Thursday, February 07, 2008

Afghanistan Is Not A Tory Strength

I think Warren K. has it mostly right:
Here we go. Two things:

• The Manley Report doesn't give them the cover they obviously think it does. The Tories are rolling the dice, big time.
• The country feels we have done our bit, and it's time for other countries to step up to the plate. The Liberals could win the election, big time.
The only thing I slightly disagree with Warren about is the last sentence. The Iggy/Rae may prevent Dion from exploiting this obvious reality to the full extent necessary for him to crush the Tories.
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3 comments:

  1. Yeah, but there are other issues that we can vote against the Tories on. When was the last time we really had a one-issue election? The Free Trade election of 1988?

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  2. True, but I suspect the Tories (and the media) will try to make this into a referendum on Afghanistan (just like 1988). The Tories because they think they can wedge 40% on the issue and the media because it is a sexy story.

    It will be up to the opposition to stop that from happening, though I suspect it would suit Layton just fine if it was a referendum because Afghanistan divides the Liberals so much.

    It will be up to Dion to keep his caucus together and calmly point out the silliness of Harper's "Let's stay in Afghanistan until the sun explodes" position. If Dion taps int Canadians' frustration with the lack of NATO help, he will win. If he can't (or won't because of Iggy/Rae) Harper will eat his lunch on the issue and possibly the election.

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  3. Issue elections are good elections.

    I'm a little skeptical about whether it'll take place -- we've had so many election scares -- but it'd be a good one to head to the polls on.

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