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warrior bodhisattva
Super Moderator
Location: East-central Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leto
Guys! They can hear us...
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Ignatieff has lost it....
Quote:
Combative Ignatieff says Tories can 'go to hell'
Les Whittington and Richard J. Brennan Staff Reporters
A combative Michael Ignatieff has stepped up criticisms of his political rivals, saying Jack Layton is “getting a free ride” and telling Conservatives “they can go to hell.”
Ignatieff, whose party has fallen into third place in the polls, told the Toronto Star editorial board Wednesday that a lot of the Liberals’ woes can be traced to the relentless Conservative attack ads.
“I am not going to complain about it because it seems to give the other guys too much damn credit. I don’t give these guys damn credit for anything,” the Liberal leader said, slamming his fist on the table. “I am not going to let other people frame me up … they can go to hell is what I have thought basically for two and a half years.
“I have spent my whole life dealing with bullies. Some of them had guns,” he said in a reference to his days as a journalist working in foreign countries. “You think this stuff shuts me down? You got to be kidding.”
He spoke to the Star hours before a rally intended to shore up the Liberals’ Toronto base. Ignatieff joined dozens of GTA Liberal candidates and former prime minister Jean Chrétien for a noisy, enthusiastic rally in North York.
Despite the polls, which show the Liberals trailing the NDP and the front-running Conservatives, Ignatieff says the game isn’t over and he’s still got a chance to win.
It’s “wake-up time” with respect to the NDP surge, he said, adding that Canadians should take a close look at Layton’s election promises.
“They just don’t get fiscal discipline,” he said.
The NDP’s $70 billion in “science fiction” campaign pledges would drive up the federal budget deficit and lead to higher taxes, Liberals say.
“It’s show and tell, brother … this is about the government of Canada … show us how you would reduce the deficit, show us how you dig us out of the Harper (deficit) hole, show us how you cost your programs. Don’t fool around here.”
He slammed Layton’s plan to pull Canadian military forces out of Afghanistan, saying “the NDP simply wants to walk away and pretend it never happened.”
The Liberals say they would honour Canada’s commitment to continue a training mission in Afghanistan until 2014.
Ignatieff ruled out any kind of merger with the NDP if the Conservatives come out on top in the election. The Liberals and the New Democrats have a completely different political history and view on how to govern Canada.
“They are two different traditions,” he said.
Ignatieff said from everything he sees and hears, the Liberal base is back and they are writing cheques to the party at a record rate, exceeding all expectations.
The Liberal leader said 66 per cent of Canadians are “sick and tired” of the Harper government and want to “throw the rascals out.”
“What the crowd is giving me is, they’re fed up. ‘We’re fed up of being manipulated, bullied, intimidated, lied to.’ It’s very strong out there,” he said.
“The Liberal Party is going to show up and vote Liberal on Monday.
“My firm belief is that my base is back and my base will vote on the 2nd of May.”
It is estimated that as many as 800,000 Liberal supporters stayed home in 2008 when Stéphane Dion was leading the Liberals.
Ignatieff also said pundits seem to be concentrating on the Liberal political fortunes. “But look at the trouble he’s in,” he said, referring to the weakening poll numbers for Harper’s Conservatives. “It’s not going so well for him either.”
The latest Angus Reid poll, done in partnership with the Toronto Star and La Presse, puts the Conservatives at 35 per cent, down by one percentage point.
The NDP were close behind in the most recent poll at 30 per cent, the Liberals were at 22 per cent, the Bloc Québécois was at 7 per cent and the Green party was at 5 per cent.
On the issue of Iraq, Ignatieff said the thing he has learned in dealing with the United States “is you don’t believe what the American tells you.”
“You go into a room with the Americans, they have their sources of information and you had better be damn sure you have your own. You better be darn sure you don’t let yourself be persuaded by bad evidence.”
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http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/p...o-to-hell?bn=1
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
Last edited by Baraka_Guru; 04-28-2011 at 05:05 AM..
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