Saturday, April 02, 2011

Ignatieff's Blue Sweater


The same tool Harper used to propel himself to soften his image and propel himself to victory last time has been snatched by the Liberals. I'm surprised it's not a bigger story, but Ignatieff is pulling out all the stops this campaign even donning a blue sweater!

But that's not the only thing, Ignatieff is starting to try to sound like a Conservative at least according to this article in the Toronto Sun.
Liberal government won't be a big government but it will be an open government, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says . . . "These are initiatives that have one common characteristic. They help Canadian families with a minimum of bureaucracy... It's not big government, it's government that sends the help directly to the family" . . . "After a long life, I've understood there's a lot I not only can't control, there's a lot I shouldn't control"
Is it credible? Probably not. This is a leader who has promised to raise taxes and tried to force Stephen Harper to use foreign aid to finance abortions rather than maternal health. But, he is showing himself to be much more shrewd than he has appeared since he entered politics.

5 comments:

ridenrain said...

Open government? From the ADSCAM Party or from the secret coalition?
Without an honest media to hold them to account, they can blurt out anything

Anonymous said...

Not a good week for PMSH.

Perhaps its time to get Doug Finlay back into the campaign office and send the kids out to the playground.

Look at this round-up of weekend opinion pieces.
•Chantal Hebert, Star:“To drive his message home, Harper has been blatantly creative with the facts, starting with his own manoeuvres as an opposition leader in a minority Parliament. He has risked turning the election into a debate on his character, a huge gamble for a figure that has been shown to have a higher-than-average potential to polarize Canadians. Harper is taking that gamble based on his conviction that against a divided opposition, polarization is an ace up the Conservative sleeve.”
•Stephen Maher, Chronicle-Herald: “Harper’s team may be nervous, and if they’re not, they should be. Harper is on track to win this election, but so far the Liberals are having a better campaign, and the Conservatives could lose the government even if they win the election.”
•Adam Radwanski, Globe and Mail:“…the Liberal Leader is surprising even his own handlers with his comfort on the campaign trail. And he shows signs of making the Conservatives pay for underestimating him, and for conditioning the public – through advertisements that portrayed Mr. Ignatieff as a bumbling dilettante – to do likewise.”
•David Akin, Sun Media:“The Conservative war room has been obsessed, in the meantime, with penny-ante “gotcha” shots every time they think they’ve got more evidence of Ignatieff’s designs on a coalition government. OK. We get the point. But if Conservatives really want that majority, they’ll have to do more than that to tell Canadians why they want it.”
•David Olive, Star:“It has seemed almost farcical to hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper warn that Canada’s economic recovery would be jeopardized by a Liberal-led coalition of opposition parties taking power after the federal election May 2.”
•Bruce Campion-Smith, Star: “A week that started strong for Harper — by putting Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff on his heels with accusations of plotting to lead an opposition coalition — ended with the Conservative leader looking unsteady on everything from debates, his dealings with the media and even his attacks around the coalition.”

bertie said...

Great week for PM Harper..Got the press writing scary stories about PM Harper again.And they are keeping the coalition alive and well.The stories of Iggy doing good is good for a one time look see and then the Liberals go down in the polls.These writers just don't get it.No one believes them anymore.

maryT said...

That blue sweater is telling voters to pick the blue door.
Last summer he had on stripped shirts now he is into pink shirts.
Bet Scott is happy with that choice of color.

wilson said...

Anon at 2:29

I'm afraid that all that bad press will force PMSHs numbers up even higher,
and he will peak too soon!

Speaking of PMSH and CPC support increasing to 41%,
it appears Canadians may have already made up their minds back in Dec 2008,
that they will not accept a coalition govt with a disliked Liberal leader and the Bloc.

Jack is the only shining star of the coalition of losers,
and sad to say his health is an issue, he is rumored to be quitting this summer.