By arthur Weinreb
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Liberal leadership candidate, Michael Ignatieff, has never held elected office prior to last January's federal election. With the exception of Martha Hall Findlay, who if Sheila Copps wasn't constantly writing that Hall Findlay is dead last in the race because she is a woman would have no profile at all, Ignatieff's experience is far below that of the other contenders. and it shows.
Commenting on the Israel/Lebanon war last summer, Ignatieff blamed Hezbollah for the deaths of Lebanese civilians at Qana because they (Hezbollah) were firing rockets at Israel from civilian areas. He then went further and made the gratuitous comment that he wasn't "losing any sleep" over the deaths of innocent civilians.
Last Sunday, Ignatieff did a complete reversal. Instead of Qana being a natural consequence of war as he previously said that it was; something that wasn't worth losing sleep over, he went on a French language Radio-Canada show, Toute le monde en parle, and proudly announced that what happened in Qana was a war crime committed by Israel. This statement was only meant for his French-speaking audience who are generally speaking sympathetic to Lebanon if not Hezobollah. Ignatieff's comments surfaced in the ROC and were condemned by Jewish groups. Iggy's campaign co-chair, Thornhill Ontario MP Susan Kadis quit the campaign. a tragic offshoot of the bilingualism policies of Ignatieff's hero, Pierre Trudeau is that what is said or done in French-speaking Quebec doesn't stay in French-speaking Quebec.
Michael Ignatieff must be in panic mode. although he came out of the "Super Weekend" leading the pack of leadership contenders with 30% of the vote, the conventional wisdom is that he, unlike the others at the top of the pack; Bob Rae, Stephane Dion and Gerard Kennedy, has little chance to increase his numbers after the first ballot.
The Ignatieff campaign went into damage control after Sunday's war crime statement. Leslie Church, the campaign's director of communications said that what Ignatieff really meant to say is that Qana was a great tragedy. In other words, the great human rights scholar didn't mean to say that Israel committed a war crime when he said that Israel committed a war crime. If there is any truth to that, Ignatieff should do the honourable thing, drop out of the race and admit that he is just too stupid to lead anything. What nonsense. If we accept that everything that Ignatieff has said is true, and he should be given the benefit of the doubt, then we have a potential leader of the Liberal Party who thinks that the commission of a war crime is nothing to lose any sleep over.
Yesterday the campaign issued a statement in order to further smooth the waters. There was no retraction of Ignatieff's "war crime" comments; rather it was a "some of my best friends are Israelis" type of release. It said in part, "I have lived in Israel, taught in Israel, and have been a lifelong friend of Israel". Wow; this guy has more connection with Israel than he does to Canada. Perhaps he should run for the Knesset.
The inexperienced Ignatieff is finally getting the hang of what it takes for a Liberal to gain power but he still has a way to go. He has learned that in order to be a true Grit, you have to say different things to different people. Unfortunately he lacks to ability to tone down his comments. a more experienced Liberal would have blamed Hezbollah for the civilian deaths in Qana without making flippant comments that the deaths of civilian men, women and children were no big deal; certainly nothing to lose any sleep over. and a Liberal with more experience would have gone into Quebec and blamed Israel for the deaths in Qana without labelling the Israeli actions as a war crime.
The Liberal mantra; say whatever you have to say to get elected – guess it's not as easy as it looks.
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