Anybody-But-Iggy Results

As no new votes seem to be coming in, here are the results.

Out of 129 votes:

The Winner: Dion 38%


Kennedy 24%
Rae 22%
Hall Findlay 6%
Volpe 3%
Dryden 3%
Brison 3%


I think you can still see the results Here.

Anybody-But-Ignatieff Web POLL! (no booing allowed)

Poll now closed. Thanks for playing!

The True D'eau

For much of my late teens, I loved The Economist. We divorced over the newspaper's dishonest support for the pre-emptive destruction of civil society in Iraq. Nevertheless, their worldwide coverage always has me over for one-night stands.

This week's article on Ignatieff is fair enough. One part really gets my goat.

Ignatieff = Nouveau Trudeau.

Despite the packaging, the analogy doesn't fit, even the article slyly points this out:

"For all his youthful globetrotting, Trudeau spent his adult life working in Canada, and served as a member of parliament and a cabinet minister. He may have been little known outside the universities of Quebec when he went for the top job, but he was not inexperienced."

The obvious contrast makes me wonder how others decided that Ignatieff is as close to the Liberal Jesus as a mere mortal can be.

True, Ignatieff is getting a baptism of blood right now but that is for another day's religious analogy.

It seems obvious that Stephane Dion most closely follows the path of Trudeau righteousness. Perhaps he is the second-coming of Christ? (Dion...Dieuon?)


Oops, I mean:

Oops, I mean:



PS - With regards language, while Trudeau's english was lovely, I prefer Dion's stilted but intelligent phrases to Landry's posh yet biggotted King's english.

Parliamentary Parallels, More Please! Go Garth!

It always strikes me as funny how the British media don't realize they have a crystal ball to stare into on this side of the Atlantic. How an "unpopular" PM's heir-apparent and finance minister, Gordon Brown, will do once he is annointed leader/PM is no doubt hidden in the tea leaves of Paul Martin's story. Anyway, that's for them to figure out - I feel bad for New Labour's ignorance.

(I prefer the Lib Dems of the UK; how could one not love a progressive party with a leader named Sir Menzies Campbell. I think he's got a trademark on it.)

THE DIVIDE, now.

MPs in Britain are free of chains. We need more MPs that are able to speak freely here. Labour in the UK has held onto power by not muzzling it's MPs. For example, the Iraq war is hugely unpopular and by allowing their own MPs to show their opposition and in fact argue directly against Cabinet, the government has not polarized itself as the pro-Iraq party. People will vote for them knowing that their MP might stand up to government nonsense.

Indeed, at times the party has had to worry about MP "rebellions" when passing tough legislation but in the end, "miraculously" it passes. The government is weakened by the rebellions but more so the inner cabinet and PM. There's no problem with that. You can replace those guys when you need to without losing office.

Renewal in fact may help keep everyone else in office.

So, to Garth Turner, I say congrats on not napping with rats quietly. Sorry you're homeless.

With regards to joining the Greens, on your blog you call them "anti-conservative" - note the small 'c'. I'm not sure how you would justify this. It would make more sense to join the Libs for the sole purpose of getting a chance to ask questions in QP. It makes the Libs smug too, though that's probably not worth raising the issue of floor-crossing again.

Reading this from Garth's blog reminded me never to go into politics:

"Even before the caucus room doors opened at noon to let the world know my fate, the House of Commons tech guys told me they were under orders from the party to unplug my office computers. I asked what was going on, and was told they had written orders earlier that day from the Conservative Whip to shut me down and reconfigure."

The Harper boys at work in caucus:

Liberals and Poppies are red. Dion saw red!

The Winners:

Round 1: Martha. Obviously her issue, but she took the moment to shine.

Round 2: Dion, only because he threw Rae on the defensive

Round 3: Kennedy, good focus, took it through clarity. Ignatieff was dull. Martha almost called Kennedy a winner herself.

Round 4: Dion is on fire in the debate section, you'd think his kid was taken hostage! "Do you think it's easy!" I think he might have tore Iggy a new one.

Round 5: Brison took it away with facts and heart. Kennedy looks dashing, nice voice; he was hogging time on it though. Volpe is nonsense.

Round 6 (Iggy's tough one - foreign policy time!): Findlay did it - "Gentleman!". "He has no strategy on poppy!"-MI... No one said anything in their speeches. The debate, Findlay threw Ig on the defensive but he pulled it out of the fire, no not really. It's all about poppy. Rae got boo'ed that's bad. Oooo, Ig gave Rae his opening to bite about Qa'na! Ig had it coming!

Round 7: Dryden,"I hate guns." He spoke to me. Dion was good to point out they were all on the same side and opened it to ideas. Dion got the troops going. Brison was dull, bit mean of Dion to make fun of him. I think Dryden was right to speak of his philosphy on this.

Round 8: Kennedy. Rae was flat. None of them said anything. I don't even know what they are talking about.

Closings:

Findlay - Lovely pashmina. She's re-branding herself as Minister of Women, i.e. making herself a product to sell to another candidate. I like her.

Dion - "I have never had to apologize for any of my words or actions." "I am proud to be a Liberal and it did not take a leadership race to say so." Good camera shot as he waved and walked off stage.

Kennedy - He sounds so cheesy. I feel he's coach in an American sports movie.

Dryden - I could feel his heart on my lap. He is welcome for dinner anytime. I loved Dryden's closing - brilliant.

Brison - Best opening! He re-branded himself as Minister of Finance, i.e. making himself a product to sell, but not a great sell. Good opening, mediocre speech.

Ignatieff - I don't think people believe him. What a suck up to "dOLton"... I thought it was "dALton". Seems like such a face for hire.

Volpe - Nice opening, more personal than Ignatieff. Ouch, no he didn't!? Yes he did! He totally burned Ignatieff. Good closing.

Rae - Did he actually have a speech? First, he was snide about Ig not being here long. Second, he joked about helping Liberals get elected as part of NDP. Third, odd self-ambition analogy to Mat Sundin. Rae wants to lead from the centre. Whoop-t-doo. Oh, he through in unity as an issue. Nice use of Laurier, but a bit over-dramatic.

(I don't like the stage-walking microphones; like on Oprah.)

SUMMARY:

Ignatieff came across as out of touch.
Dion can't make a speech but can eat anyone alive. When he believes what he is saying, watchout!
Brison is clear-headed.
Kennedy is very photogenic and while he has stuff to say but he lacked grand stature.
Volpe stinks, he communicates like a creep.
Rae is so smug, I don't like him and I could see him getting elected but I'm not impressed.

It seemed easy to score points with the crowd by compliment Chretien and Martin governments. Plus, the boys all wore the same suits.

My choice for cabinet: Dion, Findlay, Kennedy, Brison and Dryden. That would be a good team.

Iraqi Death Toll

The Lancet article funded by MIT and Johns Hopkins is scary. Here is a link to the actual full article, it's very readable:
Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey

Start

Just typing this to be able to comment on another blog, but since I'm at it...

Stephane Dion is a great leader. As an independent former-red tory-type from the Westcoast, I cannot wait to vote for his program in a federal election.

How's that for my blogging start?