments about the purportedly 'undemocratic' nature of Iggie's rise to leadership are simply false. He will be elected according to the LPC's constitution. Fact. Character assassination is the bread and butter of a party without direction or proper leadership."

I think you should take this complaint up with the many, many big shots in the Liberal Party itself who are at this moment voicing the same criticism about their own party's behaviour. For instance, check out the comment from Céline Hervieux-Payette at 1:28 above. Or look at the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press today. We're not saying anything that many who run the Liberal Party aren't saying themselves, and for very good reason.

Canadian Border Guard:

“state the nature of your visit”

Iggy:

“to rule over you and your people”

Guard:

“Length of stay?”

Iggy:

“only so long as it takes to accomplish my rule, and not a second longer”

Guard:

“a number where you’ll be staying”

Iggy:

“I’ll give you my Harvard office number, it’s on forward”.

Ignatieff is too flawed to be elected Prime Minister in a general election. The Liberal brand is disintegrating not only in public perception but also within the Liberal party grassroots membership who have again been ignored ... once when Dion was 'selected' by the Liberal backroom and now by the Liberal executive coronation of Ignatieff.

The only hope for Liberals to seize power is through their association with the Coalition Junta. The Ignatieff Liberals cannot get on that abstention treadmill after January 26th.

In any next election for February-March '09, the Coalition Junta would have to agree to running only one Coalition candidate per riding .. otherwise it blows up in their face ... and is not a viable option.

If the Coalition Junta defeats the government Budget, their only hope is to convince the GG that they can form a stable government, which they can't. If the GG accepts the Coalition Junta as the next government of Canada, we will not only have a constitutional crisis, we will be entering into a 'political' civil war. The GG must understand this because the unity of the nation is at stake.

Danny - Please give me an example of how Harper "ignored Ontario" to cater to the rest of the country....please.

Something to be said in Iggy's favour -- I think he is a basically honest person (unlike, for example, the slippery snake Rae). He is also a thoughtful individual. The problem, as I see it, for the Libs is that there is an expectation that a "star" leader is the solution to their problems. I see several remaining problems:

1. Iggy in the abstract and Iggy as actual leader of a broke and divided party are two different things. Iggy has never run anything, so he may or may not work out as a leader of the team.

2. The coalition has done damage to the Liberal brand no matter who is leader.

3. While Iggy will not be as offensive as Dion was in the eyes of the public, I believe that he is more driven by ego and a sense of entitlement than by a vision for the country. (This makes him a good representative of the Liberals.) By contrast, Harper is driven by a vision for the country. He is solid and focused.

While I do not hide the fact that I've long hoped that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives be given the opportunity to have a majority government, I also firmly believe that a democracy is much stronger when it has at least two strong parties.

That is simply not the case right now. The Liberals are still very much up the creek with a broken paddle mended together with Scotch tape.

Daniel: "Character assassination is the bread and butter of a party without direction or proper leadership." - You're referring to the Liberal party, right?

Do you think there is a magic wand to wave to make jobs reappear? Or do you think that only happens for Libs/Coalitionists?

Daniel Oettl

Ignatieff was crowned not elected...that's what happens when it is left up to 100 people to decide behind closed doors...this is democratic?

As for layoffs in Ontario you can blame the provincial Liberal Govt and previous Liberal Govts that kept throwing our tax money at the auto industry without making them make major changes...$75.00 hour cost for a worker tightening bolts...give me a break! And you are blaming Harper for the layoffs because Americans quit buying vehicles?

Besides thats why we have a EI fund or workers can move west where the jobs are.

Wait, but the media always told me Harper was the first American leader of an important Canadian party.

Defining Ignatieff .... Author, journalist, professor ... the wrong man for the wrong time in the economic travails of Canada and the World.

Stephen Harper ... Economist .. the Right Man for these challenging times for the Canadian nation.

Ignatieff is a loser in any general election .. and the only way he can seize power is through the infamous Coalition Junta and be installed as Prime Minister .. as he was installed the Liberal leader.

Liberal desperation is palpable and traitorous too.

I see all the Reformers are adding their comments. What a bunch of ass holes!

I see all the Reformers are adding their comments. What a bunch of ass holes!

Stephen Harper should stick with what he knows - nothing!!

IGNATIEFF !!!! ... PROVE YOUR LOVE OF CANADA AND RESPECT FOR THE LIBERAL PARTY ... RENOUNCE THE COALITION JUNTA ... REJECT SOCIALIST LAYTON AND SEPARATIST DUCEPPE .. IF YOU ARE TRULY A LOYAL CANADIAN.

Wow Lyle, that was spelled correctly! Good for you! You can go out and play now.

Actually grok, is there really a space in the middle of "asshole". I've always spelled it without one. For example:

"Lyle Morgan should stick only with what he knows - his asshole!!"

I could be wrong though. :-)

Guys......remeber Kate's rules!! As for the Igster,I think he is the best thing to happen to the LPC since,since,since...oh wait.

daniel - I think it's important in an argument to be factual.

Ignatieff will not be elected within a competitive election process. At the moment, he is being appointed 'interim' leader by the MPs, according to their constitution - which they can do when the previous leader resigns. The constitution also requires a delegate vote, but since there are now no other contenders for the position, he will be 'de facto' also appointed leader. Not elected.

Job losses for all of Canada, not Ontario, were 71,000, as the global economic downturn affected Canada. This brought the net gain in annual job creation down to 133,000, about one third of last year's gain.

I'm sure you aren't naive enough to blame Harper for this. If you did that, you'd be guilty of ignoring the fiscal and economic upheaval in our chief exporter, the US, and in the rest of the world.

Could you also provide examples of how Harper has ignored Ontario vs the rest of the country? Are you aware of the FLOW program for the GTA, with 115 million for hybrid buses, 697 million for extending the Spadina subway, 83 million for Mississauga rapid transit, 95 million for Brampton, etc..Do you know about the millions spent on the Great Lakes cleanup and the millions on Ontario water infrastructural projects? Road construction?...and so on? I bet you don't know.

To others - my own view is that the Liberal Party will 'love' Ignatieff. This is because, as a Ruling rather than Political party, Liberals tend to be elitists, sort of like the 19th c landed gentry. We commoners are akin to 'trade' and are snubbed and derided by the landed gentry; we are the popcorn and beer types.

So, Liberals are found among the urban latte crowd, (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) who live in their government funded jobs (education, health, social services, civil service). They expect the government to keep the riff raff isolate and quiet. They really aren't interested in policies but in a Sovereign type of Rule.

This idea of the leader as Sovereign means that they'll paint Ignatieff as Superior. A Wise Man. I suggest they'll paint him as the Obama of the North; his Harvard past will be touted as proof of his superiority. A Sovereign Rule requires Enemies, and they'll paint Harper as 'Bush'...and suggest that 'just as the Americans got rid of Bush, so we must....You get the picture.

The facts? To a Liberal, facts are irrelevant. Therefore, the fact that he signed on to an outrageous attack on our democracy and on the rights of all Canadians..will be redefined as a 'handy threat to keep the Conservatives in line'.

His past support for the Iraq War, the opposition to which was supposed to be a definitive 'value' of Canada? Piffle. He's 'changed'.
His elitism and rejection of democratic processes? Puffle; he does 'what has to be done'.

Watch for the MSM adoration-of-the-Wise Man and watch for the requirement for Evil Others. It used to be the Americans; it is now Harper. Sheesh, can't the Liberals grow up and move out of the oligarchic immaturity of a Ruling Party and become a Political Party?

Can't they think? About policies? About Canadians? Is it all and only about Power?

Lyle , calm down, and easy with the profanity bud, I feel your pain.
Your deranged anger is obvious, but woefully misplaced.

No wonder you come here, amongst conservatives to be heard.
Your liberal party backroom operators have just anointed your new leader, and once again changed your own rules to do so.
You don't have to be an authoritarian booster of big government tax and spend nanny state or a politically correct neo-marxist with a penchant to steal everything not directly ramset to the floor to understand what a bunch of facists the liberal high mucky mucks are.?
We're with you on that.

I feel sorry for dopey liberals who thought their party was something other than the sewage pond of Kleptocrats it has so stinkingly become.

A US Citizen (dual of course).

So in order to run, like was demanded of Dion and the GG - he must relinguish it?

Iggy is a "drive-by canadian" as has spent almost 1/2 his adult years in the UK and the USA - so why does he feel he should grace Canada's soil?

No one will buy him!

Just as there are subtle, sure sell signs in the market;

My 91 year old Mother just called. She had been watching Peter, 1 on 1 with PMSH.

Mom (paraphrasing); "What the he** is wrong with Mansbridge ? All he could do was talk down on Harper. He kept interrupting him. It was as if Mansbridge didn't want PMSH to get his words out."

You got it Mom !

She also said; "How can the reporters on TV keep saying the people are going to punish the PM over this coalition thing when it sure looks like most support him. The media is crazy !"

If a 91 year old Great Grandmother can figure it out, even without the aid of the Internet, it must truly be all over for the MSM.

ET

You are on fire today. Especially with the following statement:

"The facts? To a Liberal, facts are irrelevant."

Bang on! I'm reminded of a short discussion you and I had regarding PMSH and how he should handle Quebec. If I recall correctly, weeks before political Armageddon you mused that this is exactly the strategy PMSH should use. I argued that even though it was an attractive idea, I thought it would be viewed as too risky.

Kudos to you and your prognostication. I think "risky" is defiantly the word, but like you, I believe most Canadians are appreciative of PMSH and fed up with Quebecers.

Is it all and only about Power? ET, in a word YES!

Hey 'Indiana Homez'

You're just hateful. I live in Toronto after having lived in the states and Berlin. Just calm down. Your comparisons are asinine. Saying that hip-hop artists in Toronto just want to be NYC rappers is silly. that's like saying everyone on the raptors wishes they were on the knicks. Sure the knicks have a huge history, but its a DIFFERENT TEAM. Just like you're on some other team.

Hating on the people of Toronto because of past government policy, economic concentration and a terrible hockey team is just weak hate-fu.

Flame-soldier on, just be good at it, make real criticism.

"Peter, 1 on 1 with PMSH." -- Is this a new interview? If your grandmothers perceptions are correct (and I suspect they are), Mansbridge is behaving very unprofessionally. Shame on him. The biggest problem with the Ignatieff "appointment" is that the media will tend to gush. They are a very superficial and self-centred lot. The conservative attack ads on Dion only came out after he was initially getting such a coronation and free-ride by the media. It became necessary to introduce some balance. Unfortunately balance is something the media should be conscious of itself -- not much hope of that.

Antenor: "When will the MSM rise up and blame Stephen Harper for the hole that the Liberals have dug for themselves?"

They're already doing it, but through the panelists they've brought into their studios to comment. If you're watching CTV, CBC, TVO, etc., nearly 4:1 will be l/Liberal. These panels are very short on c/Conservatives. The l/Liberal commentators are quick to get in their licks about the "political crisis precipitated by PMSH." Every time I hear this, I want to throw something at the TV.

As for Ignatieff being "a real leader."

I DON'T THINK SO.

He was parachuted into his Lakeshore riding, against the wishes of a great many grassroots Liberals in that riding largely because of his parents' pedigree and his "fame" as an academic and a writer.

Are the set of qualities needed to be an acacdemic and a writer those that are needed to be a political leader?

I DON'T THINK SO.

As others have pointed out, Ignatieff has only three years of experience in the HOC, after having, essentially, stolen his candidacy in the Lakeshore riding. He's lived outside of Canada for 30 years, in Europe and the U.S.A., and he thinks he's suitably seasoned to become Canada's Prime Minister?

I DON'T THINK SO.

Now, he's become the leader of the LPC in a quickie backroom coronation and he and the LPC think they can run on their commitment to fairness, transparency, and democracatic principles?

I DON'T THINK SO.

Far from being a smooth operator, he likes to play coy in front of the camera, his face wreathed in a smug, supercilious smirk.

Real leader or parasitic political cuckoo?

Iggy: batb, how about political "coup coup"?

I think that the Liberals, instead of developing policies, ie, being a Political Party, and still trapped in the sovereignist idea of themselves as a Ruling Party, will be looking for 'population groups' that can be manipulated for votes.

It's early days but they seem to be tilting towards taking over Quebec. heh; that puts them in direct competition with the Bloc, whose MPs have no intention of giving up their salaries, benefits and pensions.

Rae's focus was on NDPers, but I doubt that Ignatieff will appeal to that group and Layton isn't about to allow him one foot on NDP turf.

Frankly, the 'reasonable action' to do now, would be for the Liberals to sit on the backbench, and work like crazy getting to know Canadians outside of the Power Bubble of Ottawa-Montreal.

That centralism, that focus only on first, Quebec and second, Ontario, is the key structural fault line of the Liberals. They simply don't realize that the Canada of 2008 is completely different from the Canada of 1948.

Their other structural fault, of course, is that they have ignored policy, choosing instead to govern only as a Ruling Party. Again, a Ruling Party governs as a sovereign entity; it is outside of the electorate and its interactions with the electorate are to manipulate it in return for votes.

The manipulation takes the place of constraints on freedom of speech and thought (eg, criticizing the Bloc is defined as an assault on Quebecers); however, this isolation of the electorate into passive onlookers is aided, not only by the inducement of shame, but by creating the electorate as self-focused needy dependents. Dependent on funding and subsidies. The problem is, a Ruling Party can only function if it has access to the taxpayer's money.

How does a Ruling Party behave without that money? It sets up Enemies of the State, defines itself as a White Knight..

So, with these two basic structural faults; their definition of Canada as Quebec-Ontario and their definition of themselves as a Ruling rather than Political party -and their mythic definition of themselves as a White Knight - I wonder how they'll manage in the months to come?

First thing - the daren't bring down the government soon. They'll have to resort to rhetoric. Lots and lots of MSM talk. Oh dear. Will they never shut up.

Daniel Oettl

I don't hate T-dot, but I am guilty of a little "smack" talk when it comes to T-dot. It is no different than I would say about Calgary being from Edmonton. I do have some western alienation issues, but that is not anger directed at T-dot. No, it is frustration with other Albertans for taking it for so long. I will challenge Ontarians and their voting record/motives because I truly believe that we are not considered when the discussion about what's best for Canada comes up.

That being said, the T-dot hip hop scene has always been a poor imitation of NYC hip hop. One must just look at the videos from T-dot and then see some videos from other artists in other cities. The music and how it is portrayed is quite different from region to region (ie west coast, NYC, Dirty South, Miami) yet in T-dot the large majority of videos/songs are NYCish.

My question for you is: what T-dot hip hop have you been listening to? It must be the wildly successful ground breaking band... Oh right I forgot the ONE artist who has been successful wrt hip hop in T-dots 20yrs hip hop tradition.

I'll stick to my assertion that T-dot (for the most part) wishes to be that which they claim to loathe... NYC. After all, the SUCCESFULL rap labels in Canada hail from Nova Scotia and Vancouver, but I'm sure you already know that.

lookout: political coup coup is perfect!!!

Adler was on fire today! Absolute Bliss!!

Move the slider to 7:00: http://ckryfm.corusradionetwork.com/shared/corus_content/emmis/cjobam/dynamic_audiovault_process.asp?dt=20081209_13

I specifically tuned into CBC Radio 1 news to catch how they would spin the Ignatieff appointment. There was one major & one minor dissenting voice but other than that it was all Warm & Fuzzy feelings in the Liberal Party. Sure!

Strange that our "fair & balanced" CBC chose not to interview Stephen Le Drew.

They then moved onto Harper's take. The reporter, Susan Lund, used the term "unrepentant" to describe him. Doesn't that term have religious underpinnings? Isn't there a requirement that one was be a severe atheist in order to work for the CBC? Perhaps I'm mistaken. :-)

we fret about CBCpravda , but if Im not mistaken they have less than 7% of viewers and their viewers are mainly left. preaching to the choir as they say.

looking at their website and comments they regard as legit feedback they would tend to think they are getting great support, but they hardly realize that they mostly hear from their own type and its a feedback loop. the best thing about feedback loops is that without a damper they usually cause failure.

The coronation of Dirty Iggy as the un-elected leader of the Liberals is just business as usual for those slime balls. Open revolt in the Liberals will continue as this gong show try's to "get back to power" An un-elected leader to run an un-elected Separatist coallition in a nefarious attempt at becoming Canada's first un-elected government, and un-elected PM. If Liberals lust for power wasn't so scary they would be funny. The MSM are in full Iggymania mode, which is to say, some kind of inclination toward mental illness, along with the predictable,it's all PM Harper's fault. Only the MSM would get behind a douche-bag who refers to himself as an American and has lived outside the country for 30 years. I wonder why Dirty Iggy left Canada during the Trudeauvian clampdown, wouldn't that distorted state be his utopiaian wet dream ?

batb at December 9, 2008 6:56 PM

How about "coupe de jour" ... Liberals falling like flies in their Coalition Junta ...LOL

I think that the Liberals, instead of developing policies, ie, being a Political Party, and still trapped in the sovereignist idea of themselves as a Ruling Party, will be looking for 'population groups' that can be manipulated for votes.
Posted by: ET at December 9, 2008 6:02 PM

ET, I think you're onto something here. What has particularly surprised me is the extent to which the Libs are willing to take short cuts back to power. First, with their ill-conceived coup, and now with a backroom deal to anoint a new leader.

The last election result, and current polls suggest the Canadian electorate is largely uninterested in the Liberal party. Yet, instead of doing what the Conservatives did during their long period in the Canadian political wilderness (unite the right wing parties, create a broad tent of center-right policies, etc.), the Libs are content to try to hustle their way back into power, like a con man looking for a fast buck.

The Libs need a long time-out to re-build the party, re-build their membership, and re-establish themselves as a centrist political entity. For the good of this country, we need a strong two-party system. The dippers and blockheads are free to hang around the fringes, but I yearn for the day we see a strong Conservative party and a strong Liberal party competing in the political arena.

"To defeat evil, we may have to traffic in evils : indefinite detention of suspects, coercive interrogations, targeted assassinations, even pre-emptive war."

- Michael Ignatieff, NY Times Mag, 2004

Michael Ignatieff, the neo-con.

heh. Forget about an internal civil war. This is going to be a Liberal implosion.

no, irwin daisy, you ignore the Liberal embeddment in relativism and pontification. The fact that Ignatieff said - whatever he said - will be accepted as 'intellectual analysis' of a superior mind and glossed over - noting that he 'wasn't Bush' and had no power to put his analysis into effect.

Remember, the Liberal Party does not function as a Political Party, which means that it does not operate by having real policies. It functions only as a Ruling Party, which means that it operates by 'divine right' and its words to the vassals and unwashed population are merely for manipulative purposes.

You expect people to hold Ignatieff to his word. But that's not the way the Liberal Party operates. Its words are rhetoric and anyone who thinks that they are linked to reality is naive and that includes rhetoric to end the GST or actions such as signing a document that is, in essence, a vicious attack on our democratic institutions.

They won't implode; they will now write and preach their narrative, which is, that the King has come; the Ruling Party has its King and, all must acknowledge this.

Watch Ignatieff slither out of his action of signing the coalition; he'll sigh and say, as he already has - 'it was necessary' - and blame it all on Harper. The MSM, who are all Liberal sycophants of elitism, who are all based in the Liberal enclave of Ottawa-Montreal, will sigh and swoon over him.

The Liberal Party will go after votes in Quebec; we'll see how the Bloc fights that. I suspect that Harper will leave the two of them to fight it out.

It will go after their elite class, the modern landed gentry, the governmental class of civil service, education, health care, etc ..all found in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver. This will be an easy 'hit' for this class is already steeped in its own elitism and self-defined insistence that it, and only its people, have the right to govern the unwashed populace.

It will go after ethnics, in a patronizing elitist manner - and I think it will have problems there, for I suspect and hope that immigrants are starting to reject the Liberal insistence that they stay in their isolate ghettoes, passive and dependent on government handouts.

Will they develop policy? Real policy or propaganda tactics of 'more money for civil service, more money for make-work projects, more money for more dependent groups'...?

By real policy, will they do anything to develop infrastructural systems to enable small and medium business (that the domain of the ah, peasantry, according to the Liberal elite)..Will they do anything to make Canadian businesses take risks and become internationally competitive? And so on. I doubt it. A Ruling Party acts only with its hand in the taxpayer's pocket and these actions are only to make other people dependent on their goodwill. In return for votes.

So, my question is whether the Canadian people have matured out of the Liberal era that kept them as dependent vassals of the Ottawa-Montreal Liberal elite? Have they? I am hoping that they have - and the reaction to the Coalition was a positive sign.