Coyning Phrases

Sometimes I just don’t get Andrew Coyne.  The respected columnist is someone I read regularly, especially on economic matters, and I know he isn’t afraid to throw punches.Today he threw out another sidewinder, meant to clearly smack the Liberals in the jaw.  It likely worked; he’s well-known and the Liberals are struggling in the polls.  Except I don’t think he’s correct.  Look, I know I exist in a little corner of “Liberal-land,” but it’s a corner I know pretty well.  When Coyne says that Ignatieff has lost control of events, he may be right.  Unforeseen circumstances have a way of sneaking up on you.What I don’t understand is his assertion that Michael Ignatieff “has lost control of the party.”  Not from where I’m sitting.  In fact, Paul Martin was here in London last week and there was a lot of clear support for Ignatieff.  Moreover, there’s an energy emerging from the Liberal grassroots I haven’t detected in months.  I know it’s only little London, Ontario, but the city is seen as something of a bellwether for the national scene.  In part, the resurgence is due to the Prime Minister’s significant blunder with the security costs of the G8/G20.  But I heard that everywhere around the city this past weekend – it’s not just a Liberal issue for criticism.But there is more.  At a policy weekend in Toronto a few days ago, the energy in each of the sessions was clearly palpable.  Ignatieff toured each session and was treated with great respect.  Sure, there was acknowledgement that the party languishes in the polls and that the leader is having trouble connecting – no secret about that.  Yet I find myself wondering what Andrew Coyne would have thought of the overflowing sessions.  Ignatieff’s speech to the Empire Club regarding Canada’s role in a networked world was a clear departure from anything Stephen Harper could have delivered, and, as the Globe and Mail stated, the Liberal leader’s proposed plan for Afghanistan was at least that – a plan.  We’re still waiting to see how Harper will handle a file in which international statesmanship is just as vital as playing the retail politics card by pulling out the soldiers unequivocally next year.Coyne speaks as though Jean Chretien’s ruminations concerning some kind of merger with the NDP is a death knell for Ignatieff.  Where did that come from?  Chretien always did his own thing.  Brian Mulroney has had his stated difficulties with Stephen Harper, and Joe Clark has been fairly blistering in his criticisms of the PM; why doesn’t Coyne conclude that there’s trouble in the Conservative camp?  Likely because there isn’t.  And there isn’t in the Liberal camp either.I’d even go so far as to state that the merger talk has brought the Liberals together in a manner we haven’t seen for some time.  The last two caucus meetings immediately following the merger gossip were some of the most positive and creative we’ve witnessed in two years.  We’re not talking merger.  The NDP isn’t talking it.  But some in the media and the Conservatives can’t let it alone.When Coyne concludes it’s too late for the Liberal Party now, I think he's premature. All of us except the Bloc are struggling.  Harper is falling farther away from a majority, and try as he might, Jack Layton doesn’t possess the critical mass of support necessary for the official opposition.  It’s hardly “too late,” just “too bad,” that’s all.