Thursday, April 27, 2006

Dear Gerard: Fuck off.


Oh, yeah ... this is just the sort of thing that, as a progressive, you want to wake up to in the morning (emphasis added):

Kennedy to veer to the centre

Gerard Kennedy will run for the Liberal leadership as a centrist candidate, even though he is known as a "progressive," emphasizing enterprise and entrepreneurship in a bid to broaden his appeal, advisers say...

The advisers say that Mr. Kennedy does not need to advertise his progressive credentials and will take a centrist tack because he believes it is important to drive the economy to pay for social services and because it is good strategy to win a leadership race and elections.

Well, that's just ducky. An alleged progressive who, at the first opportunity, abandons his progressive credentials for the sake of political opportunism. Yeah, that's just the kind of Liberal leadership I was hoping for.

JUST FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:What is it with Liberal leadership candidates and this obsession with running your alleged principles through a shredder?

Dark horse contender Maurizio Bevilacqua will take on the big names in the Liberal leadership race Wednesday, warning that the party risks oblivion if it strays too far from the middle of the political road.

The 45-year-old Toronto MP and former minister will use his official campaign launch to challenge the widespread assumption that the party must shift to the left if it hopes to regain power.

And the funniest part of that CTV article?

The only unabashedly centre-right contender in the crowded leadership field, Bevilacqua will provide some counter-balance to the left-leaning tendencies of higher profile candidates, such as Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, Gerard Kennedy, Stephane Dion and Ken Dryden.

I wouldn't worry about those "left-leaning tendencies" if I were you, Maurizio. Gerard certainly isn't.

3 comments:

Mike said...

A buddy of mine that works in the Government has worked with Bevilacqua before. He tells me that Bevilacqua is the old Chretien-esque "favours for your buddies if you help me out" kind of politician. He says he is terrified what would happen to the Libs nder him.

Anonymous said...

Dude, the Marizuo article came out a week ago, before Kennedy announced his leadership candidacy. At the time, he WAS the only centrist candidate.

I do have to disagree with you that an avowed centrist is detrimental for the leadership candidacy. The Libs SHOULD be centrist and they were leaning far too far to the right during the election (to try to steal votes from the Cons), but it backfired and the NDP split the vote. The only way they can regain power is to remain centrist.

If you really want a more lefty gov't, you need to look at some form of rep-by-pop (which is NOT the ideal but better than our own "first past the post). Look towards a more equitable system, whatever that might be. Electoral reform is the only way Candaian voices are really gonna be heard.

Again, apologies for posting so many comments in such a short period of time. I'm beginning to feel the wine (whine).

Anonymous said...

The Libs leaned too far to the right during the last election? What part of the campaign were they doing that in? The part where Martin got on stage with Buzz Hargrove? The part where they pledged to defend government-run daycare? The part where they explicitly and specifically pitched themselves as 'progressives' in order to try to swipe some NDP votes?