Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Top Liberal Strategists Advice Means Nothing....

Man, I love the memory of the internet more and more. Just recently top Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella wrote a Top 10 list on his blog on why Michael Ignatieff must force an election now. For weeks WK boasted about looking for a place to stay in Ottawa, Harper bad, Iggy great, blah, blah, blah. The last opportunity for the Liberals to bring down the government would be this coming Friday, by either tabling a non-confidence motion or by defeating the budget implementation bill.

Conservatives were toast Wk boasted. He mentioned possible Liberal cabinet ministers. Strategy to destroy the PM in the campaign. Of course he mentioned a few times how great he did his job for Chretien, never mentioning the vote split on the right. Glossed over the fact Liberals won a bare majority in '97 when Adscam was at it's height. But that's all meaningless now anyways.

The thing to pay attention to is the fact WK advised Iggy to force a summer election, and Iggy never took his advice. It could be because we learn now there are some discrepancies with Elections Canada audits from a previous election, and that the Liberals have not received their rebate cheques, so funding an election could be an issue. Or perhaps internal polling showed a different dynamic than the media pollsters. Maybe Iggy was worried about a stream of good economic data appearing in the media during a 37 day campaign swinging votes to the Conservatives. All valid arguments.

Or maybe Iggy just realized what many people already think. WK's days as a top-notch war room strategist are like Pontiac's. You still see them around, but you know their best years are over. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry and feel like some take-out Chinese food.

18 comments:

Brrr said...

"WK's days as a top-notch war room strategist are like Pontiac's"

You mean he's just a rebadged import? Oh wait, no that's Ignatieff.

Anonymous said...

You have to understand one thing. If Liberals all along said they weren't going to bring the government down, do you think for a minute that Harper would have compromised with them? This is why Warren and the rest of the liberals had to say they would bring them down....a threat which Harper could not discount.

Platty said...

do you think for a minute that Harper would have compromised with them?

Yea, huge compromise, I think they got a bucket of pucks too......


--

Anonymous said...

Doesn't matter how big the compromise was. We all know Harper's style. He does not compromise, especially with the devil. He would never have compromised anything had he known they were bluffing.

Anonymous said...

Warroom Kinsilly has something up his sleeve for Ignatieff and it ain't an 'ace' either ...!!!!

wilson said...

Anon, the compromises amount to -Iffy agreeing to a Cons election promise of self employed voluntary opting into EI,
getting the Premiers off PMSHs back with a Blue ribbon panel,
and guaranteeing a opp day in Sept so as we can witness Iffy support the new report,
and reannouncing the govt report as soon as parliament reconvenes in Sept...PMSH was very happy, thankyou.

paulsstuff, I too love the memory of the internet.

Iffy said he would provide an alternate stimulus budget in January, had all the experts working on it, where is it?:

'..The Liberal Leader is currently developing his own alternative stimulus plan for the Canadian economy with a close circle of advisers that includes Ontario's Minister of Finance, Dwight Duncan.
...
For his part, Mr. Ignatieff has also consulted Frank McKenna, deputy chairman of TD Bank Financial Group, and Don Drummond, a former senior Finance official and the TD's senior economist, as well as Liberal MPs John McCallum and Scott Brison.

He needs all the advice he can get, given that he has only a few weeks to
deliver a clear Liberal plan to navigate the current crisis.
On Jan. 27, Mr. Ignatieff will have to decide whether he supports or rejects the Conservative government's budget,
which will contain its own stimulus package.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/article727339.ece

Platty said...

I just took a look over at Warren Kansueyas place, wow, and I do mean wow, the guy is truly delusional. I don't mean that he might be a little bit strange, I mean he is truly delusional.


And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go have a shower.....


=

Unknown said...

Klownsella reminds me of a Garth Turner on steroids

Bec said...

I have a hard time believing that he is a strategist with the kind of stuff on his blog.

It just doesn't jive for me and in keeping with the them of this post, it doesn't drive for me either.

Mike said...

Did you ever notice that Warren looks a bit like Bill Murray?

Joanne (True Blue) said...

WK's days as a top-notch war room strategist are like Pontiac's. You still see them around, but you know their best years are over.

Or like those aging rock stars who just don't know when to pack it in.

gimbol said...

The whole premise of who won the argument is simple.

Is it plausible that the liberals would force an election if Harper did not form this blue ribbon panel and let Iggy pick three of the participants?

Ref "Man for all Seasons"

"Richard, but for Wales?"

Alberta Girl said...

"do you think for a minute that Harper would have compromised with them?"

He "compromised". Really anony - telling Iggy he will "set up a panel to "study" EI" is tantamount to saying "I get to decide when we have an election - not you, Michael".

It is too funny that you are somehow spinning this as a Liberal/Iggy win.

Anonymous said...

iggy just threw kinsella under the non-election bus by rejecting his guidance and pathetic urging to go to the polls this summer.

kinsella wanted an election because he needed one to prove to his multitude of enemies within the LPC that he "is back". Screw everything and everyone else, it is always about kinsella. He's just one of those classic "me, me, me . . . over here, look at me" kinda guys.

That a summer election would be a disaster for iggy and totally unprepared for an election Liberal party means nothing to narcissists like kinsella. You can't translate a few points in the polls into votes without organization in the field and money, neither of which the Liberals have in place. Hell, they don't even have candidates in place.

kinsella will always be a legend in his own mind a minor footnote in
history, a footnote that will be forever in print in the Adscam scandal report that has neutered the once mighty LPC.

kinsella can try and hide his involvement, but the testimony is in the Adscam report.

kinsella . . . killing the Liberal Party of Canada, one self serving step at a time.


Go warren go . . . we so hope you are successful.

Calgary Junkie said...

It's hard to figure out Kinsella's true role within Iggy's team. I suspect he's there mostly to give hope to the party faithful that the LPC is back, ready to fight, aren't going to have sand kicked in their faces any more, stuff like that. I think that was the point of WK's aggressive sounding top ten list.

What we have are two approaches to strategizing: Harper's approach of keeping everything secret, thus keeping the enemy totally in the dark. Then there's the Libs approach of sending out numerous, contradictory signals, with the hope of totally confusing the enemy. Kind of like Sadam Hussein having all those doubles of him wandering around Iraq.

The other difference is that Harper thinks things through every which way, and well in advance, and has an overall strategy to guide his decisions. He also likes to spring surprises on his enemies, forcing them to think fast.

The Libs are more about short term tactics, based mostly on what is in the news that week. There's not much consistency or coherence in what they do. There is also the sense that "too many cooks (advisors) are spoiling the pot".
Hence we saw Iggy confuse the heck out of everyone with his 180 degree turn on the EI-360.

wilson said...

Spinsella is the decoy/diversion, as CJ said.

So again, where is that alternate stimulus budget Iffy promised Canadians in January?
Did his experts tell him 'don't go there' or was there no way Iffy could sell his budget?

maryT said...

When will new polls be out, from June 17-whenever.
As for libs gaining, perhaps a few of those 800,000+ who didn't vote for them in 2008 are thinking of coming back. Just re-read the results of that election. Not one pollster was accurate but they all had a conservative minority. The only thing there were spot on was the greens would not elect anybody.
That 800,000+x1.95 is a great loss of money for them, and now election canada is after them also.
Must have tried a little adscam and it backfired. Only 28 mps are there after getting a majority of votes cast in their riding. Perhaps the rest should form a coalition as more people voted against all of them than for them.

Jen said...

That's the idea, sound convincing yet mean nothing. A game the liberals played on innocent canadians for years and of course the media is right there to highlighten and brainwash.

By the way, Is Robert Fife the Bureau chief for CTV or LPOC.
You see what I mean.