Count Iggy Needs A Day Off

I'm just speechless at this quotation from the esteemed Count:

“The Liberal party is a democratic institution, it’s a fact. I want to stay. I want to continue. I want to win this election on the second of May but my faith is not just in my hands. Hey folks, it’s in the hands of millions of Canadian voters out there,” he told reporters and supporters outside Liberal candidate Mark Holland’s office in Ajax, Ont.

“After the election, we see where we are,” Ignatieff said.(link)

I'm confused... No I think the Liberal leader is confused... "... my faith is not just in my hands."? Wha...? That sentence makes no sense.

"The Liberal party is a democratic institution, it’s a fact..."

Really? The party of the "friendly dictatorship" that governed in the 1990s?

It gets better:

"We know how to get a deficit under control, we know how to make promises and keep them," Ignatieff said.

(...)

"Mr. Harper hates everything the Liberal party stands for," Ignatieff said. "Mr. Harper has no vision for Canada, but he has a very sharp vision for the Conservative Party of Canada which is to drive a stake through the heart of the Liberal party."(link)

This guy needs some caffeine and pronto.

Does he honestly believe he can use a promise-keeper line ala Mike Harris? He's leader of the party that backtracked on the GST, NAFTA, the "democratic deficit", etc., etc....

And I'm even more confused about Count Iggy's outrage of the "hatred" that Harper shows to the Liberal Party.

I know the Liberal leader was out of the country at the time, but his predecessors made it a priority to destroy the PC's and the Reform Party with an efficiency that would make Karl Rove blush. That's politics. Does the Count really expect us to believe that he wouldn't "drive at stake through the heart" of the Tories if he had the chance?

On top of it all he has failed to realize the blunder he made making that statement. Usually people only talk about "driving a stake through the heart" when they are referring to an unearthly mythological demonic creature. In effect he's saying that the Liberal Party is a member of the undead. Now I realize that the Liberals are down to historic lows in the polls, but I for one do not believe in Vampires or Vampiric Parties and have no intent on supporting them.

Partisanship and joking aside, in all sincerity the Liberal leader needs to take a day off. He's obviously exhausted himself - his entourage should be reading him the riot act at this point because all he's doing by pressing forward is to make more folly for himself and his party.

Personal Attacks

Iggy Puff is insulted:

“While the Ignatieffs have made the most of their coming to Canada in their respective fields, they have never ceased to enjoy great privilege, as a function of the financial and educational resources and social status they brought with them, and which are theirs to this day,” a website authorized by the Conservative Party says.

(...)

In response, the Liberal Leader accused the Tories of twisting the facts and acting outside the bounds of decency. “Their attack on me is a disgrace. They’ve attacked my patriotism. They’ve attacked my commitment to the country. And now they’re attacking my family.”

He said the Tories’ targeting of his character and family is unparalleled in this country. “These personal attacks are unprecedented in the history of Canadian democracy,” Mr. Ignatieff charged.(link)

Those horrible Tories! How could they! Why... If they only knew what it felt like!

I guess I should probably say hi to those soldiers out in the street... They seem to be nowhere to be seen...

Also better go to my Hospital for my "US style healthcare." Meanwhile I thought Abortion was going to banned... Oh well I guess not all of the "hidden agenda" could be right.

PS - I don't blame you Iggy for making such a wildly inaccurate statement. After all you were out of the country when these attacks were launched, most likely, by some of the very same people sitting in your War Room right now. (No attack intended... Ok maybe a little bit of attack intended).

PPS - Do I think the Tories should be calling into question Iggy Puff's family history? No. It's ill advised. There's plenty of more important things to talk about. Canadians don't care what part of Iggy's family history is exaggerated. That being said, such a comment from a Canadian opposition leader is not only wrong, it's uninformed, and a little pretentious (which no doubt just reinforces the Conservative attack that Iggy is elitist and out of touch).

Cotton-Picking Moments

"If you say democracy is a little distraction, it doesn't matter to you, look out because the ... Canadian people will say now 'wait a cotton-pickin' minute here,'" Ignatieff said.(link)

First off, I'm sure Iggy Puff is no white supremacist running amok in Ottawa. I'm sure happy he made a gaffe like this one and do hope the Tories push this issue just as much as the Liberalismos would do under similar circumstances. That being said, it's a distraction that doesn't deserve more than a news cycle.

I would like to make one quick comment: Iggy needs to loosen up. I don't know if verbage like this is entirely normal for him, but it's precisely that kind of verbage that makes him appear aloof and out of touch.

We all know he's smart. He was a friggin' Prof at Harvard. He doesn't need to dumb it down for the rest of us. He may not be trying to do that, but it really doesn't matter in politics. Perception is everything.

He'd be best to drop the folksy talk...

When you have no new ideas...

You attack things that no one cares about:

Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals are ignoring the Tory edict requiring the government of Canada to be referred to as the “Harper government.”

In fact, they’ve launched a little re-branding exercise of their own and are now calling the government the “Conservative regime” or even the “Harper regime.” (link)

Really?

Do you not remember the "Paul Martin Government."

Isn't there something better you can come up with?...

Look - putting away my partisan chapeaux for a second, what kind of messed up strategy is this from the Liberal Party? First it was "Are you better off than five years ago." Then it was "National Day Care." And just this past weekend it was all about "Education."

The Liberal message seems to change day by day. In all honesty, just what are they thinking? What is the message? And can anyone stick to it long enough for it to have a chance to resonate?

The only thing I can come up with is that they've done some sort of internal polling that has them convinced that the average Canuck gives half a beaver about this.

That seems doubtful to me.

Is there really that little happening in parliament that this is the most pressing issue?