Friday, November 14, 2008

Three comments on today's "anonymous Liberal sources" story...

1. Bob Rae's strategy to win the Liberal leadership is to focus on the economy

That's either a really dumb move or a counter-intuitive master stroke of brilliance.


2. “Bob doesn't feel overmatched,” said the strategist, who asked not to be identified.

Jane, could you not find one Liberal willing to make this bold claim on the record? I mean, if we're just going to get campaign talking points, do we really need to cloak them behind the veil of "anonymous sources".


3. In the 2006 leadership, when Mr. Rae placed third behind Mr. Ignatieff and Mr. Dion, Mr. Ignatieff had the support of the majority of Quebec delegates.

39% is not a majority. (except occasionally in FPTP...)

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5 Comments:

  • I am increasingly convinced that Jane Taber has just made an entire career of making crap up.

    Has she had even one story during the past 3 years that were NOT based on anonymous sources?

    Either that or she thinks the voices in her head are real.

    Seriously, I can think of no example in which a journalist's entire production of work is based on secret "insiders" who, if they exist, must speak to her constantly.

    If they do exist, how hard could it be to figure out who they are. I could probably fly to Ontario and figure it out after a few days, and I have no investigative background or connections.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:21 p.m.  

  • 39% is not a majority. (except occasionally in FPTP...)

    *smooches*!

    By Blogger Idealistic Pragmatist, at 7:00 p.m.  

  • Doesn't Taber play (guest) host on CTV? And since when has CTV held its people accountable?

    By Blogger Chrystal Ocean, at 7:18 p.m.  

  • The economy focus makes sense.

    He cannot run away from this issue; he knows that it's probably his greatest vulnerability. If he hopes to destabilize Ignatieff's grip on both the media narrative and the party apparatus, he needs to immediately build credibility on the economy while probing Ignatieff's various weaknesses. He can't run on his record—-even though his province's deep recession had more to do with an out-of-control Bank of Canada president than anything he did--so he'll need to run on a platform and a theme.

    He'll also need to craft a credible appeal to progressives. All of the Ignatieff camp's talk about "moving to the center" (read: right) is going to further alienate the progressive delegates (especially youth) that rejected Iggy last time. That's a problem for Ignatieff in a general election, yes, but it's also a problem at the convention. Ignatieff's larger Caucus support won't mean much if Bob starts winning over the small "l" liberal rank-and-file.

    It's still Iggy's to lose. But then again, so was the last one, and that one didn't happen under the shadow of suspected disloyalty. He shouldn't get comfortable.

    By Blogger Demosthenes, at 4:12 a.m.  

  • hey dan

    when tehre are two candidates left on the final ballot, someone has to have a majority...

    By Blogger Anthony, at 2:02 a.m.  

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