Monday, December 18, 2006

As Close To Me As Possible

Just like it was a no brainer for Harper to make Peter MacKay his deputy after winning CPC leadership, this one seemed fairly obvious too:

Federal Liberal party leader Stéphane Dion appointed former leadership candidate
rival Michael Ignatieff as his deputy leader in the first of a number of a
pre-election moves that will also include important roles for other former
leadership candidates.

posted by calgarygrit at 4:17 p.m.

21 Comments:

  • This is absurd! I expect these tricks from Lieberals, and Libranos, but not the Liberal Party!

    What? They are one in the same? I had no idea!

    Alex Dakota

    Red State Canucks

    By Blogger Alex Dakota, at 7:17 p.m.  

  • I'm not sure what to make of the above comment, but anyway, making Ignatieff Deputy Leader is the best choice (if Kennedy was in the House, I would have expected him to get it). Dion has a great chance to lead a united party into the next election, and he's doing everything possible to include his leadership rivals (Ignatieff, too, has been gracious in defeat).

    By Blogger IslandLiberal, at 7:39 p.m.  

  • House leader Hedy Fry?

    By Blogger daveberta, at 8:24 p.m.  

  • "In this dream team, my dream was to have Michael Ignatieff as close to me as possible."

    that's worth a couple of giggles.

    By Blogger Tarkwell Robotico, at 8:28 p.m.  

  • Have you heard the business about Dion letting Rae lead the development of the Liberal party platform? That seems just crazy to me - leaning left to ty and pick up the dipper voters will only expose all of their 'blue liberals' to the Torie the next go around.

    By Blogger just a guy..., at 8:59 p.m.  

  • Have you heard the business about Dion letting Rae lead the development of the Liberal party platform? That seems just crazy to me - leaning left to ty and pick up the dipper voters will only expose all of their 'blue liberals' to the Torie the next go around.

    Don't worry, all those "dipper voters" will be scared off by Iggy. Which leave the Liberals with what? A united party, I guess.

    By Blogger Simon Pole, at 10:37 p.m.  

  • Don't worry, all those "dipper voters" will be scared off by Iggy. Which leave the Liberals with what? A united party, I guess.

    The kool-aid is strong with this one.

    By Blogger Jason Townsend, at 11:15 p.m.  

  • It's interesting. I'm really not personally ready to turn the environment over to the Liberals, and Harper has really let the issue go unseized. He may yet end up with no one to blame but himself. I think he should take Mulroney on as a Special Advisor or something, and capitalize on Brian's "Greenest Ever" label.

    Dion's rhetoric is too overblown for my taste, but he's focused on unity, that's for sure. And Ignatieff has indeed been quite graceful, no question there from me.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 12:27 a.m.  

  • did anyone note today when Harper said: "I don't detect any desire on the part of the public to have two elections in one year."
    Hmmm. I could of sworn he had detected it when he put forward a non confidence motion May 19 2005, less than one year after the June 28 2004 election.

    By Blogger kenlister1, at 1:19 a.m.  

  • Does this mean Ignatieff will be asking questions on the Arar file in the House?

    He does after all have vast international experience, and can't be tarred as "soft on terrorism" because of hs support for various wars in this regard.

    Though perhaps I am missing something.

    By Blogger Simon Pole, at 2:13 a.m.  

  • Wow. The post title implies that Ignatieff is an "enemy," and out of 10 comments, exactly one is supportive of the decision.

    The grade-level of the conversation has unbelievably fallen since the end of the leadership convention.

    Congratulations, all. Enjoy the Harper majority.

    By Blogger Gauntlet, at 9:37 a.m.  

  • KTR - Harper got that one right, dont ya think?

    By Blogger just a guy..., at 9:38 a.m.  

  • It's good optics, but Dion better be careful to not give Iggy too much of a stage. It's good, however, to have Iggy "close" to him where he can keep tabs on his activity. Dion will be ok I think.

    By Blogger m5slib, at 10:00 a.m.  

  • Things are looking really good even though the election is still several months away.

    A swing of 11 seats is all that is needed.

    Current polls predict the Conservatives will lose all ten of their new seats in Quebec. Stunning !

    The there is the Wheat Board issue.
    Chuck Strahl, the agriculture minister from B.C. is happily going to implement his ideological approach. Hmmm ....

    Both premiers and thousands of producers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan don't agree. Well the Conservatives will happily sacrifice ten more seats there.

    And what are the chances that Vancouver Kingsway will go Conservative in the next election.

    Add in three more high profile candidates for Liberals.

    The stars are aligning nicely . . .

    By Blogger Down & Out in L A, at 10:30 a.m.  

  • "Hmmm. I could of sworn he had detected it when he put forward a non confidence motion May 19 2005, less than one year after the June 28 2004 election."

    I think there was something that came too light as a result of an inquiry at that time.What was it,hmmmm?Can't remember.I'm sure someone on here does.

    And isn't it about time for all the media outlets to start putting out daily polls showing that Canadians don't want another election right now?

    Perhaps if the opposition parties do threaten to force an election Harper could go on national tv to plead to remain Prime Minister longer.

    By Blogger paulsstuff, at 10:34 a.m.  

  • Anyways, the Girts are still breaking laws, their old Libranos way:
    Illegal Librano Fundraising

    Alex Dakota

    Red State Canucks

    By Blogger Alex Dakota, at 12:16 p.m.  

  • gauntlet; I just used the Dion quote since I found it a little odd.

    For the record, it's a good choice. I also expect Iggy will wind up in Environment which is about as high profile a shadow cabinet spot someone can get.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 12:50 p.m.  

  • Yah, Gauntlet, I think that may be a bit of a misreading of CG and the replies. I would have said something like "good move," but I figured it went without saying and concentrating on Simon's amusing NDP triumphalism.

    The reaction to this news in the blogosphere and media seems to indicate that the "ABI" activists are back to the lunatic fringe and not having much of a political impact outside the artificial environment of a close leadership race.

    By Blogger Jason Townsend, at 1:33 p.m.  

  • And as another note: Alex Dakota's posts on various blogs appear to be totally random CPC boilerplate spam; is he a real person, or just some bot operating from the basement of Ezra Levant's house?

    By Blogger Jason Townsend, at 1:37 p.m.  

  • Gauntlet, don't be such a pee-pants. D/art said nothing mischievous, and most of the comments aren't even about Ignatieff. The campaign is over - deal with it. Ignatieff is doing well and performing with great grace - his lead is a great example.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 6:55 p.m.  

  • Jason. A quick tip: calling your committed base "lunatics" really, really doesn't work. Just go ask the "centrist" Dems, who had to eat some major crow when the Netroots types started delivering massive amounts of those critical small donations.

    The lesson of the ABI phenomenon is that a big tent in a center-left party has to stretch to both the center and the left, even on nasty, divisive issues like foreign policy and national unity. Even if you've forgotten that, I truly hope Dion hasn't.

    By Blogger Demosthenes, at 4:24 p.m.  

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