These Libs are too much. Canada’s “Natural Governing Party” is in complete meltdown after the leader who presided over two disastrous years (who ever thought, after Paul Martin, that it could get worse?) not only refused today to step down as party leader, but showed a mind-boggling lack of humility by refusing to take even a shred of personal responsibility for his party’s ugly showing in last week’s election.
If you want to torture yourself, here’s the link to his entire press conference in RealTime format. Dion blamed: a) “Conservative Propaganda” that bamboozled the Canadian public about his personality; b) stupid Canadians failing to understand the brilliance of his Green Shift; and c) bad fundraising efforts that didn’t allow the Liberals to advertise his brilliance enough. I would argue that the loss should be blamed on a) the intellectual bankruptcy of the Liberal Party of Canada, which allowed the worst possible candidate to win their 2006 leadership contest; b) the inevitable, and well-deserved, unpopularity of any scheme that puts a financial penalty on carbon emissions; and c) the well-deserved financial bankruptcy of the party, whose own election finance rules made it impossible for its one solid remaining base (Canada’s business elite) to fund it through an election.
Dion may sound like a simpleton and a rube when he speaks, but he’s not stupid. He’s staying put until someone ponies up his still-standing $100,000+ debt from the 2006 leadership race - only then will he walk away gracefully. Ripping apart his own party at the seams in the meantime doesn’t seem to matter to him (which is fine with me). According to Bourque, Michael Ignatieff’s people are already planning a coup for later this week. Bob Rae has been positioning himself as the lone serious candidate for months. Vainglorious ones like Martha Hall-Findlay, Gerrard Kennedy, Denis Coderre, and Joe Volpe are still floating their own names around. Some are pimping Frank McKenna, John Manley or - gasp - Justin Trudeau - as Liberal Messiahs capable of lifting the reds out of the dumps. It’s getting ugly - and funny!
What does it all mean? With a lame-duck Leader of the Opposition, we’ve got at least 8 months of an effective Conservative majority ahead, and at least two years of Conservative minority rule until the next Lib leader would even consider going to the polls.
And some would have you believe that Harper somehow lost the election!
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