Monday, April 16, 2007

Dump Dion - Now or later?

With Stephane Dion apparently auditioning for a lead role in a remake of "Dumb and Dumber", the Liberal party appears to be on the brink of some kind of schism.

Pierre Bourque was on the Jeff Allan show this morning, discussing the Liberal feud that has erupted like an oozing pimple. Among some higher-up party strategists, it's not a matter of if, but rather when to dump Dion.

(Humorous side note: Jeff mentioned something to the effect that when Stephane Dion announced he was going to ensure that a third of his candidates were female, we didn't anticipate that some of those women would be from other parties!)

With election chatter continually increasing, one wonders if disenchanted Grit MP's and strategists will somehow conspire to engineer their own defeat - i.e. initiate some kind of situation that plummets the country into an election and thereby hasten the inevitable leadership confrontation and resolution.

Never a boring moment on the Hill.


* * * *

Update: Jason Cherniak talks about Liberal "nincompoops" and "senior wimps" and crybabies.

Ya just gotta sit back and smile.


Also please check out the Star's Linwood Barclay - Dion inspires others to acts of boneheadedness. (H/T Christian Conservative).

Interesting angle here at Angry in the Great White North - Steve asks if Gerard Kennedy knew about the Red Green deal when he was collecting donations from Central Nova on March 22.


27 comments:

Anonymous said...

For the sake of democracy, an Independent (Liberal) should run in the Central Nova riding to respond to all the Liberal voters.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Mmm.. I wonder if Joe Comuzzi would like to move?

Calgary Junkie said...

HAHAHA ... Backroom Liberals are probably BEGGING Harper to pull the plug on an election ASAP. And Harper, of course refusing, letting the LPC continue to implode under Dion. Remember how scared the Libs were last summer that Harper might call a snap election while they were in the middle of an ORGANIZED leadership change ? Imagine them waking up in a cold sweat now, when Harper might do that to them in the middle of a CHAOTIC leadership change. As heavenly as it is for CPC partisans, it must be a hell for the LPC faithful !

Unknown said...

I say that Harper should keep toying with the Liberals, and then when the time is right - perhaps after a summer of Liberals beating up on Dion - he should go for the jugular.

Anonymous said...

Dion is truly representative of the Liberal Party - that's what you get when you vote Liberal, it would be a shame if they dumped him just because he's an honest loser.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Well, I sure hope there isn't an election anytime soon. But the best scenario would be to keep the opposition continually on a precipice, so that the Liberals never feel comfortable tossing Dion and declaring another leadership convention.

Several weeks ago MSM pundits said Dion had nowhere to go but up.

Well, that theory has been blasted to pieces.

Calgary Junkie said...

"Among some higher-up party strategists, it's not a matter of if, but rather when to dump Dion."

Earth to LPC strategists, Earth to LPC strategists ... Come in LPC Strategists. Are you there ?

Exactly HOW you are going to dump Dion ? Here's an inconvenient truth for all you brainiacs:

Dion's mandate as leader comes from the Liberal Party MEMBERS (via their delegates). He answers to them. Not to the LPC MPs, not the LPC Executive, and certainly not to you backroom dudes !

Good luck winning any "leave for the good of the party" arguments with Professor Dion. The same guy who demolished the Separatists in numerous op-ed exchanges in Quebec newspapers. You guys will be playing in Dion's academic battlefield, against his irrefutable logic that you all must live under his divine rule, until the LPC MEMBERS say otherwise. Besides, he's hard at work disproving all of Harper's allegations that "Dion is a weak leader", and so probably can't find time to even talk with you.

Anonymous said...

Just a thought.

The last time there was a leadership review for the liberals, Martin changed his tune on BMD so that a couple of the wings wouldn't turn on him.
What are the odds Dion will resign rather than face the outcome of such a vote?

Kirby said...

As a small C conservative, the longer Dion is along for the ride the better. The more time he spends as Liberal leader, the more and more swing voters will swing towards Harper and the Conservatives. As long as Dion is leader, the Liberals will not be able to win.

I hate to be giving advice to Liberals, but if I were one I would say screw Chernaik, and jump on the dump dion bandwagon.

For a full posting on my thoughts of the May/Dion deal visit my BRAND NEW Blog @

kirbyscott.blogspot.com

Canadianna said...

I bet they're wondering how they ever let this happen. Sometimes I look at Dion and just puzzle 'how did they ever think this was the best man for the job.' Anyone else . . . ANYONE would have been better.
It's kinda sad.

Anonymous said...

The really fascinating thing was those of us watching the Liberal Leadership Convention from the outside (as conservatives) really thought the worst decision would have been Bob Rae. He might have been hammered about his abysmal Ontario record, but he would have been aggressive and articulate and that topic would have disappeared very quickly. At the time, I worried that Dion was going to be a threat. He seemed like a decent man, clever and with integrity. But, as it has turned out, he is the "peter principle" in action (reached his level of incompetence). As a result, for conservatives, he turned out to be the best choice. That said, we would do well not to underestimate this man -- just remember a certain Stephen Harper used to be an "underdog" too and look where he is now.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

That said, we would do well not to underestimate this man -- just remember a certain Stephen Harper used to be an "underdog" too and look where he is now.

Well Sandy, if this is just a big ruse to lull the Conservatives into letting down their guard, Dion is some actor. However, he would be well-advised to take off the mask anytime now. ;)

Roy Eappen said...

I am totally confused by dion. Is he our mole. Much of what he does is just great for the Tories. This May deal is just baffling. he repeatedly tears his party apart. and seems to be trolling for extreme left voters. The center is the Tories for the taking.
I guess even his own party is beginning to realize something is wrong. I don't think they will have time for a new convention so they will jsut leave dion until he implodes

OMMAG said...

Hmmmm. I did not know that "Nimcompoop: was a legal term!
FWIW - I got mail today from Ralph Goodale .... I live in Winnipeg .... he's the MP for Wascana Center In ..... REGINA !
What a tooool!

Joanne (True Blue) said...

FWIW - I got mail today from Ralph Goodale ..

PGP - You're doing better than I am. I wrote to my MP Karen Redman several times over the past few months and am still waiting for a response. FWIW.

OMMAG said...

So if Karen Redman did respond to you .... would she be less of a tool??

Joanne (True Blue) said...

No, probably not, because it would likely just be a regurgitation of the party line.

OMMAG said...

So she has responded! ;)

Joanne (True Blue) said...

lol! Oh yeah, on previous issues. I'm probably on her delete list now.

Anonymous said...

re: Karen Redman

I left her office a voice mail this evening. I found her linking today's massacre to a lack of gun controls to be offensive. She showed a total lacking of sensitivity in hurrying to blame the American government.
Of course the dumbass was wrong. Apparently the school had a policy of no guns period. Therefore no defence once the lunatic started opening fire.

Ms. Redman embarrasses herself again. Like you Joanne our guy didn't win in the Conservative Kitchener Centre nomination. However I will be working my ass off to help elect Mr. Woodworth1

Joanne (True Blue) said...

I left her office a voice mail this evening. I found her linking today's massacre to a lack of gun controls to be offensive. She showed a total lacking of sensitivity in hurrying to blame the American government.

And she is continually drawing a comparison between Americans and Harper whenever she can on local talk shows.

Please let me know if you hear back. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Seems as if it is the Libs who want to trigger an election. Half hoping they will be defeated so they can dump Dion, and Dion hoping he can stop twisting and making a bigger fool of himself

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Anon, that's my theory. Of course, Dion wouldn't be for it. But I wouldn't discount some mutinous scheming.

Anonymous said...

The school had a shooting at the start of the year. There is speculation that after the first shooting, they did nothing, hoping it would eventually end up as an isolated murder buried in the news. They did not want the publicity over one shooting in the dorm.

So they did nothing, while the murderer walked across campus and killed 32 more.

The school should have been immediately locked down after the first shooting. As you say, nobody is allowed to have guns on campus, therefore it cannot be an accident and there is no reason to delay locking the place down.

It is inexcusable that the first shooting was not treated seriously. Whoever made the decision is criminally responsible, in my view.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

L.S. - I have no idea where this all came from, but I'm guessing you're referring to the Virginia Tech massacre.

I am planning to do a post soon on this. Do you have any other thoughts?

Anonymous said...

I was responding to the anon 9:38 talking about Redman. anon made it sound like with no guns allowed on campus, therefore no defence.

What little I have heard is that the gun lobby is out in full force, telling everyone concealed carry gun laws would have somehow saved the day.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

L.S. - I see where you're coming from now. Yes, I'm tending to agree with you. Something went horribly wrong that there wasn't a lockdown immediately after the first shooting.

And yes, everyone carrying guns on campus seems a little crazy.