Friday, October 13, 2006
Harper's grenade seems to have hit its mark
Because Harper's comments distracted from an important announcement he made yesterday about crime legislation, I don't think he anticipated how strong the reaction would be, especially from Liberals and journalists.
However, I just heard an interesting comment from a member of B'nai Brith. He suggested that many Canadian Jews see Harper acting in defence of Israel while all they get from Liberals is talk. In other words, Harper has struck a chord — a visceral one — which is resonating among some the very people he is targeting with his policies and actions.
No wonder all these Liberal leadership candidates sound ticked. Harper threw a grenade, and they don't seem to have a whole lot to hit back with. Interesting.
UPDATE (6:24 pm): I don't think Mr. Ignatieff is even close to being in the clear when it comes to Jewish support within the Liberal party. I'm sure this stunt of going to Israel is aimed at trying to smooth things over, but I think the only thing that will even begin to do that is a retraction of his view that Qana is a war crime. Maybe he's planning on doing just that when he goes to Israel, which would mark yet another flip-flop some weeks into the future. Oh boy. And let's not even get into the possibility that he did all this to shamelessly court support from the left-wing of the party.
