The New Conservative/NDP Attack Lines

I just read this, and I almost fell out of my chair laughing at how pathetic the Conservative and NDP attempts to discredit Dion are.

According to that Wisdom-Lover that is John Baird

He's one of those ... Cabinet ministers from Quebec who sat through the sponsorship scandal and claimed not to know a thing that went on while millions of dollars were stolen

John please, really, who in God's name is going to believe Dion was in anyway involved in the Sponsorship Scandal, this is just a desperate attempt to throw anything and see if it sticks. Mr. Dion was in Government, of course, but who honestly is going to believe other then Hardcore Tory Partisans that Dion actually had something to do with the Sponsorship scandal? Is Mr. Baird actually serious about this? Is there an assumption that if your from Quebec and you were a cabinet minister in Quebec during that time your a crook? This attack just won't fly and if this is seriously the best the Tories can come up with at the moment, they are really in trouble.

Next, I want to turn to the baseless and rediculous attempt by those bastions of integrity, the NDP. I want to tell you that I just want to say I used to have a lot of respect for Jack Layton before he just completely lost his mind. The NDP today is a party that is so out of touch with Canada's priorities, they do nothing but scream, shout and protest, but they really don't have any agenda except to throw softball questions to Cabinet Ministers.

So this is what the NDP said

Stephane Dion is an out of touch academic who spent 10 years in a scandal-ridden cabinet.

....

Can I actually dignify this attack with a response? I'm pretty much speechless, really this attack just doesn't hold any water. You know what I'm just going to say that I'm not even going to dignify this drivel with a response if Mr. Layton wants to actually talk about the issues then fine I'll disprove him but this stupid baseless attack just isn't worth my time.

Liberals have yet to address the elephant in the room

While I am happy Stephane Dion has won, I believe that the Liberals have really got to prepare to put out a strong platform that Canadians can vote for in the next election, We need to make meaningful promises to Canadians and not 20,000 different promises. The Liberal party needs a hell of a lot more work then just a fresh coat of paint, we need to dismantle the whole car and start building are platform from the bottom up. We have a Leader who thankfully displays that he does care about the environment and that he is passionate about it.

I want to tell everyone in the Liberal Party that they cannot let the NDP and the Conservatives peddle falsehoods on Stephane Dion, we have to let Stephane Dion define himself to his audience and we need him to speak the truth before the NDP and the Conservatives try to discredit him. Dion needs to prove he is a strong leader and he needs to inflict some serious harm on Stephen Harper.

While I've heard a lot of things from opponents, I say to people who voted for Ignatieff, that there is definitely room in this party for you, for the first time in a long time the Liberal Party has been united and we are going to work towards victory. Michael Ignatieff was a gracious man and he has a bright future ahead of him. As for Gerard Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy made a difficult decision but he did the right thing for the Liberal Party and I know that Mr. Kennedy will definitely have a great future ahead for him and he will definitely be in a better position next time.

We are all Liberals, we have a role to play in helping us win the next election, But I'm going to tell you the truth, we will not win if we cut corners to try and win the election, we need to work long and hard at this and come up with an agenda that the people of Canada can attach themselves for. Simply put, just being anti-Stephen Harper is not an agenda, and this has been I think one of the weaknesses of left of center parties, they are more able to oppose something then get behind something. I hope Dion uses the environment issue to flog Harper over the head, it is an issue that he used to great effect and he will likely continue to do it.

Final Ballot Results and Thoughts

Oh who cares about the Numbers, Dion has won, Let me tell you I am proud as a Canadian and as a Liberal to be watching the Next Prime Minister of Canada about to speak.

Chretien Put Harper in His Place

I admit that I had problems with Chretien previously, but he gave a fantastic speech and he layed the smackdown on Harper well. I'm glad that he also mentioned he voted for Paul Martin, Sr. It's very nice of him to mention that and it shows it seems that Mr. Chretien and Mr. Martin have decided to bury the hatchet and I am proud of him for being a gentlemen and finally making peace with Mr. Martin, albeit the apology came a long time.

Congratulations to Gerard Kennedy

He ran a strong campaign and he proved many of his doubters wrong. I am now happy to announce I am switching my support to Stephane Dion and hope that he is the next leader of this Party. Mr. Kennedy made a smart decision and he has earned my respect.

Dryden to Rae

I just heard from Stronach and Manley that they believe that Dryden will go Rae and that they heard from their sources that is going on.

First Ballot Results and Thoughts

Michael Ignatieff 1,412 29.3%
Bob Rae 977 20.3%
Stephane Dion 856 17.8%
Gerard Kennedy 854 17.7%
Ken Dryden 238 4.9%
Scott Brison 192 4.0%
Joe Volpe 156 3.2%
Martha Hall Findlay 130 2.7%

Well now, we finally have the results in and there are a few shockers Ignatieff has been held under 30 percent, he right now does not have the momentum according to our estimates we made on Wikipedia Ignatieff was expected to have close to 1,607 delegates voting in favor, he ended up with close almost 195 short of that tally. Bob Rae was estimated to have 1,029 delegates according to wikipedia and that number was within one hundred and the estimates were off by 52, But what seems to be really surprising is Gerard Kennedy who was expected to have 931 delegates but was off by 77, Stephane Dion was expected to have 883 delegates and the projections were off by 21. This means that There was a few things we can take from this, Kennedy and Ignatieff lost support among ex-officios. We will have to see what happens with Martha Findlay and what impact the Volpe movement will have to Rae. The next ballot is going to really tell us where things stand. We must keep in mind that Ignatieff and Rae both have lost the momentum, Rae is going to be hurt by non-stop negative attention to the fact he barely spoke any french tonight and Ignatieff is going to be hurt by the fact he underperformed on the first ballot. Clearly the candidate who has momentum is Stephane Dion, although he and Kennedy are separated by just 2 votes, Dion has won the most coveted place on the ballot at the moment and is in position to win, The meetings that have occured between Dion and Kennedy likely have been intense and I am almost certain one is going to back the other depending on what happens. We will see what Scott Brison, Ken Dryden and Hall Findlay will do. Dryden has been a wild card, but to me I just don't know if I see him going to rae or ignatieff. But we're going to find out soon exactly where those delegates will be Going.

But truth be told let me some it up

Dion=Big Mo
Igantieff, Rae=Huge Dissapointment, Will be confronted with negative stories on them tommorow all through the voting.
Kennedy=Slight dissapointment
Brison and Dryden-Weighing their options.