Monday, February 5, 2007

Kennedy: The Chicken "Risktaker"

Remember the Liberal Leadership loser Gerard Kennedy and his plans to run in the West?
Win or lose the leadership, Kennedy is committed to running for the Liberals in the next federal election
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But he did not rule out trying a riskier route to Parliament, attempting to win a seat in the Liberal-hostile West.
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While running in the West would be risky, Kennedy cast himself as a risk taker...
Well forget that. Kennedy is running in Ontario, in the riding of Parkdale-High Park.

This turn of events is both funny and interesting to me.

For one, I guess that Kennedy is not such a risk-taker after all, huh?

Two, this shows that the Kennedy camp's assertion that Kennedy would improve the Liberals chances in the West was a lie. I mean, if a star leadership candidate is afraid to go into the West, then what does that say about what the Liberals think about the West in their electoral chances. The things is, the Liberals need to make a breakthrough in the West if they want to see a majority government again, but at the same time, the Liberals have basically given up on the West beyond the BC and Manitoba cities. Then again, the feeling is mutual among Westerners.

Finally, I see a Logic Error in the Liberals rhetoric. According to some Libloggers, Harper is the devil and must be removed at all costs. It would make sense, then, to send strong Liberal candidates to fight against the Conservatives. So why is Kennedy running against a strong New Democrat incumbent? Well, we all know the answer, but it was just interesting to point that out.

Well, I suppose that when it all comes down to it, Kennedy is a Liberal after all...

3 comments:

Kenn Chaplin said...

I was thinkin' the same thing. Why are the Liberals hoping to pick off NDippers rather than going after Conservatives? Oh, wait, because they hate us even more (until it comes time to find liberal-left policies).

Dan McKenzie said...

Keeping his family in one place was probably the biggest reason for staying in Parkdale. And it's not like this is the easiest riding in all of Canada to win. I don't think anyone's taking the riding for granted.

Brian in Calgary said...

Why is Gerard Kennedy now ruling out running in the west? He has likely seen the fallout from Liberal MP Mark Holland's ill-conceived comments about trying to have the federal government take control of the Tar Sands.