Michael Ignatieff is tacking left – finally

[ZeitgeistObserver]

Michael Ignatieff is tacking left – finally

Lawrence Martin
Published on Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010 3:52PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Apr. 22, 2010 7:49AM EDT

Liberals from the old Jean Chrétien school feel Mr. Ignatieff has been pitching the party too close to Conservative country. But his chief of staff, Peter Donolo, an old Chrétien hand, appears to be making his presence felt. There’s a leftward tilt in Iggy’s moves.

This follows a warning by pollster Allan Gregg. His research suggests the Liberals have lost ground because they no longer are seen to represent values that resonate with the broad sweep of Canadians.

Frank Graves of Ekos Research, in agreement with the analysis, has told the Grits that the wedge politics of the Conservatives provide them with an opportunity to stake out a stark alternative. Stop worrying about the West, he’s told them. No need to fear polarizing the debate. It’s what worked for Mr. Chrétien against Preston Manning and Stockwell Day.

In his advice, Mr. Graves could hardly have been more blunt. “I told them that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.”

The Grits haven’t told him whether they favour this approach or not. But they are keen on projecting a more activist agenda for the party.

Until recently, Mr. Ignatieff was colouring himself in too many shades of grey, trying to be all things to all people. The Paul Martin Liberals tried this. It didn’t work

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/michael-ignatieff-is-tacking-left-finally/article1542198/

I'll agree there is little chance the Liberals will ever appeal to Alberta, or to rural areas, so he should stop worrying about it.

[CHIMO]

1. Pollster Frank Graves apologizes,

Pollster Frank Graves, the EKOS pollster who provides weekly data and analysis for the CBC, is apologizing and retracting what he described as his own “incendiary” comments describing a potential strategy for the Liberal Party.

The comments produced a heated exchange on CBC’s Power and Politics (about 44 minutes in) Thursday between Mr. Graves and Conservative commentator Kory Teneycke. Mr. Teneycke, a former director of communications for Prime Minister Stephen Harper who is now paid by the CBC to provide regular commentary, accused Mr. Graves of having a Liberal bias and said his comments suggested Tories are racists and homophobes.

But in an interview today with The Globe and Mail to explain his apology, Mr. Graves went on to say that polling data shows the Conservative Party “does seem to provide a haven” for people with xenophobic or homophobic views.

Mr. Graves’ original comments, which were first quoted by columnist Lawrence Martin in The Globe, suggested he had told the Liberal Party it should invoke a “culture war” to battle the Conservatives. He described this as a battle between “cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Albera don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/pollster-frank-graves-apologizes-denies-anti-tory-bias/article1544593/
Put another way: Statistically, the Conservatives seem to have the two tales of the curve. It all depends on who is their audience". My interpretation.

[Spazito]

2. The Cons ARE home base for racists, homophobes....

there is no doubt of that. The former Reform party was ALL about racism, homophobia and the current CON party IS the former Reform party.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

3. The Harper attack machine at work.

Even though Graves is right. This will bring added publicity to the concept though.

[edwinmathews]

4. I am not sure

the Grits want to play the race card with a closet full of skeletons .

[ZeitgeistObserver]

5. Another Harper line.

[CHIMO]

6. What Closet

What skeletons?

You continue to throw out these deep truths. So please enlighten us.