Bob Rae either doesn’t read my blog, doesn’t get it, or both.

I rarely publish two blog-posts in one week, let alone two in one day. However, earlier today I wrote ” …Liberal’s will choose Mr. Ignatieff over Mr. Rae. Not because Mr. Rae isn’t a great guy and charismatic, he is. But Liberal’s now understand how the negative vs. the positive aspects of public opinion about Mr. Rae can and would successfully be used against the Party if Mr. Rae was chosen leader. Liberal’s aren’t about to make the same mistake twice. Mr. Rae can only ad to the carnage if he, like Mr. Dion, doesn’t immediately move to accept reality. ”

At 3:00 pm today, Dominic LeBlanc (for all you Anglos, the “c” in LeBlanc is silent) held a press conference and very convincingly delivered a believable and sincere message. In short, this is what he said, my words not his:

‘We the Liberal party have made leadership donkey’s out of ourselves for long enough, so in view of recent events I am doing my part to shore-up that image as fast as humanly possible by bowing out of the potentially divisive leadership race ahead of time and throwing my unconditional support behind the only person in our Party, Michael Ignatieff, who perhaps isn’t guaranteed to win against Stephen Harper, but who also isn’t guaranteed to lose. I am announcing this decision now as an indication of how important I think it is we Liberals show Canadians how unified we finally are and to show that leadership issues inside the Liberal party are a thing of the past.’  

Moments later we heard from Bob Rae. Forget what Mr. Rae tried to say, convincingly or otherwise, this is what Canadians will have heard:

‘We the Liberal party have made leadership donkey’s out of ourselves for not long enough, and there is still room for us to do more damage before matters are irreparable. Notwithstanding public opinion is clear and I admit my name carries with it a certain amount of [unfounded] baggage, I believe I can overcome this so long as I can convince everyone that what I am blabbering about now about grassroots isn’t about my own self-interests. So I am trying to buy some time, even just a week or two (where have we seen this recently?) and only when I lose or my back is square against the wall will I conditionally support the person in our Party, Michael Ignatieff, who perhaps isn’t guaranteed to win against Stephen Harper, but unlike me isn’t guaranteed to lose. I am stonewalling like this because unlike Dominic LeBlanc I haven’t learned anything from the Stéphane Dion fiasco and I think Canadians still have a [sick] appetite for how divided Liberals still are and to show that leadership issues inside the Liberal party are unresolved.’

It never ceases to amaze me when faced with choosing between two simple options, so many politicians seem to gravitate toward the more complicated, and often, wrong choice.