Being both a political junkie as well as life-long avid car buff, I can't help but compare Michael Ignatieff to the Ford Motor Companies Edsel model. Both were greatly hyped by the media, both were short lived in their respective political and automotive history as a popular choice, and unless Iffy can stop the bleeding and downward momentum, both he and the Edsel will have experienced a term of roughly 3-4 years. In fact when looking at this Wikipedia entry for the Edsel, one could easily change Edsel for Ignatieff and the sentence would still make sense:
"The Edsel was a marque of the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The brand is known best as one of the biggest commercial failures in the history of American business"
That could read:
Ignatieff was a marque of the Liberal Party of Canada during the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 years. He is known best as one of the biggest commercial failures in the history of Canadian politics.
Forget all the current polls showing Iffy tanking. Polls change daily. A better indicator is actual results, so let's review. Another comparison is production numbers for the Edsel and seat counts for the Liberals in the last three elections.
1958 Edsel production- 63,110 Edsels were sold in the U.S., with another 4,935 sold in Canada
1959 Edsel production- 44,891 cars were sold in the U.S., with an additional 2,505 sold in Canada.
1960 Edsel production- 2,846 vehicles were produced (Total!)
2000 Federal election- Liberals 172 seats
2004 Federal election- Liberals 135 seats
2006 Federal election- Liberals 103 seats
2008 Federal election- Liberals 77 seats
What once seem implausible may actually occur. Iggy may continue the downward trend, this time giving PM Stephen Harper the majority that has so far eluded him. Somehow, I can visualize Stephane Dion, Bob Rae, and Denis Codderre sitting in an Italian restaraunt in Quebec deciding who gets to stab Iggy in the back next.
"The Edsel was a marque of the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The brand is known best as one of the biggest commercial failures in the history of American business"
That could read:
Ignatieff was a marque of the Liberal Party of Canada during the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 years. He is known best as one of the biggest commercial failures in the history of Canadian politics.
Forget all the current polls showing Iffy tanking. Polls change daily. A better indicator is actual results, so let's review. Another comparison is production numbers for the Edsel and seat counts for the Liberals in the last three elections.
1958 Edsel production- 63,110 Edsels were sold in the U.S., with another 4,935 sold in Canada
1959 Edsel production- 44,891 cars were sold in the U.S., with an additional 2,505 sold in Canada.
1960 Edsel production- 2,846 vehicles were produced (Total!)
2000 Federal election- Liberals 172 seats
2004 Federal election- Liberals 135 seats
2006 Federal election- Liberals 103 seats
2008 Federal election- Liberals 77 seats
What once seem implausible may actually occur. Iggy may continue the downward trend, this time giving PM Stephen Harper the majority that has so far eluded him. Somehow, I can visualize Stephane Dion, Bob Rae, and Denis Codderre sitting in an Italian restaraunt in Quebec deciding who gets to stab Iggy in the back next.
11 comments:
Edsel Ford was the black sheep of the illustrious auto-maker's family. But at least the car named after him seemed to have some class. Okay, it was not as revered as say, the Avro Aero, but it is still a beauty in the eyes of many retrospective beholders. Mikhail Igneutiev, on the other hand, with parallel drops in his own popularity chart, lacks the pizazz to have even a cult following. A failed massive marketing venture, crashing the LPC's big Red machine was not the way to enhance a comeback. NO deposit / No return.
That is an average of 30+ seats that the Liberals have lost in every election since 2000. I never really sat down and looked at that, but wow, is that ever startling.
If that trend continues, Ignatieff could be looking at a caucus closer to the size of John Turner's after the 1984 election. All it would take would be a surge of seats for the Tories in Ontario and for the Liberals to get hammered in Quebec, which is hardly outside the realm of possibility.
"I can visualize Stephane Dion, Bob Rae, and Denis Codderre sitting in an Italian restaraunt in Quebec deciding who gets to stab Iggy in the back next."
Whoa paulsstuff, those guys already have.
The question is, who's next and which direction should he be looking at to defend?
These people ARE A MESS and some are NDP-ers (most) and very few are traditional Liberals.
The party that Trudeau created but never intended, is an obscene alien that needs a firm and decisive destruction.
Then perhaps rebuilt.....in 200 years....
The Liberal's, since 2004, have thought Harper was a light weight and all they needed to do was show up and smile.
The Canadian public really was expecting them to go for a walk in the snow and come back with recognition of their hubris and arrogance. But the Liberal Party of Canada had, and still has, far too much arrogance and hubris to ever think they need to re-tool.
So, they just keep pumping out the edsels and keep waiting for us to buy it. The model keeps getting older and older looking with too much chrome and too little under the hood.
One more thing. The Liberal Party also thought they could laugh at this Reform, Alliance, Conservative monster. They called them "CRAP" and talked about hidden agenda's and Bush Light. They never saw how ugly they looked to the rest of us.
If Harper is a kitten eater, the kitten he is eating is the Liberal Party of Canada.
O my, I see a number pattern.
2000-2004 lost 37 seats
2004-2006 lost 32 seats (37-32= 5 )
2006-2008 lost 26 seats (32-26= 6 )
2008- ??? lose 19 seats (26-19= 7 )
So, if the number pattern holds, the next election the Libs will lose 7 seats less than they did in 2008, lose 19 seats = 58
One can hope.
"2008, lose 19 seats = 58"
They NEED TO experience a decimation...they need to in order for the rest of this country to understand WHAT THEY DON'T DO and HAVE DONE with their corrupt and hand slight, justification of THEM.
There was one good thing about the Edsel, no one could steal it as they couldn't find the gearshift. We had one, and it was great in good weather, but horrible in winter. I had parked ours by a power pole, while unloading stuff and it had to be moved. Took my load into the bldg and asked a teenage friend to move my car. Gave him the keys. About an hour later I remembered he had not brought the keys back. Saw him coming in looking sheepish and saying, I can't find the gearshift. It was in the center of the steering wheel, and you just pushed a button. Can't remember where the horn was. We drove it for 5 yrs, and sold it to an Edsel buff in NFLD.
How much money/vote have the liberals lost since 2000.
And has Dion ever paid his leadership debt, or have the other candidates paid theirs.
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