Harper is indeed a goon, but even goons get it right sometimes.
Ignatieff only confirms the arrogant, princely image of Conservative attack ads when he uses language like "from afar."
No one but a writer speaks that way.
And then we have: “Is that the type of Canada you want? To have a government decide who is a good Canadian and a bad Canadian? Who is a true Canadian and who is a false Canadian?"
This is a plainly false dichotomy. No one said Ignatieff was a "false Canadian," whatever that would be anyway.
And the government made no statements.
A political party did.
Ignatieff does not look especially effective in opposing these advertising suggestions. Could that be because they are largely accurate?
I dislike Harper. I dislike American-style campaigning.
But the Liberals opened themselves to this and more with their anti-democratic crowning of a life-long ex-pat as leader, an ex-pat moreover who enthusiastically embraced the American empire and its worst excesses.
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You just knew it was coming.
Harper's Conservatives so much resemble Rush Limbaugh in the way they deal with political competition, dragging down Canada's political discourse to the level of East Texas.
Yet, in this case, while I disagree with Harper's low-life approach, I cannot help but agree with the message contained in the ads.
I saw my first ad last night, and I must say that they have hit their mark.
It really is a sad situation in Canada's political life to have two such people leading our major parties.
I recommend voters not register support for either of these political cretins.
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The word "arrogant" covers many qualities other than those we normally associate with it.
There is a slippery, dishonest quality about Ignatieff that is observed in his almost every statement and action (Uncle Fester, above, captures it well).
Ignatieff is simply not made of the same stuff as the quality leaders the Liberal party has supplied us in the past, indeed, a rather remarkable series of men.
Harper, as all observant Canadians know, is himself a man of slippery values, inconsistent ethics, and a low-life approach to politics. He very much resembles Rush Limbaugh without the nasty humor.
Harper has introduced us to a shabby American-style of politics.
Could that be because his base and funding in Alberta are pipelined up from Texas for the oil industry? I think there is truth there. His advisors included just such people.
Returning to Ignatieff, we can say that he is, for all intents and purposes, an American, an adoptee but still an American.
His Canadian background means about as much as that of John Galbraith.
Actually less, because Galbraith did clearly reflect Canadian attitudes and influences in his writing and advocacy.
Not in my lifetime have Canadians been offered such a poor choice of party leaders.
A pox on both their houses.
