Second Thots

While I agree completely with almost everything that the National Post's John Ivison has to say about Liberal conduct in the House, there's one aspect I wanted to dissect briefly.

In the piece, Ivision criticizes Dion for choosing to focus so much energy in Parliament on a bogus election advertising scandal. Ivison argues that it shows poor judgement. I'll go one step further: it shows poor leadership.

If there's one thing I've noticed about Liberal attacks since Dion became leader, it's this: He serves as a parrot for caucus sentiment on just about everything. In other words, Dion has shown an utter unwillingness to assert his own narrative on Liberal strategy in the House.

So, instead, all we get from the Dion Liberals is what gets Liberal members fired up, which is trying to get revenge on Harper for bringing them down on issues of scandal and corruption.

It's what we've been getting from Liberals since the day after the last election. It's what we're getting from them now.

In other words, Stephane Dion has become nothing much more than a mouthpiece for Liberal rage.

He was supposed to be a better kind of politician. He was supposed to bring integrity and honesty to the Liberal brand.

Instead, he's such a weak leader, that the egg-throwers from the Liberal cheap seats are running the show.

It's like the supply teacher who the kids don't respect. They run the show, not the teacher. The same holds true for Dion. The lowest common denominator runs the show in his caucus — not him. That's not leadership.