Is Kelly McParland Right? Maybe Ignatieff just isn’t that smart

Kelly McParland stated this just a couple of days ago that Michael Ignatieff :

 Maybe Ignatieff just isn’t that smart.  It’s hard to figure this guy. He’s made mistake after mistake after mistake. He signs the coalition pact, insists he’s on side, then repudiates the whole thing later. He stokes a phony election threat, insists he means it despite all common sense, then retreats in embarrassment when it falls flat. He raises issue after issue as a line in the sand, then does nothing when the Tories step over the line and kick sand in his face to boot. His own caucus ignores him, his supposed pal Bob Rae embarrasses him, he fires his advisers to get better advice, and then makes the same dumb mistakes under the new advisers.
He doesn’t seem to learn. He spends a deeply uncomfortable week or two insisting he’s not interested in a coalition of opposition parties, then uses a trip to Britain to confer with the junior member of Britain’s coalition party. Great optics? Um…no. He knows he has to soften his image as a pointy-headed academic, so he does it by touring Canadian campuses and holding a “thinkers conference” in Montreal. Why not just move back to Harvard and run the party from there?

Well Mr. McParland just may be right.  We have this today from John Ibbitson.  Seems like Ignatieff has trouble with knowing about the different bills that are out there. 

 Kingston voters school Ignatieff on legislation that matters
KINGSTON, ONT. – Do you know what Bill C-6 is? Or Bill C-474? Don’t worry, it would seem Michael Ignatieff doesn’t either. 

As leader of the official opposition he should have a clue about these bills. Does he not read them? Is he not at least briefed on them?  Good grief! 
PM Harper would have known what these bills were about, each clause, each paragraph and able to explain them in detail.  So would NDP Leader Jack Layton.   Maybe Iffy should spend more time at work then maybe he'd have somewhat of a clue.  It just shows he's not ready for prime time.

Iffy Should Not Count on Alberta Provincial Cousins

Oooh, our Alberta provincial Liberal leader, David Swann is not exactly enamoured by his federal cousins.

“It helps us to define ourselves as quite separate from the federal Liberals, which in Alberta is not a bad thing,” Swann said Tuesday after issuing a statement criticizing the federal Liberals. “We are standing up for Alberta, and in this case, we are not in agreement with our federal Liberal party.”

Ouch! Who can blame the provincial Libs from wanting to separate themselves from their federal cousins?  They have a hard time the way it is to make any headway, nevermind associating themselves with the federal Libs.  We Albertans have not forgotten the  NEP that the federal Liberals imposed on us that was disastrous for businesses and individuals in the eighties.  We suffered through some tough times as a result. You got that  plus all that has occurred afterward within the federal Liberal party, (adscam, internal feuds, leader problems etc.)   you can see why they don't want to be linked to the federal party. Who would want to be associated with all that?
Smart move for Mr. Swann  for not wanting to be "kissin' cousins"  It would be poison if they were.

So Iffy, don't count on  your cousins in Alberta to help you out any time soon.  Just continue on with your Express bus tour and connect with the common people.

Iffy's Common Touch

So the leader of the Liberal party is on his bus tour across the county.  He wants to connect and "build a level of trust" among Canadians.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is embarking on a two-month tour to connect and "build a level of trust" with Canadians across the country.

Uh huh, good luck with that one because maybe you need to beware of Iffy's common touch.

As Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff embarks on his cross-Canada tour, vowing to shake every hand in the country, we offer this stock tip.
Buy Johnson & Johnson.
It's the maker of Purell.
In a last-ditch effort to reinvent himself yet again -- having failed at portraying himself as Philosopher King Redux, or as an aristocratic Tsarist whose lineage demands a return to rule, or through his supposedly incomparable intellectual prowess, Ignatieff now wants Canadians to believe he has the common touch.
So, in his words, he's going to shake every hand in every Tim Hortons in the country, and kiss every baby he can find.
Break out the hand sanitizer and hide your children.
Snake oil would be an easier sell for the Liberal Party than Ignatieff trying on yet another political disguise, especially one where he attempts to shift his image to one that mirrors the hoi polloi.
He's an elitist, pure and simple.

Wow, ouch!   Don't think he's going to connect with regular folk anytime soon. Yeah I know, the toughest job in politics is leader of the official opposition but  he is so out of place and out of touch.  He just looks so uncomfortable to me.  The more he's out and about, the more he goofs up with his gaffes and the more the public is turned off.  If he doesn't turn this thing around toot sweet, he's toast after the next election.

The Wildrose Stomp!

Ready for the Wildrose Stomp? Found this cute little video on youtube.  Enjoy!

A Little Skepticsism for the Liberal Bus Tour

Jeff Jedras,Liberal blogger seems a  little skeptical as far as the Liberal leader and the annual summer get to know ya tour goes.

This week, the (latest) make or break summer BBQ tour kicks off for a Liberal leader, where (once again) their future, and that off all Liberal-kind, will depend (again) on how well they do kissing babies, flipping burgers and, what do you do with corn, turn it? Turning corn?
Frankly though, I think in the four or so summers I’ve been a blogger, I’ve written at least that many blogs about how the leader really needs to have a really strong performance working hard on the BBQ circuit this summer to finally connect with Canadians, build momentum, develop a positive, substantive persona, and whatnot.
Rather than writing that blog again, I figured I’d just post links to the same blog when I wrote it every other summer and let you read those ones instead:
May 8, 2007: OK, now how do we grow?
June 25, 2007 : The quest for the holy BBQ tongs
May 5, 2008 : Summer tour a good idea
June 22, 2009 : We need to put some meat on the BBQ this summer

With the gaffes that his leader has made so far, the party tanking in the polls, I kinda see where he would be a little leery.
Joanne at BLY has a great summation of the gaffes so far in her post update.

 Update

It might not be a bad idea to start keeping track of Iggy’s gaffes on the Liberal “Off-the-Cuff”  Express.

Just from Shawn Logan’s Calgary Sun report alone there is a goldmine:

1. First of all there is the now infamous, “You know you smell the whiff of sulfur coming off the guy (Harper) — we know how right wing these guys really are.”

(So is he also saying that all Canadians on the right are like the devil?)

2. And Ignatieff took time to show off his Boulet cowboy boots to the crowd, saying, “These are the best cowboy boots in Canada and they’re made in Quebec.” – said in Calgary!!!

3. “I am much reproached for spending time outside of Canada — naughty me,” he said. “I don’t know what to do with my shame about that.” Well I do, but it isn’t fit for a family blog.

4. “Starting today we’re going to get on a bus and go to every province and territory between July and September, if it doesn’t kill me first.    Please Iggy, try to curb your enthusiasm at the prospect of meeting The Canadians.

Iffy sure hasn't started his tour well with his off the cuff remarks but maybe he'll catch on a bit after hand shaking, baby kissing and hanging with "the Canadians" in Tim Hortons across the country. Maybe we should give him a little slack, he's not used to cavorting with the peasants, you know.  Will it end up as a successful venture?  Time will tell.
Meanwhile we'll be mining gold in gaffes etc. for future reference to use in truth ads and blog topics.