Incomparable Liberal fair weather gun-for-hire and faux establishment punk desecrator Warren Kinsella continues his grim obsession with a certain progressive champion over at his blog: http://warrenkinsella.com/index.php?entry=entry090825-133825
Find below an open and unofficial response from one proud New Democrat ready to kick some Lib-Con ass in the Fall. Please feel free to distribute widely:
WWWLPOPTD: What would Lester Pearson or Pierre Trudeau Do? (Or, STFUWK)
Not what Michael Ignatieff has spent his directionless, incoherent and anti-democratic leadership doing.
For starters, they'd elucidate a coherent, practical, and purposeful agenda for the future of Canada, not dispatch a hopeless band of dead-end losers from Liberal Research to stand outside Langevin Block bearing nonsensical placards which personally attack a fellow progressive leader for... well... speaking with another party leader - in this case the Prime Minister of Canada - in anticipation of Fall's no doubt monumental Parliamentary session.
They'd vote their convictions, in opposition and in Government, whether they feared a materially formidable but morally weak Conservative attack machine or not. They most certainly wouldn't mimic exactly the same juvenile political tactics they claim to oppose.
They would never permit a once proud brand to descend into a lamentable, spineless farce able to brazenly prop up Canada's most divisive ever Federal Government in 79 consecutive confidence votes then turn around and attack the NDP leader with a straight face for meeting to discuss issues of substance with a right wing figure he - alone among Federalist leaders - has consistently opposed on principle.
Pearson and even Trudeau, perhaps the most charismatic and popular leader in our nation's history, wouldn't exorcise the last vestiges of internal democracy from their own movement and seize power in the dead of night by working covertly to oust a duly elected leader. Even the mythical Northern Magus respected the process, he didn't bend it to his whim and ambition in the name of expedience.
They'd respond to slanderous Conservative character assassinations by speaking about the issues that matter to the Canadian people - a process they might well take a lesson from Mr. Layton on - not applying the same manipulative, cynical, and self-serving double standards they always cry foul when Conservative lay on them.
If there's any single leader in national politics who can't be accused of selling out his principles, it is Jack Layton. He has consistently stood by the policies and ideas which inspire millions of Canadians, even when they've been unpopular or politically costly. Often he's been proven right, and sometimes erred, but always he's put the interests of Canada and its people ahead of individual achievement. Whether that can be said of his Liberal counterparts, who too often view politics as a mere vehicle for personal advancement, rather than a noble calling meant to affect positive change for people is increasingly uncertain.
It cannot be said of those who attempt to mask the Liberal Party's two year, multi-leader record of moral cowardice and political abdication in the face of Stephen Harper's downright frightening agenda by engaging in misguided, ill-informed, and ignorant publicity stunts.
If the focus of the Liberal War Room and its faux-punk-in-chief is to falsely attack the NDP at every turn and dispatch disruptive protesters to shadow Layton, then rest assured this will be a two-way street, one that won't work out so well for the unseasoned UCC aristocrat. Believe that.
This is a tragic development which will damage both the Liberal and New Democratic Parties at the time both institutions are most needed by the proud but embattled Canadian people, but one that is unavoidable if the Liberals again choose to provoke it. What Canada needs now more than ever is unity among progressives who broadly believe in a compassionate, inclusive Canada. It's sad but not surprising that certain senior political operatives are orchestrating a character assassination campaign against a man who has worked his whole life to build just such unity of purpose on the left.
It is beyond outrageous for any Liberal - least of all one who's never contributed anything but bitter division, personal vitriol, and a rampant sense of corrupt entitlement to Canada's national life - to invoke the legacy of Tommy Douglas in a vain and transparently self-serving effort to righteously scold today's NDP. In fact the Greatest Canadian met with PMs King, St. Laurent, Pearson, and Trudeau on countless occasions, even when he fundamentally disagreed with them on policy. Tommy's legacy, sacred as it is, remains in safe hands under Jack Layton's leadership. Whenever the absentee landlord of the Liberal Party decides he's found some balls or mustered some heart, New Democrats from coast to coast to coast will be ready to advance it even further.
An incidentally, Ignatieff himself has been entirely circumspect about whether he'll even bring a confidence vote forward in the Fall. But this was the guy who believed Pierre Poilievre would bring a serious and non-partisan demeanor to discussions of the subtle, nuanced complexity of EI policy, right?
Change doesn't mean Kinsella instead of Giorno, McCallum instead of Flaherty, and one right wing professor who wanted to invade Iraq and legitimizes torture as policy in place of the previous one.
Whether that can be said of the bastards who've helped warp the Liberal Party into the unrecognizable, soul-less Conservative satellite it is today remains doubtful. They should fuck off and focus on rebuilding their own party into something worthy of support rather than attempting to undermine other progressive movements which haven't been undergoing a profound and perpetual identity crisis for the last two decades.
See you on the campaign trail!
