Apolitical Staples

John Ivison has a good column in the National Post today,

...The real damage is apparent to even the most casual observer of this race: Ignatieff has repeatedly shown a worrying lack of judgment in his public pronouncements. He has made matters worse with ill-considered clarifications, corrections and apologies. These inevitably look like flip-flops and, as one veteran Liberal put it, "the most dangerous thing in Canadian politics is a flip-flop."

It is one thing if Michael Ignatieff were getting himself in trouble for these statements on-the-fly or thinking out loud it is quite another when they are on purpose. I agree with David Herle (didn't think I would ever type that) on CBC Politics last night (go to the 19:20 mark)

...it
just did not seem to me like an un-rehearsed clip. He brought his international credentials in, he said I'm a professor of international law, I'm an expert in international law, this is a war crime, that's clear. And my understanding is that yesterday afternoon he did not withdraw the war crime allegation. I am not disputing with you that it's a very serious allegation to make but it does seem to me that is was unlikely to have been done inadvertantly.