Liberal Arrogance On Display

Will Michael Ignatieff distance himself from the comments of a former chief of staff?   Do Liberals feel comfortable invoking a culture war is acceptable in regaining power?

"But it was once said about the Toronto Sun that it's a newspaper for people who can't read and I think that probably applies to the whole chain." -Ian Davey, former Chief of Staff Ignatieff.

Culture War Casualties: Toronto Sun Readers are Stupid

The Toronto SUN is an active media sponsor of professional sports, including the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto Rock lacrosse team, the NFL, the CFL and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

• 531,900 (or 78%) of weekday Toronto SUN readers have household incomes of $50,000+
• 326,600 (or 48%) of Toronto SUN readers have household incomes of $75,000+
• 393,700 Toronto SUN readers have some post-secondary education or higher.

Any idea why Ian Davey is unaware of the Toronto Sun readership, it took 0.38 Google search to find those interesting facts about the Toronto Sun.
Ian Davey has apparently proved too much of a comparative political neophyte — and/or too much of an intellectual like Mr. Ignatieff himself (?) — to properly advise his leader on exactly where the bodies are buried in Ottawa. (Also too much of a Torontonian, apparently again!) - Counterweights 

Ian Davey and Michael Ignatieff

So much for political loyalties. The filmmaker son of famed Liberal “Rainmaker” Keith Davey recruited the Harvard intellectual, ran his failed leadership bid and served as chief of staff after Ignatieff was anointed leader—only to be dumped without warning for former Chrétien aide Peter Donolo. Fed up, Davies decamped to Toronto, taking with him girlfriend Jill Fairbrother, who quit as the party’s director of communications.

 

The Liberal party is sick and the disease is serious. It has lost its status as the party of ideas and now is just the party of slogans. The Liberals have slogans about the environment, immigration, the economy and social justice but there is nothing behind them.

They signed the Kyoto Protocol but their record was worse than the anti-environment administration of George W. Bush.
They created havoc in our immigration system. Their policies privileged cunning people whose ability to flout rules is greater than their ability to contribute to this country, while honest people are still waiting at the border.

They lost their privileged relationship with new immigrants after taking them for granted for decades, not realizing that the once brilliant concept of multiculturalism is now obsolete and needs a new approach.

They brag about their ability to manage the economy when everybody knows the reality that a Liberal strategist told me some time ago: "The deficit created by Mulroney in the '80s was erased in the '90s by Mulroney's policies of the GST and free trade." - Angelo Persichilli

So, whether you are in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto or Ottawa — homes to our fleet of tabloids – perhaps you can find a Liberal at your local library who will read this editorial to you.

They are easy to spot.

They’ll have their heads up their arse.

How many Liberals will distance themselves from this statement and will Liberal friendly media outlets report on this insult to the readers of the Sun?

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Liberals Tactics In Committee: Dirty Tricks & Unaccountable

The fringe party formerly know as the natural governing party continues to hit new low on the stupid scale.

Derek Lee a Liberal MP was called to testify on allegations of  lobbying. Liberals have been very vocal in having government staff, military, experts be allowed to appear. They have suggested those who refuse are hiding something and obstructing parliament.

What do the Liberals do when one of their MPs is invited to explain a website?

But when Lee arrived to face MPs, he argued the government operations committee was not the proper venue for answering those types of questions.

His caucus colleagues used up much of the allotted time with long procedural arguments and Lee left without having to respond to questions.-Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition May 27, 2010 Liberals shield own MP from committee grilling

 
Many of us had hoped an adult conversation would take place, policy alternatives with specifics introduced for debate in parliament.
 

What do we have to show?

• Iffy caught in France while his team asks where the PM is vacationing.
• 28 day prorogue framed as unusual
• Ignore all good news in Canada (Economy, Jobs, Sales, Consumer confidence)
• Attack Maternal Health Initiative and replace with abortion for Congo to divide parliament
• Attack female MP, call for resignation, allege husband got sweetheart deal, links to organized crime
• Insist our Military, Government, staff turned a blind eye to torture, hiding details, are responsible

How many Liberal MPs will apologize for their behaviour? The next election voters should send a very clear message to the parties that want to raise our taxes, refuse to be held accountable, live in a culture of entitlements.

h/t  Alberta Ardvark, Steve Janke: Angry in the Great White North

Liberal Party of Canada: Xenophobia Cultural Warriors Since 1988

Cultural Warrior, what party portrayed Brian Mulroney as less patriotic, and fanned the flames of fear accepting a Free Trade Association with our American neighbour would reduce us to a colony?

Hint: Same party, same strategy invoked against Reform, Canadian Alliance and now CPC.

The Liberal leader, John Turner, based his national election campaign on fear and hatred of the Americans -- and came fairly close to winning. But when the election was over and Brian Mulroney's Tories had signed the agreement, the Liberals began a long, furtive creep toward the Conservative position. By the time they were returned to power in 1993, with John Turner forgotten and Jean Chrétien the Prime Minister, the Liberals had adopted, without debate, the very policy they had denounced as treason. Having torn the country apart emotionally, turning husbands against wives and parents against children, they simply abandoned the subject. They probably think of it today as a minor incident, another political gimmick that didn't quite work, but surely it left a residue of anti-U.S. distrust. -Robert Fullford

Patrick Muttart used to be the director of strategic communications in the Prime Minister’s office and was the strategist behind Prime Minister Harper’s successful 2006 election, the result of which saw the Conservatives replacing the Liberals in government. Muttart crafted the strategy behind finding accessible voters and “activating” them for the Conservatives with specific policy planks.

Muttart was on the Roy Green show yesterday where he continued the Conservative narrative against the CBC’s affiliation with pollster Frank Graves. Graves came under fire when a column from the Globe’s Lawrence Martin quoted Graves recalling his strategic advice that he gave the Liberals. His advice, to start a “culture war”, wedging against Albertans and Conservatives, depicting them as xenophobic racist homophobes who would vote for Sarah Palin. - Stephen Taylor

   
I have said every party plays wedge politics for a very long time. Many of us disagree with the current advice and the decision of our public broadcaster to fund a pollster that has made these comments again.
 
 h/t Liberals Started This “Culture War” A Long Time Ago
Previous related  posts on Cultural Wars recommended reading.
Cultural Class War Continues: Policy Debate?
Ignatieff's Hidden Agenda
Digging his own Grave(s)
The Liberals Locked Into the Graves Strategy
Let them eat broccoli!

Liberals GPS Goes Orange Again: Peter Donolo

It is interesting reading about the horse-trading that takes place in American Politics. The Obamacare Bill would have not passed without the support of pro-life democrats securing an executive order making it illegal to fund  abortion with the funds allocated to this Bill.

People from all sides are very unhappy with the passing of the Bill, citing the horse trading that took place for passage.

Horse-trading is commonly referred to as concessions in Canada.

In Canada the NDP were able to secure a $ 4.6 Billion spending increase and a delay in tax cuts from the Martin led Liberals. That horse-trading did not buy the Liberals a great deal of time from the NDP.

Some Liberals like blame Jack Layton's NDP for the election defeat and loss of  a National Daycare, Kelowna deal. Voters on the other hand rewared the NDP with more seats and more popular support in 2006 and 2008.

Will Jack Layton risk those gains in 2010-2011 with the Liberals once again tacking left?

The media narrative is fun to watch as they twist themselves into knots criticizing the Harper led government. A favourite of mine, is he is not partial to making concessions with any party. He is too rigid and inflexible.

If you look at the same pundits they routinely ignore the largest spending increases in spending were in transfers to provinces for Education, Health and Social Services. The CPC did not institute a wholesale cancellation of Liberal policies they supported in opposition.

A small but vocal minority of conservatives are unhappy with the pace and depth of spending cuts. Some have argued it is better to have kept to a rigid set of promises and remain in opposition with your principles intact.

The majority of us are fluid and can move between the Liberals or Conservatives parties when a time out is necessary to punish the guests we vote in parliament. The Parliament is the house of the people for the people and not the house of the politicians.

The silly games in Ottawa always take place and our media has only added to the problem.

Demonization takes place in framing each other camp as a radical element

• right wing, neo-con evangelical christian republican
• socialist-Marxist Gaea followers

The Harper led government has been the longest serving minority government in Canadian history with

The Glory Days are back, with Peter Donolo at the helm. If you can't run on substantive ideas take an idealogical position and talk about a kinder, a smarter Canada. Talk about how every child should have the best education and grand parents the best medical treatment.

A small number of people participated in a three day conference in Montreal with invited guests from the Millionaire's club and the Ivory Tower. Are these the people needed to provide leadership for the Liberals?

The biggest problem with socialist policy idealogy of transferring the wealth is they suggest we are all equal and moving money to the less fortunate will lift all boats. History demonstrates otherwise.

Many of these people believe governments are better at growing our own money by taxing us and providing the necessary services.
Did it work for the Soviet Union or the socialist economies in Eastern Europe? How are the Western European countries with the socialist leaning policies faring today?
Do we trust the Liberals to lift all boats in pursuit of social justice, or do we take a different approach and encourage personal responsibility, effective regulation in order to advance personal freedoms?

Who will lead this merry band of brothers for a national campaign in uniting Canadians, Michael Ignatieff: Lost in translation.
It is also funny watching the socialists talk about the "common sense" revolution with Mike Harris in Ontario. Apparently many of them were also out of country with Ignatieff during that period.
Canadians remember what was promised by Liberals and actually delivered during those years. Our media forgets to paint the downloading of the Federal Liberals in excess of $ 25 Billion in Education, Healthcare, Social Services.
Leaders make priorities and tough decisions. Some are unpopular.
Ontario (deficits)/surplus:
June 1995 (11.1) Billion (Harris gov't took over in 1995)
95-96 (8.8)
96-97 (6.9)
97-98 (4.0)
98-99 (2.0)
99-00 0.7 Surplus
00-01 3.3 Surplus
Source: http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/english/budget/ontariobudgets  You can see every budget document there from 1996 to the present.
If you review these documents, you will also see that, contrary to the common misconception, the Harris government increased spending on Health & Education significantly over its term.
Also, Ontario's accumulated debt as of fiscal year 2005-06 was 141 Billion, or $12,000 per capita, compared to $8 Billion, or about $16,000 per capita for Newfoundland. (Source:http://www.budget.gov.nl.ca/budget2007/)
h/t kshell@ Nik Nano comments
If we are honest with ourselves we can agree the CPC are not following a hidden agenda in lockstep with a right wing neo-con movement with evangelical christians demanding women lose their productive rights.
The opposition will have to introduce and present some real ideas, policies to win back support in parliament or on the six week campaign trail.  I have no problem with the parties asking for a mandate.
 

Strategic Counsel Finished 7th in Polling General Election 2008

Peter Donolo worked in the office of the PMO from 1993 through to 1999.
Strategic Counsel placed second last in polling the last General Election held on October 14, 2008.
Peter joined Strategic Counsel in 2002. 
Peter Donolo joined the Liberal Party of Canada in November 2009.

Dan Cook

Competence and professionalism in federal politics shouldn’t be equated with risk-aversion and damage-control. Yet it far too often is. A few months from now, Peter Donolo should be judged not on whether he brought back Chrétien-style discipline, but whether he gave Liberals enough confidence in the basic soundness of their leader’s operation to think big, talk boldly and accept routine setbacks as the cost of lasting accomplishments. - John Geddes

Source: Macleans

Angus Poll

Strategic Counsel Polling

• CPC -5%
• LIB +2%
• Green +4%

"You can be on the right track and still get hit by a train!"

Should we expect a transformation of the Liberal Party without seeing ANY proof first?

Peter Donolo on Line 1: Nancy Charest WTF?

h/t BC Blue

Nancy Charest, a Liberal candidate from Quebec, has suggested that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff does not have the ability to push for what is in the best interest of Quebecers. -Toronto Sun

Source Pundits Guide

 Timing is everything, will this affect the Throne Speech, will our media ask the Liberal leader on the latest show of Liberal Unity in Quebec?

Source: Nancy Charest

This is the second Quebec candidate that has decided the current leader is not up to leading the party. Can someone give Peter Donolo a call?

 h/t SDA