The humbling of Michael Ignatieff

[CHIMO]

Political reality has been giving Michael Ignatieff a lesson in humility, and he needed it.

This is a guy who’s spent much time, since moving back from the U.S., telling us what kind of guy he is, as if we need to know. (“I made a very calculated decision that I am the guy I am.”) He spent the 1990s with his career on a steep rise. He acquired a heady podium in The New York Times, became chair of Harvard’s human-rights school and regularly explained reality to Michael Enright on CBC Radio.

The rise came in tandem with him providing human-rights arguments to justify traditional U.S. policies of attacking or invading weak countries for its own reasons, and because it could. New arguments were needed after the Cold War, and people like him supplied them. But he seemed to think his ideas caused those policies, rather than justifying predetermined actions. It’s the intellectual equivalent of being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple.

Even when he apologized for something, like supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it was half-hearted and self-congratulatory. He and George Bush had sincere, idealistic motives all the way; it just hadn’t worked out.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/the-humbling-of-michael-ignatieff/article1641551/

[Spazito]

1. Ignatieff really does not connect with Canadians....

whether it's his arrogance or something else, he leaves Canadians unmoved and unmotivated. The Liberals, imo, need to replace him with a leader who can telegraph the fire in the belly kind of politics.

[CHIMO]

2. Well

They have made their decision. After they threw Dion out with no vote from the grass roots they are stuck.

I think that we will be stuck with making the best choices that we can until we have a party that will make an offer to us.

In the end I still think that the only thing they listen to is money. Contributions. And when it is made it is made on the understanding that they have to act or promote certain things.

[Spazito]

3. The Liberals, imo, are still suffering from the aftermath of the...

Chretian/Martin internal war and it's still not pretty. It would be nice to see a firebrand come up 'through the ranks' but I am hard pressed to name a possibility.

[CHIMO]

4. Don't

Think that need a firebrand.

Dion had the grass roots support from Kennedy and others.

He wasn't part of the Martin/Chretien group so he had little inside support.

Now they want grass roots support but are deaf to the grass roots.

Once they have a new leadership election they may be able to build support. At the moment they are hanging on to long term supporters.

[Spazito]

5. Dion didn't 'catch fire' with Canadians either, sadly...

I liked him very much and feel the party betrayed him and that betrayal was part of the Martin/Chretien in-fighting aftermath. Right now, it seems Canadians are going 'meh' to all the parties and tuning out, unfortunately.

The Liberals better figure out how to fire up Canadians and soon, imo.

[CHIMO]

6. He Had

As much support as Iggy has now.

He didn't get the support of the back room, but he had the support of the grass roots.

After seeing Pearson win, I don't buy the fired up part. We need someone with vision.

We don't have that now with any opposition party in Canada.

[Spazito]

7. "We need someone with vision"

totally agree with that.

[gazeteere]

8. Looks like his Communications Director was killed.

Liberals need to rally around the message. Their messenger was killed, but the message survives.

[IntravenousDemilo]

9. The music that starts when the page opens is fucking annoying! n/m

[gazeteere]

10. It's a great song --to each his own

It's evidently a spoof on "Do they know it's Christmas". It's a great song, but this link does not have any music but it certainly gets the point across.


It looks like Mario's Communications Director was murdered because he was doing such a wonderful job. The motivation appears to be Ignatieff's opposition the tha war in Afghanistan. The powers that be need a puppet like Stephen Harper to prolong the war and they will do anything to derail Michael Ignatieff's campaign.

I hope their plans backfire because the death of Mario IS NOT excusable.

[IntravenousDemilo]

11. I'm not commenting on the quality of the song.

Bad music is music that I don't want to hear right now, or is inappropriate to the context. If it competes with and distracts from what's being said and there's no way to turn it off, it's bad music.

[gazeteere]

12. I think it's a great song.

Certainly made millions for a great cause, so bad is pretty good, in this case.

[IntravenousDemilo]

13. Yes, it's fine, in its proper setting. n/m

[gazeteere]

14. This is not a prim and proper world.

I wish it was as well.

[gazeteere]

15. Why so much hostility?

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.


Why so much hostility directed towards a single man?

http://surftofind.com/lennon