07.18.2011 09:30 AM

The feeling

…is mutual.

7 Comments

  1. Cath says:

    “Rae opened with the remark that he had always wanted to be the leader of the Liberal party.”

    So does that let Andrea Horwath’s party off the “Rae” hook? It could if they worked it right…..but they won’t.

    It also sounds like interim leader or not he’s auditioning for the party of Lib. Leader. How many loopholes in the party’s constitution on this?

  2. Chris P says:

    This animosity has to stop. Bob Rae’s job should stay focused on party restructuring, organization building, relationship building, fundraising capacity, communications, strategy etc. He’s right about the leadership battles they do nothing for unity however neither does appointing anyone as well.

  3. frmr disgruntled Con, now Happy Lib says:

    For the record, I was one of those people cheering for Michael Ignatieff when he got off the bus at a stop in the Fraser Valley…..as I looked around, I saw party members, riding executives, party apparatchiks, and media, but very few ordinary citizens. I remember thinking to myself, he is here preaching to the converted….what Michael Ignatieff needed to do was wade out of the controlled event, and press the flesh with the folks who were simply shopping that day. I bet you very few people who were not associated with the party or the event in some way actually got to meet Michael Ignatieff. I think Mr. Rae has the right idea in going low key, and actually meeting the 95% of Canadians who are not card carrying members of any political party. Perhaps if Michael Ignatieff or his handlers had done this, the result of May 2nd might have been improved upon…..

    As for the gentleman who “hijacked” a good portion of the meeting….if that had been Michael Ignatieff, the man would have been shut down, or worse, hustled out of the meeting.I applaud Mr. Rae for taking the time to listen to the gentleman’s concerns.

    • The Doctor says:

      Re: the subject matter of your first paragraph, I find it interesting that your observations are consistent with those made in a recent column by, I believe, Jeffrey Simpson. His thesis was that the LPC membership these days consists largely of what he called “grass tops” (as opposed to grass roots). Too many activists, hacks, apparatchiks, lifers, etc., not enough regular folks.

      • frmr disgruntled Con, now Happy Lib says:

        Thank-you for making me aware of the column, Doc, I will look for it…..I do like the term “grass tops”…it describes the majority of folks who were at the event that day perfectly……..

  4. Bil Huk says:

    a very close family member has been my bellweather voter for the last 12 elections between Ontario provincial and federal.

    She’s hit the winning party 9 of those 12 (2 of those misses have been when this person didn’t vote conservative, the Paul Martin loss and the dion loss).

    This person has voted for the NDP, Liberals, and Conservatives during her lifetime of voting.

    the voter’s comment on Rae as Liberal Leader “I’ve never participated in the political process outside of voting in my life, but if Rae is leader of the Liberals, i’ll show up to a riding office and donate my time to make sure his party doesn’t win an election with him at the helm”.

    This, plus a buck 25 will get you a cup of coffee.

    i’ll be interested to see if Rae ever does fight an election as leader of the Liberals, and what the effect of his leadership would be.

    i’ve read all the “he can’t do well in ontario” stuff and frankly i completely discount it because its usually coming from someone as partisan as i am.

    but this comment caught my eye because it came from someone with truly no bias to any political party at all.

    Bottom line, politics in this country continues to be so interesting for those of us geeky enough to admit that it is……

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