That is one of the better roles of the blogosphere and The Monger provides a perfect example of how it is done.
...consider that Harper's relative silence on the recent Big Issues Of The Day (BMD, Gomery, the budget) may actually be an intentional strategy.
...If I'm a Liberal, and I want to win, I wait for the Tories to put forward a bunch of policy ideas. Then I take the ones that are popular, and I go into hysterical high dudgeon over the unpopular ones.
...Say it with me now, all together, the lesson taught by Papa Chretien and nearly 100 years of Liberal rule over our fair Dominion: The Point Of Politics Is Winning The Election
...Harper should instead be commended, if sotto voce, for keeping his powder dry, for not serving as the Liberal Policy Trial Balloon, and for not giving the Libs a chance to be the anti-Tory government. Instead, he's forced Paul Martin to try to govern as if he had his own agenda--which, as we have all discovered so forcefully in the last many months, is a mirage. Martin has no agenda. Even the Lib-friendly press knows that now. And by not giving him a sparring partner, Harper has made Martin's mis-steps more frequent and more obvious.If I were Harper, I think I would step softly softly until the Gomery inquiry finishes. Then, if the results are as damning as they should be, given the patently obvious corruption and self-dealing of the Liberal Party, Harper should move a Non Confidence motion in the government of Paul Martin
I am not sure if I agree with the first point but I definitely agree that an election will be called upon the completion of the Gomery Inquiry. The Phase 1 Report - Fact Finding will be released on November 1, 2005. The final report will be released on December 15, 2005. It could be a pretty hot winter!
