A tip of the hat to Adam Daifallah for pointing out some comments made by newly elected Liberal MP Michael Ignatieff.
Ignatieff says it’s time for the Liberals to drop their favorite ploy: Anti-Americanism.
“We’ve got to stop this trite and shallow anti-Americanism”, says Ignatieff.
He also called the Liberal election ads an “insult to the intelligence of the Canadian voter.”
Wow.
Originally I didn’t much care for Ignatieff because of my own bias against intellectuals.
But maybe I was wrong.
Of course, I’m not going to endorse him to be Liberal leader or anything; for a Liberal that would be the kiss of death.
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8 comments:
On the attack ads he was right. I think attack ads are effective when you have a new and unknown opponent, which is why they worked in 2000 and 2004 as well as the 1999 provincial election in Ontario and BC election in 1996. Once the opponent is more well known they generally don't work well i.e. 1988 federal election, 2003 Ontario provincial election, and 2006 federal election.
As for the anti-Americanism, I am torn on this. On the one hand it is bad public policy for Canada to constantly chastize the Americans at the same time, almost all of the anti-American rhetoric from the Liberals simply reflects my personal views of Americans since I have a lot of disdain for their country. That being said I am not a politician, so I can dislike the Americans and bad mouth them all I want without harming Canada.
I would like to express "regret" over Prime Minister Stephen Harper for expressing "regret" over the cartoons in Western Standard. It is true that Stephen Harper once ran the National Citizens Coalition? Who will stand up freedom of expression and freedom of the press? By the way Gerry, check out my new column
Anonymous - I don't hate every single American, but I dislike what their country stands for and believe their values are vastly out of touch with Canada. If we could somehow distance ourselves from them, my dislike towards their country would be less. After all I am fine with China since our relations are not particularly close. With the United States I know we can change the fact they are our neighbour, although I believe they are a bad neighbour to have, but we can distance ourselves from them.
Let's get one thing straight, anybody who visits my site might be wrong on some issues, but they can't be idiots.
Right you are Gerry.
I shouldn't have said that.
You're right Gerry, he's not an idiot, but he sure is confused as to just how much ..FREEDOM..,
needs and relies on the defence that it gets from the good old
U.S. of A.
As an American, I wish that Miles would explain his disdain for America - what is his beef, exactly? Otherwise, I'd say that I have to change my mind about Ignatieff, who I was first against because of his previously published negative and prejudiced comments about Ukrainians (I are one), but he seems to exhibit some common sense ideas for a liberal, something which is not usually seen in one of the liberal bent. I shall give him the benefit of the doubt having heard these common sense words. It makes no sense for Canadians to view Americans as their worst enemy when we have real enemies overseas who are getting ready to wage war with the West -- which last time I looked included Canada. Nice blog.
Aussiegirl - The United States is the only country to ever invade Canada and in my view the only threat to Canadian sovereignty. The terrorists are certainly evil, but the reason they have the support they do in the Middle East is because of American foreign policy. Canada would only be used as an entry point to the US, but it is not a target. BTW I am right wing on economic issues, which is why I visit this site and I do support the idea of less government, however the current Bush administration and neo-cons are only for less government when it benefits them. I also see nothing contradictory with being a Conservative and wanting a more independent Canada. In almost every other country Conservatives tend to be strongly against closer integration with any foreign nation. And as for neighbours, I would rather have Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, or any other European nation or even Asian nation as a neighbour than the US.
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