If the Liberals successfully define Harper as either being a social conservative or beholden to the social conservatives, they will win the next election. If they do not do so, they will loose. It is just that simple.
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Don't worry. He's not 'beholden' to us. The tories will get their majority.
"beholden" Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted
"Social conservative" a believer in flat earth, cultural luddite, ignoramus.
And this will be different then the past two elections?
The Liberals will not be able to define anyone by sitting back and letting the accusations fly. The voters are not that dumb and the Liberals are not that rich or smart. The Liberals will have to work for it. They will have to actually propose legislation that will force Harper and social cons to warmly embrace. As the last two elections proved, words, Liberal words anyway, mean very little. The Liberals got no where trying to accuse Harper of being posed to take away abortion rights. They only made headway when it actually came down to policy, viz., SSM.
I agree with Koby wholeheartedly.
This should be Dion's object right now. Find a wedge issue that force the united left to defeat Harper's government before the Cons pull the plug themselves. It may even give Dion room to form a three party coalition with the Bloc until the Liberals will have time to win the next election.
Mushroom
The Liberals are posed to loose Quebec and allow the Conservatives to make inroads into 905. In no small measure this is do to that fact that the Liberals have all but forgotten what made the Conservatives so unappealing to urban voters, viz., their social conservatism. Rather than attack the Conservatives Achilles Heel, he would rather drone on about Kelowna Accord and other initiatives that are not only bad policy, but also capture the imagination of no one.
The Dion Liberals are so unbelievable bad at messaging it is incredible. They are reactive when they should be proactive. Their wording is weak and tentative when it should be strong and bold. They are cautious when they should be aggressive. They allow public opinion to dictate to them when they should be trying to shape public opinion. They lean left when they should be leaning right and they lean right when they are should be leaning left. They send mixed messages when they should be sending a clear message.
Koby,
I cannot blame Dion for this. He was the consensus candidate and his victory was bolstered by two others who are outsiders to the party establishment. None of the three believe that the Liberals are going to win the next election soon. As a result, Dion's Liberals are looking for the long haul.
While it is necessary for the Grits to look for the long haul, the idea of being eaten alive by Harper needs to be taken into consideration. If Dion takes the abuse on the election campaign trail that he is experiencing in the House of Commons, then his leadership will be in trouble. I believe that Gerard Kennedy's election is the bare minimum required for Stephane to stay on. However, no one would tolerate an election defeat similar to the one in 1958 and 1984.
Mushroom
The problems did not originate with Dion. However, I had hoped that they would get better when the Liberals finally got around to picking a leader. I was wrong. If anything, things have gotten worse, much worse. Since December the Conservatives have been setting the agenda and the Liberals responding to what is being said.
Nothing the Liberals say sticks. A large part of problem is how hopelessly timid the Liberals are. Take the Stockwell affair. It is clear as Day that he is guilty as sin. However, rather than calling a spade a spade the Liberals have meekly called for an investigation to be called. By repeatedly calling for investigation to be called they call the verdict into question and are in the process they are killing the story. What they should be doing is proclaiming Day’s obvious guilt and repeating what is said in those memos to every reporter in ear shot. Day is guilty of this or that makes for a hell of a lot more sexy headline than we found these suspicious looking memos and we would appreciate it if the RCMP could find the time investigate; Day may be guilty of wrong doing.
As for their frequent demands to have Harper apologize, all the Liberals are succeeding in doing is painting themselves as a bunch of uptight polo players. What dim witted strategist decided that Canadians prefer gentlemen to arrogant SOBs willing to do what is necessary to win. For god sakes, Chrétien’s handshake has come in no some measure to define the man and everyone remembers Trudeau go on and bleed speech.
Play mean. Whenever Harper goes off start force feeding him quotes. Old quotes new quotes, it does not matter. Why should the Liberals care that a Harper quote is old. Use it. Act like he said it yesterday. The Conservatives lies are omission are legendary.
Koby,
Dion has said that he will take the high road in politics. Same as with Kennedy, Martha Hall Findlay, and to a lesser extent Paul Martin. These are politicos that may not have the gravitas to take on a leadership role.
Compare this to Harper who has been circling around Ottawa since the early 1980s, then you can see the disadvantage.
Dion believes that he has one advantage over Harper. It is policy. If the Liberals can somehow find a package that can paint Harper as a so-con evil being, then he wins. Otherwise, the Grits may have to wait for Harper's message to grow stale.
Of course,Dion may be able to justify his performance in the next election that the party is not wealthy (we are way behind in attracting personal donors) and not smart enough (we are running a Liberal slate that is the remnants of the Chretien and Martin era).
Mushroom
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