Sunday, April 18, 2010

"The Key Issue Here Is The Prime Minister's Judgment "

I see Guergis as a bit of a minefield for the Liberals, that demands careful navigation. With that caution in mind, I must say the Liberals did a good job overall on the issue with their attention and framing, mostly avoiding the nonsense. Ignatieff today:
Ignatieff said the handling of Helena Guergis's dismissal from her cabinet post raises questions about the prime ministers' judgment and commitment to transparency.


Martha Hall Findlay intentionally telling QP, that any Committee investigation will focus on high signal questions:
"Our issue is -- did he actually exercise influence and has government money been misspent or planned to be spent improperly?"

With the Afghan file flaring again this week, the secretive, non-transparent narrative works well in tandem with keeping mum on Guergis. I note, rare acknowledgement- on this show and elsewhere- that the Liberals had a good tactical week. I was particularly impressed the other day, when the Liberals decided to lead with Afghanistan in QP, rather than the kneejerk Guergis matter. Clearly, there was an attempt to draw similar negative impressions, from different files.

Moving forward, the argument needs to expand further, because I note some hesitancy in examples once people move beyond these two recent examples. When I have the time, maybe I'll do a overview of all the matters and items at our disposal over the past few years, that highlight the idea this gov't is the most non-transparent, stifling, secretive, anti-democratic manifestation federal politics has seen. I'd love to hear Ignatieff rhyme off example after example, and just keep hammering home the point, that no matter where you look, the same unattractive traits are clearly visible.

5 comments:

JimmE said...

I just finished reading the CTV story before visiting your site & was impressed how the Leader has moved from the TMZ of this issue & has focused on the present PM's lack of judgment.

As an aside I never read comments attached to on line articles, in this case I happened to stray to the bottom of the page; sigh! Does the pajama-haideen of the Reform party really think that real folks actually read these comments & take them to heart? Sheesh!

rockfish said...

Like Jimme, after reading CTV's story I scrolled down to catch some of the hee-haw funnies... boy, those Cons and their talking points don't let grass grow. It's a particularly bizarro world view they hold, up is down and opposition is government...

Tof KW said...

It's a particularly bizarro world view they hold, up is down and opposition is government...

Indeed, like a chatroom filled with very angry, ignorant, self-serving 5-year olds isn't it? The only difference is that eventually the 5-year olds grow up. Now if you really want to be frightened, go visit the flogging bories site.

Northern PoV said...

too bad every story I read covering this interview spanked Iggy for the idiotic Mrs-Jaffer ploy he tried in QP.

Iggy lost in 2006 cause he displayed arrogance and very poor judgment

me thinks he hasn't as yet learned how NOT to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

Steve V said...

I haven't even seen that. Sheesh, you sure focus on a particular tree don't you? Go down a street and see if anybody knows what the hell you're going on about. A sea of blank stares awaits my friend.