Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Not Prime-Ministerial

Poor Iggy. He was the darling of the media and the heir apparent to the Liberal leadership. But even with all the attention and the big name support, he wasn't able to garner enough delegate support to put himself within striking distance of victory. Now he's clearly doomed, not because losing any key supporter matters, but because he's shown himself to be about as decisive as Paul Martin.

Until recently Ignatieff has been intellectually honest and supportive of the war against terror. By stating that Israel committed war crimes in its defensive conflict against Hezbollah, he's demonstrated that he's willing to be swayed from his morally defensible position. He cannot win now. He cannot recover from this. Those Liberals who are anti-war, anti-Israel, pro-terrorist etc, will never support him because of his past positions. Those Liberals who supported his principled stand have been betrayed and no apology can take away the fact that he was willing to abandon his principles to pander to voters who would not support him anyway.

This policy flip flop matters because his credentials as an authority on the struggle against terror were so strong. His flip flop leaves a dark stain on his character. He's finished before he even started. Poor Iggy.

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