Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Out of material

It shouldn't be much surprise that Elizabeth May is still using what little publicity she can muster to lob attacks at Jack Layton rather than even noticing that her beloved Libs are trying to out-Con the Harper government. But let's look at just how implausible her latest expression of outrage really is:
But May also has strong words for NDP Leader Jack Layton, whom she accuses of conspiring with Harper to bring down the Liberal minority government of Paul Martin on Nov. 28, 2005, just as a UN climate-change meeting opened in Montreal, thereby depriving the government of the chance to "look good on the world stage."
To start with, it's truly remarkable that May could consider it the responsibility of an opposition party to tailor its domestic political considerations to the greater glory of the government in power. And it shouldn't be ignored that May apparently considered the Libs' image to be her top priority even before she had struck her later pact with Stephane Dion.

But then, what actually became of the conference which May accuses Layton of sabotaging? Nothing about the non-confidence vote in Parliament kept it from going ahead. And when it did, it apparently provided the moment which Dion considered the greatest image-builder of his career when it came time to put together an ad campaign as the Libs' leader - not to mention when May herself developed her endorsement of Dion.

So it seems that May is now so desperate for ways to criticize Layton that she's digging over three years into the past - and then pointing to events which by her own account had the opposite outcome from the one she accuses Layton of bringing about. And the fact that even she doesn't believe her own argument should offer ample reason for outside observers to take her less than seriously.

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