For months I kept saying I hadn't seen or heard enough of him to know WTF to think. He was touted as hard working and sincere etc and he did a good thing when he took on the separatists. So there seemed to be a number of ingredients that looked promising. But it never came into focus or exhibited any kind of a cohesive image that I could endorse without hesitation. He was my enemy's enemy but he never made it beyond that. I think you're equating my defence of Kyoto and the Green Shift with support for Dion. They are different things.train said:
Dion must go
- Thread starter red
- Start date
I recall bemoaning the fact that we were faced with a choice between a competent leader with overall bad policies (Harper), and an incompetent leader with overall good policies (Dion).train said:
All that has changed lately is my opinion of Harper--I no longer think he is competent. No competent leader would have released a partisan "economic update" loaded with ideological hobby horses in the middle of an economic crisis where it would have been trivial to gain the agreement of all parties in Parliament with a straight-forward non-partisan economic plan.
For what reason Harper manufactured a crisis I don't know but Canada is none the better for it.
Leave Dion alone! He's going to provide a national raise of $.10 per year on everyone's total take home paycheck! So if you take home $500.00 per week, it will be $500.10.
Gyaos.
Gyaos.
fuji said:
It would appear that Canada is without a parliament for at least 6 weeks,
and possibly an additional 2 months, if an election is called at the end of
january.
It would appear to be a particularly bad time for Canada to be prevented from
taking decisive measures for the economy.
But I doubt any of the parties gave any thought to that.
I think McCallum would be a good interim leader for the next couple of months. Goodale would be good too. From the few times I've seen these two, McCallum's performance seemed a bit sharper - more outgoing and crisply informative but with a relaxed and confident air. He also wasn't the least bit hesitant or intimidated by the newshound interviewing him. I got the impression that it would be very difficult to corner him and that he'd be reliable under fire.K Douglas said:
Maybe I saw what 99% of Canadians would see. I like to think I've been paying attention to Canadian politics but I've yet to hear anything about McCallum-the-Weasel. Could be just a fluke but it could also be that only a handful of Canadians know enough to dislike him the way you seem to. He could be a total scumbag waste of skin motherfucker but if the audience doesn't know that, it becomes rather moot. We don't need a saint right now - just someone who can survive the next 7 weeks or so without tripping over his tongue.
Which policies were those?fuji said:
Feel free to give examples of the good ones and/or the bad ones.
Huh?
Iggy too. Can anyone explain what he's said recently, or ever, that would warrant the fawning attention he gets from the liberal establishment? I think it's because he made it big as a T.V. presenter in England and prof. in the US; canadians only really respect those that make it in 'real' countries.
The libs have pathetic bench strength.
McCallum has the worst speaking style I've ever heard. He combines an irritating monotone with a whiny timbre that makes me climb the walls. And I really don't get the impression he's all that intelligent or well spoken....how'd he get to be the chief economist of the Royal Bank? An unimpressive twit.slowpoke said:
Iggy too. Can anyone explain what he's said recently, or ever, that would warrant the fawning attention he gets from the liberal establishment? I think it's because he made it big as a T.V. presenter in England and prof. in the US; canadians only really respect those that make it in 'real' countries.
The libs have pathetic bench strength.
I like Kennedy too but is he running for the leadership? I thought he wasn't going to run?BKool said:
Seems the dump Dion wheels are gaining momentum. Interesting comments from Manley.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081205.wliberal06/BNStory/politics/home
Liberals mobilizing to dump Dion
CAMPBELL CLARK AND STEVEN CHASE
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
December 5, 2008 at 11:52 PM EST
OTTAWA — A movement to dump Stéphane Dion immediately has mushroomed within Liberal ranks, with former deputy prime minister John Manley calling for him to resign, and Grits from nearly every faction of the party exploring ways to pressure him to leave as early as next week.
Meanwhile, Michael Ignatieff, the front-runner to replace Mr. Dion, said the party is exploring ways to accelerate the choice of a new leader.
In an opinion piece published in The Globe and Mail Saturday, Mr. Manley calls for Mr. Dion to resign immediately so that a new leader can be chosen before Christmas.
Mr. Manley dumps cold water on the idea of a coalition with the NDP, arguing the Liberals must instead offer to co-operate with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to cope with the economic crisis, and prepare for an election in case he doesn't.
“Confronted by a political crisis that was not of his making, Mr. Dion became an obstacle to his party, and to the opposition, in dealing with it. His weakness probably fuelled the Conservative hubris that led to this fiasco in the first place,” Mr. Manley writes.
Mr. Manley argues it was “delusional at best” to believe that the public would want the recently defeated Mr. Dion as coalition prime minister.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081205.wliberal06/BNStory/politics/home
Liberals mobilizing to dump Dion
CAMPBELL CLARK AND STEVEN CHASE
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
December 5, 2008 at 11:52 PM EST
OTTAWA — A movement to dump Stéphane Dion immediately has mushroomed within Liberal ranks, with former deputy prime minister John Manley calling for him to resign, and Grits from nearly every faction of the party exploring ways to pressure him to leave as early as next week.
Meanwhile, Michael Ignatieff, the front-runner to replace Mr. Dion, said the party is exploring ways to accelerate the choice of a new leader.
In an opinion piece published in The Globe and Mail Saturday, Mr. Manley calls for Mr. Dion to resign immediately so that a new leader can be chosen before Christmas.
Mr. Manley dumps cold water on the idea of a coalition with the NDP, arguing the Liberals must instead offer to co-operate with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to cope with the economic crisis, and prepare for an election in case he doesn't.
“Confronted by a political crisis that was not of his making, Mr. Dion became an obstacle to his party, and to the opposition, in dealing with it. His weakness probably fuelled the Conservative hubris that led to this fiasco in the first place,” Mr. Manley writes.
Mr. Manley argues it was “delusional at best” to believe that the public would want the recently defeated Mr. Dion as coalition prime minister.
For all that his continuing bad judgement hurt Harper—a leader who has yet to win a majority of voters or seats—the coalition consternation hurt Dion more. The weasel smile trumped HotAir fuzzy. Given Harper's taste for playing Borgia before all else, I'd bet he figures the damage he inflicted on the Liberals was worth whatever it cost him.fuji said:
It may take yet another election, two if he buys his way to power with big deficits, but Canadians can only hope the Conservatives will finally realize we don't want a PM who conquers by dividing instead of leading us. Nothing the man has done—political bloodshed aside—has been a success. He only looks good because he makes his 'enemies' look bad. The Chrétien of the Right.
