I have been following this latest insurgency in Outremont, and my initial reaction to the Coderre resignation was that the big winner is Thomas Mulcair. This increases his probability of retaining the seat. We can debate which candidate would give the Liberals the best chance of winning, a former Liberal Cabinet Minister who held the seat for a decade or a local high profile woman, but as the French military genius Napoleon Bonaparte would say, an enemy divided is easier to conquer. Mulcair's opponent is divided. No matter how the Libs choose to spin this, it is all bad news. It may not spill into other ridings, but winning Outremont would be a major national story (hence the level of Torontonian interference), defeating the deputy leader of the NDP in a former Liberal stronghold.
And on Ignatieff's response to this "friendly fire", that the accusation of the Toronto-centricity of the party would "make people laugh" in BC and Alberta, well yes they are laughing Mike. But they are laughing AT you Mike, not WITH you. Most centrists in the west oppose the Liberals because they are too concentrated in Toronto. These accusations confirm their bias, it does not bust it. So I agree with Mikey Ignatieff that the west is laughing, we just disagree WHY they are laughing.
I like my strategic use of ALL CAPS in this posting...
"There are but two powers in the world, the sword and the mind. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the mind."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
The Dippers really, really, really needed this crisis in Outremont to even have a chance at survival. I think even with an unpleasant political infighting in the LPC and memories of party politics of years past, the LPC are still positioned well to topple the NDP. If Iggy continues to be a bonehead in the House with his flip flopping and complete unwillingness to tell Canadians more than just platitudes, we'll see a gradual erosion of LPC support no matter who wins the nomination. Does that automatically spell victory for the NDP? I think apathy wins in this case.
ReplyDeletewasn't Napoleon a Wop?
ReplyDelete