Stephane Dion and the Blunt Knife in the Back

I have to admit that when I read this sad story about Stephane Dion, Mr Corn Cob and the Kid.....I started to feel sorry for Captain Canada.

And then I read this story and was even sorrier.

He has always had the geeky potential to look like a loser. He has rivals who openly think he's a loser. Now he has an electoral result that confirms his status as a loser.

Because whatever I might think of Stephane Dion as a political leader.... I have to admit that the poor klutz is a much better person than some of his opponents.

Like this old Liberal hack who went on the Don Newman show today to shove a blunt knife in his back.













His name is Ray Heard. He used to be John Turner's Communications director. A friend told me a funny story about how Heard used to have Turner lie on the floor with a ping pong ball in his mouth to improve his elocution. And we all know how that one turned out...

But that didn't stop Heard. He blasted Dion for taking the Party to the left, and not listening to him or the Trudeau era hacks. Before going on to accuse some of Dion's supporters of being extremists and anti-semites.

You can watch the whole thing here right at the start of the show. It was absolutely digusting. But all I can say if that's who his enemies are... Dion doesn't have to worry about keeping his job...until after the next election.

But then I'm more worried about his friends....and some of mine...who continue to deny that the sky is falling.
















Like Andrew Coyne who suggests that the by-elections were only a Bloc disaster.

By now the story has been repeated a thousand times, the headlines burned deep into the public consciousness: Liberals suffer rout, NDP makes historic breakthrough, Tories triumphant. Which is remarkable, since the real story of last night’s by-elections in Quebec is the party none of these headlines thinks to mention: the Bloc.

Yes.....but what HE seems to forget to mention is that if the Bloc continues to break to the Conservatives ....at least outside Montreal....and Dion can't get any traction in English Canada....as Red Tory himself points out.

If an election is called in the next few months Stephen Harper stands an EXCELLENT chance of picking up enough seats to win a majority government.

Which makes what Dion said in his Outremont speech....that this was a great victory for Canada...even MORE absurd.

I mean if I was Dion I'd be saying a quiet little prayer before I went to bed at night that the Bloc doesn't disintegrate further.

Which when you're playing Captain Canada only shows how DESPERATE the situation really is.

As this guy points out...now that the right is united the Liberals can't hope to form a national government unless they do better in Quebec. Like it or not.

And yet, rather than undertaking a thorough introspection, most of Mr. Dion's Liberals firmly maintain their outdated positions. Afraid to question long-held values, they still refuse to admit that their traditional conception of Quebec's identity no longer echoes with French-speaking Quebeckers.

To which I would only add...Dion is a decent and smart man but he doesn't understand the power of symbols or the passions they arouse. He tries to intellectualize EVERYTHING. And it's killing him.

Coyne is right when he says that the Liberals have bigger problems than Dion. But if the Liberals don't get a grip on reality...and understand that they ARE facing disaster...NOTHING will change.

And if that happens...the only way they'll be able to float their poor hapless leader is to to get themselves some helium balloons.

And do as Mika does in his new video...

Gawd....no love, no hope, no happy endings....

The good news for Liberals? Dion now admits he's worried.

Now all he's got to do is convince his own supporters....