I think those who think the Liberals are dead under Rae are gravely mistaking.
First, Rae is an excellent politician, he has consistantly outmaneuvered the NDP and focused media attention on him with his work as opposition leader. He has even been chosen by his peers as the best parliamentarian, which, considering how few Liberals there are, is quite a feat.
You know, I am really tired of being told about how Rae "consistently outmanouvered the NDP...". In actual fact, all that really happened is the MSM did what it ususally does. It ignored the NDP because it choose to; pure and simple, that is ALL that happened. And, by the way, he ISN'T nor ever was, the "Opposition Leader". Look, the MSM meme even makes it onto Rabble!
ETA: And 1 other thing. Where are the Libs in the polls? I don't see them tied with the Tories, or even running second, or even really coming back great guns in Qubec. Outside of Ontario, at least at the moment, they have their problems. I guess Nycole Turmel did pretty well after all if after all this time, we seemed to have held onto most of our support. I have to admit some glee about their Prarire numbers, by the way. It gives me hope we'll finally be able to get rid once and for all of that scum bag Kevin Lamoureux and it won't be too soon!
Nope, this is a big weekend and as I posted somewhere else, "the times they are a-changin'"!
It may be true that the media doesn't like the NDP, but I think that blaming the media for all the problems of the NDP is pure denial. When the NDP does good, it can beat the barriers it meets in the media, look at what Jack achieved. The truth is that the media rarely lies outright... bias manifests itself mainly by exaggerating realities and preferring certain stories over others. If the NDP didn't provide ammo to the media, and if Bob Rae wasn't doing a good job, he would not have achieved what he achieved.
Historically, one problem of the NDP politicians is that they tend to prefer talking to each other than talking to voters in general.
"Opposition leader" is not a meme. Bob Rae is the leader of the Liberal party, which is an opposition party in Parliament, therefore he is an "opposition leader"... just not THE "opposition leader" nor the "leader of the official opposition". Back in 2005, Harper, Duceppe and Jack were all called "opposition leaders", go Google the term, you'll see.
The Liberals are also back above 20% in Québec, which is quite a bit of progress compared to the 14% they got last election. They aren't surging, but they are rebuilding.