If this commentary from a self-described undecided voter is any indication the Liberals are really in trouble.
From Times and Transcript
Liberal Party bashing among pundits lately appears to have become a sport, which itself ought to be a strong cautionary sign for the party. After all this includes a lot of people who are more sympathetic to the Liberal Party than any other . . . or once were.
But then, never has the self-styled ‘natural governing party’ been so out of touch with voters. Never have its MPs and closest advisers appeared so clueless about what to do.
If ever a political party needed a blood transfusion, it’s this one. Instead, it lives on inflated false confidence that everyone knows they are the ones who should be running the nation (ignoring two election defeats) and that all they have to do is throw enough mud at the PM and glory days will return.
It’s delusional. Never mind the lame duck leader. (Great unanswered question: why would somebody so intelligent and well informed – Michael Ignatieff is both – stick to hackneyed Party scripts and myths rather than actually lead it where it needs to go?) Despite failure after failure at attempts to create scandal out of stuff only politicians and policy wonks in Ottawa’s cocoon could work up more than a yawn about, the tactics remain unchanged. So the party comes off as arrogant (‘we know what’s best, not you’), power hungry to the point of desperation (and silliness) and still lacks a coherent platform or vision. For most, the tattered Liberal ethos from the late 1960s is little more than a curiosity 40 years later. If the Liberals do end up governing anytime soon, it will most likely be via an accident in how votes split or thanks to a massive error by the Conservatives unlike any they’ve committed to date. Hardly a ringing endorsement!
I’ve said this before and much of the reaction I’ve had or heard from Liberals (and sometimes small-l liberals) has been simply more mud-slinging: suggestions yours truly is just a conservative ideologue. It’s an occupational hazard. Yet, every election I make a choice, and often vote differently than in the previous election – the kind of voter political parties and pollsters who seek certainty hate. That’s another way of saying the Liberals could get my vote, if . . . Here’s a sampling of the sort of things that might do it:
* Drop the knee-jerk ideological devotion to hugely expensive nanny state social programs backed primarily by special interest groups. Devise a workable plan to ensure the programs we have now, particularly health care and CPP, do not end up bankrupting us or being ruined because we can’t afford them.
