Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Rumours, rumours

An anonymous blog poster is circulating the rumour that Dion will drop out at the next debates to support Kennedy. That makes no sense for many reasons, so I’ll pay it no more heed. It was far from the only rumour circulating on the blogsphere today. The more interesting one is Brison to Ignatieff.

Is it going to happen? Hey, who knows. They seem to have some common ground around Afghanistan, less in common in other areas. But in case he does, I’d like to get a head start by providing Scott with some material he could use for his endorsement speech. Here’s a few clips I was able to find (I’ve bolded some of the highlights he may want to use):


Michael Ignatieff was portrayed Wednesday as a gaffe-prone amateur by at least one Liberal leadership rival after the presumed front-runner was forced to clarify his latest controversial comment.


In the most pointed broadside yet against the acclaimed academic, Scott Brison said Ignatieff's repeated miscues suggest the rookie MP has poor political judgment and insufficient experience to lead a national party.


"These gaffes are damaging to a leadership campaign but they will be terminal to a national general election campaign," Brison said in an interview.


Brison's attack was prompted by what he called Ignatieff's "gaffe of the week" -- a refusal to commit to running in the next election if he doesn't win the party's leadership.


Here’s some more:


However, Brison said that in nine years in politics he hasn't made as many "retractions and clarifications" as Ignatieff has made in just nine months.


Brison compared Ignatieff to Stockwell Day, who jumped from provincial politics to become leader of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance without any experience at the federal level.


Day's tenure at the helm of the Alliance, which eventually merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the Conservative party, was short-lived and disastrous.


Brison said Ignatieff is "smarter than Stockwell," now Harper's minister of public safety. But he added Ignatieff faces an even steeper learning curve, having spent almost 30 years out of the country as an academic and journalist.


Brison took Ignatieff to task for other recent so-called gaffes, including telling the Star that Canadians "live and operate in a heartless world and you need leadership that understands that."


"When you see the world as being heartless, that helps someone justify ruthless acts," such as Qana, Brison said.


He also chided Ignatieff for saying that Canada's peacekeeping tradition "died" with the genocide in Rwanda.


Brison said that remark could only come from someone who's spent 30 years outside the country and fails to appreciate how important peacekeeping is to Canadians and to Liberals in particular, who view party icon Lester Pearson as the father of peacekeeping.


He also scoffed at Ignatieff's recent admission that he's not sure he's "up to the price you have to pay" to succeed in politics.


"If you go in to have heart surgery and the surgeon says, `I think I'm ready to do this but I've never done it before,' you're probably going to look for a surgeon who's done it before," Brison said.


To be clear, I thought Scott’s broadsides here were WAY over the top. They’re his words though. Really, I’d love to see Scott go to Iggy just for the sheer entertainment value of trying to walk all that back. I'd say that just for that reason I don't see it happening, but this is politics, far stanger things have happened.


Anyway, the silly season is upon us folks. Hang on for the ride!

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh get over it, it's the game of politics.

Ignatieff attacked 2 times in QP yesterday and Rae today by Baird - so I'm wondering if Dion is next.

Seems like the neo-cons are getting their claws out and ready just in case.

If they're starting this soon, it would appear they are worried.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, so when Dion goes over to Rae, as he seems shamelessly open to doing, will that be just fine, despite his indicting of Carolyn Bennet for going to Rae, acknowledging he "made a mess out of healthcare?"

Anonymous said...

It wouldn't be like Dion, IMO, to throw in the towel this early in the game. Besides, it would be quite a slap in the face to all those Quebecers who picked him instead of Kennedy (or Ignatieff for that matter).

Karen said...

It's only Tuesday and the nonsense has begun.

Each of the 4 front runners were exceptionally gracious after the weekend, (when I saw them anyway). They seem committed to the race and their teams, without dragging eachother through the mud. In fact, they all seemed to set the bar high for all of us to follow suit.

If the conservatives want to start the bashing, fine, let them, (Baird looked ridiculous in QP, but what else is new), but I truly hope we don't start following their lead.

Steve V said...

It will be interesting to see what the tone is in the next debate. Do you go negative and risk looking unseemly, or is it polite and risk the status quo. I have a feeling Rae might take the gloves off.

calgarygrit said...

Agreed on both counts.

Brison would certainly have some backflips to do if he went to Iggy.

Dr. Tux said...

I'm going against Iggy and pretty hard. I'm sorry guys but I'm taking off the gloves.

You can see that I've already posted lots of information about Iggy on my blog: www.whiletheearthburns.blogspot.com

The more and more research I do into him, his opinions and his campaign, the more and more I smell the stench of corruption. Is this the renewal the liberal party is talking about?

Anonymous said...

Iggy corrupt? Oh my god how desperate can some people be.

I think if the candidates want a cleaner race, then we should oblige them. They are trying very hard to renew the party so why would some jerk (Jeremy Kaourac)play this dirty game - pathetic.

This is definately one to ignore when reading the blogs. Cheap shots, cheap mind and apparently trying to hurt the party. Is he a neo-con pretending to be a Liberal?

Anonymous said...

On TV Ignatieff, Rae and Dion have openly said they want a clean race. It's part of the party renewal and unification and then some idiot in the blog world wants to take the gloves off?

This is a joke isn't it?

I can't see why Dion would go to Rae when he's in such a good position - doesn't make sense.

On Mike Duffy Live last night Greg Watson said he knows for sure that the Conservatives are rooting for Rae to win.

To me that means they are scared of both Ignatieff and Dion.