Tim Harper has a piece worth a read. He’s right that the warring conservative factions needed to get their faces rubbed in the dirt a few times before they got their act together – in 1993, 1997 and 2000. True.
It took a decade for the Right to come together, and I think that Harper is correct – it’ll probably take a full decade for the Left to do so, too.
But he’s wrong, I think, on a couple of points. One, Jean Chretien hasn’t tossed a “grenade” at his party over this. He’s simply saying what Stephen Harper, Preston Manning and many others said in a different context: if we keep fighting amongst ourselves, the other guys are going to benefit. That’s not destructive – it’s constructive, and the truth, too.
Two, Chretien isn’t “conveniently ignoring” anything. I know him well enough to know that these things take time; he’s well aware of that. But his point is that, as long Liberals and New Democrats keep squabbling over the same political real estate, Harper will continue to win with his lesser holdings.
I had an espresso with someone very close to Harper the other day, someone who is very loyal to him. Said he: “Harper’s good for at least ten years, maybe fifteen. As long as you guys keep fighting over nothing, he’ll keep winning.”
He’s right.
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