Monday, December 08, 2008
Michael Ignatieff and the Chainsaw Maniac
Oh boy. Or should I say woof woof. I'm in the dog house for writing this post.
Just about ALL my friends are mad at me for forgetting to point out that Iggy is not just a right-wing vampire Liberal. He's also a big beaked chickenhawk.
And of course they're right. I don't like him either. And after reading Michael Valpy's opus in the Globe today I like him even less.
Especially after reading how he treated his younger brother ... the bullied fat kid the other kids called "piggy."
We went for a walk, and he said, 'I want to make one thing absolutely clear to you. When we're at Aunt Helen's house or Aunt Charity's house [Charity Grant, their mother's sister], you can say whatever you want to me. But if you ever see me on the school grounds, you're not to talk to me. You're not to recognize that I'm your brother. You don't exist as far as I'm concerned. Do I make myself clear?'"
Anyone who could turn his back on his baby brother isn't the kind of guy I could ever admire. Especially a guy who muses about torture.... or thinks he's Bismark.
To bring the new into being, a politician needs a sense of timing, of when to leap and when to remain still. Bismarck famously remarked that political judgment was the ability to hear, before anyone else, the distant hoofbeats of the horse of history.
Mein Gott. Watch out for the hooves....and the horse shit.
But then I'm not a Liberal. All I care about is the Coalition for Change. And the fact is that unless the Liberal Party gets a leader quickly, they're screwed and so are we. Because we need to project a united front ,and get out there and convince Canadians that the coalition is a viable option. And will be ready to take power as soon as the Governor General gives it the green light. As I'm sure she will.
If Ignatieff can help do that, and make the Coalition more attractive to more people, including people who think it's too left-wing, then I'm willing to forgive him just about EVERYTHING. Because all I care about is the future, and bringing down Stephen Harper's foul quasi-fascist government.
So I'm going to hold my fire, and wait to see what Ignatieff does. I wish him well. I hope he surprises me.
But if he turns his back on that chance, distances himself from the coalition, puts his party before his country. Thinks that a fragmented opposition can beat the Cons better than a coalition can, because he was born to be Prime Minister.....or Canada's Bismark.
And forgets that whatever Stephen Harper offers in a budget.....A pepperoni pizza and big screen TV for EVERYONE..... it's what Harper is going to CUT that counts.
And then he sells us out by propping up that chainsaw maniac...
Then Michael Ignatieff will be solely responsible for leaving Canadians in the hands of a neocon monster who is capable of using an economic crisis as an excuse to destroy this country.
And all I can say is Canadians will never forgive him.
The Liberals will be left looking like a steaming pile of horse shit.
And I'll REALLY be in the doghouse....
great post, Simon.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Jan. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI'm not mad at you, Simon...I'm mad at friggin' Iggy. He's just like Harpo and Dumont...can't lose gracefully, and won't be satisfied till he gets the whole pie. At this rate, he'll be left just like them--with a pile of crispy crumbs in his hands, and a pile of blueberries on the floor. (My psychic swami turban was on when I said that, so mark my words, muwahahahaha.)
ReplyDeleteOf course, piggies might just fly, and Iggy might just take direction from the rest of the coalition (in which he seems strangely uninterested). If so, I'll gladly eat the blueberries off the floor.
Hi jan ...thank you, I'm glad you liked it.I think I've said all I want to say about Ignatieff for now. I can't help but distrust him, but you never know the urgency of the situation we're in might make him change for the better. It should be clear to everyone by now that this isn't the time to play the same old politics....
ReplyDeleteHi Beijing... thank you too. As you know I've never felt so excited about politics as I am now. The coalition has made me dream that all kinds of good things might be possible, and that we actually might be able to get rid of this hideous Con government.
ReplyDeleteSo I don't know whether my post conveyed that, but I tell you something I'm VERY happy with my chainsaw Harper.
I'll be using that one again !! :)
Hi Bina...I know you're not. I just linked to your post because you neatly summarized all of Iggy's sins.
ReplyDeleteI have my problems with his past but I'm glad to see him replace Dion, and I'm more pragmatic than many lefties. As long as he can bring down Harpo that's all I care about. Because NOTHING is as bad as he is....