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Title: Dion quits, but to remain at the helm until May
Category: Political
Posted By: Hyack
Date: 2008-10-20 11:22:05
Canadian

   

ROFLMAO!!!

Never interrupt an enemy while he is making a mistake.

   

   

CTV is running an online poll of who people would like to see as the next Liberal leader. I think Justin Trudeau is leading. What exactly makes people think he would make a good party leader or PM for that matter? Having a father that was a PM doesn't qualify you as being a good politician. This just strengthens my belief that many people are stupid.

   

He had to stay around so he could pay off that 1/4 million in leadership campaign debt.

   

Funny how we think we're so advanced now that we choose our leaders through a free vote, as opposed to through bloodlines, like the old kings and queens of the empire. And yet--in the US with the Bush bloodline, and perhaps now in Canada with Trudeau, people will vote for you based on just your bloodline.

   

I think it's strange to give someone a vote of confidence when they haven't spent one minute as a politician. It's like this 18 year old guy in PG who's running for mayor. Why not spend a couple terms on city council? Get your feet wet before you try jumping into the leadership role.

   

Frank McKenna is only one percentage point behind.

Go Frankie.

   

He's the logical choice. But then, when in the past 40 years has the LPofC ever cared obout logic. They seem to be fixated on out socializing the NDP, not on currying favor with the average Canadian.

There are far to many real left wingers in the Party to ever feel comfortable with a right of center liberal leader, even if that's who the Canadian public would choose.

   

Trudeau is leading mostly due to name recognition right now.

He is too young, and hasnt done anything yet to prove himself,
but give it a couple of years.

Papineau is not the easiest riding in Montreal for the Libs to win,
and he did win it in spite of the Lib performance in the rest of the country.


I like McKenna too, think he would do well on the national scene.

As FOG said, the next thing for the Libs to do is to chase out the real
lefties from the party, and move the party much closer to the center.

Then they may have a chance..

   

Who? What? Where, When? This is Canada.

   

That's not true. The Liberals were actually left of centre in name only during the Chretien-Martin years. By Canadian standards, they were actually quite centrist. They ran balanced budgets, didn't drastically expand the social welfare state, and placed us in the middle on foreign policy. (They were also corrupt and hated the military, at least under Chretien, but that's another story.)

Today, the Conservatives have moved from the right into the centre, pushing the Libs over to the left. That's why they're getting their asses handed to them as the centre is where parties win in Canadian politics.

Although I do agree that the Libs aren't being altogether logical these days. Dion's decision to stay astounds me. His decision is going to cause alot of grumbling in the Lib ranks.

Perhaps he's hoping the government may fall before May, giving him another kick at the can?

   

Doubt M.Dion has any worries about money... The National Post said to-day he was too nice.. too honest and that was his downfall. Guess one could say when you are up against a crooked rednecked tory like harper you need all the guns you can muster.
Well lets hope that the spring will bring a new gutsy leader with the moxy to put ass hole harper where he belongs...there are alot of good contenders and I will be at the convention supporting mine.. and when its over Canadians wont have to settle for second best.

   

Harper wasn't Dion's worst enemy, the real torpedos came from within his own party. The knives have been out for him for months.

Campaign gaffes, lack of organization on the ground (remember the airplane fiasco in day 1?), grenades thrown at him from high profile Libs like Stephen Ledrew in the Nation Post, "annonymous sources" within the Liberal party. That's what killed him.

Harper was just the better tactician with a solid platform. No point in getting upset at him for taking advantage of Liberal dissension. That's how the game's played.

   

You can say that again. Dion made his own bed in this election but to put all the blame solely on him for the Liberals performance isn't right.

The Liberal Party of Canada, for the lack of better wording, is broken and needs to be fixed and that's something that very few Liberals seem to be willing to admit. Now before every Liberal on this forum jumps on me for saying that let me remind you that even Justin Trudeau has publicly stated this and for doing so Justin has earned my respect. The Liberals have concentrated on "winning" the next election but have put put very little effort into coming up with a platform which would allow them to do so.

Dion has stated that it was the negative PR by the conservatives that sunk him but I can only believe this to a point. If anything the lack of support for Dion and his policies from with in his own party is what did him in. To use negative PR from the opposing party as an excuse is just a cop out.

One thing I'll credit Dion for is staying on. There really is no suitable interim leader available at the moment if you consider Goodale is a Rea supporter and McCallum is squarely in Iggy's camp ... or maybe it's the other way around, point being neither is suitable due to their alignment with the possible leadership contenders. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose by Dion but if it was it was the right choice.

   

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