"Dion on Hot Seat"
Couple of items from various news sources today... and all of them don't look good for Mr. Dion.
The title of my post is shamelessly ripped from part of the title of Chantal Hébert's Toronto Star article, reviewing last week in the House, and commenting on the recent polls. Basicly, even though the Tories had a horrible week, Dion is still not ready to go to force an election. The article, however, also points out that Dion is in a bigger pickle because he's not ready... "Dion has made the environment his personal crusade. If he fails to try to bring the government to account on its climate change plan, he will be seen as a champion with clay feet in many quarters."
Another reason for Dion to have pause in forcing an election... CASH FLOW. We got it, and he don't. (and when the NDP is rasing more cash than you are, you should worry)
But Mr. Dion's woes don't end there. He was offered an opportunity in the House by Mr. Harper to distance himself from the comments this weekend of his co-deputy Leader, Elizabeth May, who compared Mr. Harper's plan to the pre-WWII British policy of appeasing the Nazis... which as we all know, directly contributed to the deaths of six million Jews. Dion, for some strange reason, didn't take Mr. Harper up on his offer. (though he did make a weak attempt at distancing himself outside of the House... maybe he didn't want it to go on record in Hansard?)
And speaking of God's Chosen People, B'nai Brith has now officially demanded that Mr. Dion deal with his new anti-Israel candidate in Edmonton, Farhan Chak:
And as for the Afghan detainees issue that the Liberals keep hammering on, it looks like some of the blame is being redirected from the Tories to General Hillier himself... according to two anonymous sources in Foreign Affairs. We know how much the Liberals love anonymous government sources... they're not likely to appreciate these two though. It looks like a big part of the problem may have developed while they were still at the helm... and it just landed in the Tories lap. (granted, they did fumble the ball a bit on it last week)
It may be that the fiasco we saw last week is related to the fact that Foreign Affairs and the Defence Department are at odds on who should be running the show in Afghanistan. It seems that some people in Foreign Affairs are peeved that General Hillier has managed to embed so many people in key places in the Afghan Ministry... so much so that he has better access to information and key players than they do.
Could it be that some embarrasing info was leaked by FA people, in an attempt to embarrass the Military? As a result, it stands to reason that the breakdowns in communication that resulted in five or ten different answers last week be directly related to the spitting match currently being had by these two agencies. If that turns out to be the case, then some heads ought to roll... their childish antics proved to be very embarrassing to the Government, and the Conservatives ought to make things right by cleaning the house. It would also allow the Mr. O'Conner to return to the House and say "We've identified the problem... and as the Minister responsible, I have taken ownership of this issue, and have now dealt with the source of the problem."
There is also speculation that the Liberals knew way back in 2003 that there were allegations of torture... why didn't they solve the problem back then when they were in power?
All in all, it's starting to look like it's Mr. Dion's turn to have a bad week.
The title of my post is shamelessly ripped from part of the title of Chantal Hébert's Toronto Star article, reviewing last week in the House, and commenting on the recent polls. Basicly, even though the Tories had a horrible week, Dion is still not ready to go to force an election. The article, however, also points out that Dion is in a bigger pickle because he's not ready... "Dion has made the environment his personal crusade. If he fails to try to bring the government to account on its climate change plan, he will be seen as a champion with clay feet in many quarters."
Another reason for Dion to have pause in forcing an election... CASH FLOW. We got it, and he don't. (and when the NDP is rasing more cash than you are, you should worry)
But Mr. Dion's woes don't end there. He was offered an opportunity in the House by Mr. Harper to distance himself from the comments this weekend of his co-deputy Leader, Elizabeth May, who compared Mr. Harper's plan to the pre-WWII British policy of appeasing the Nazis... which as we all know, directly contributed to the deaths of six million Jews. Dion, for some strange reason, didn't take Mr. Harper up on his offer. (though he did make a weak attempt at distancing himself outside of the House... maybe he didn't want it to go on record in Hansard?)
And speaking of God's Chosen People, B'nai Brith has now officially demanded that Mr. Dion deal with his new anti-Israel candidate in Edmonton, Farhan Chak:
In another recent case, Farhan Chak, the Liberal Party candidate running in the riding of Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, accused the Israeli government of ‘murdering children, raping women, and torturing an entire populace’. This attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state and marginalize a segment of the voting public should not go unchallenged. We call on Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion to follow the positive example set by Ms. May, and refuse to let this candidate represent the Liberal Party in his bid for political office.Still no statement or action from Mr. Dion on this one. (h/t to Janke)
And as for the Afghan detainees issue that the Liberals keep hammering on, it looks like some of the blame is being redirected from the Tories to General Hillier himself... according to two anonymous sources in Foreign Affairs. We know how much the Liberals love anonymous government sources... they're not likely to appreciate these two though. It looks like a big part of the problem may have developed while they were still at the helm... and it just landed in the Tories lap. (granted, they did fumble the ball a bit on it last week)
It may be that the fiasco we saw last week is related to the fact that Foreign Affairs and the Defence Department are at odds on who should be running the show in Afghanistan. It seems that some people in Foreign Affairs are peeved that General Hillier has managed to embed so many people in key places in the Afghan Ministry... so much so that he has better access to information and key players than they do.
Could it be that some embarrasing info was leaked by FA people, in an attempt to embarrass the Military? As a result, it stands to reason that the breakdowns in communication that resulted in five or ten different answers last week be directly related to the spitting match currently being had by these two agencies. If that turns out to be the case, then some heads ought to roll... their childish antics proved to be very embarrassing to the Government, and the Conservatives ought to make things right by cleaning the house. It would also allow the Mr. O'Conner to return to the House and say "We've identified the problem... and as the Minister responsible, I have taken ownership of this issue, and have now dealt with the source of the problem."
There is also speculation that the Liberals knew way back in 2003 that there were allegations of torture... why didn't they solve the problem back then when they were in power?
All in all, it's starting to look like it's Mr. Dion's turn to have a bad week.
posted by Christian Conservative @ 11:12 a.m.
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