The Conservatives have frequently and not undeservedly been accused of dumbing down this country’s political debate. It bears noting that not once but twice this week, Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals didn’t just dumb down debate – they actively played dumb.
The first (and lower-profile) instance came on Tuesday, when Ralph Goodale pretended not to understand a quote from Stephen Harper about taxes.
To give Goodale the benefit of the doubt, this may have been an attempt at satire, aimed at showing the perils of taking tax-related comments (like the ones by Michael Ignatieff last month) out of context. If so, though, it was still a pretty childish one. The Conservatives may have exaggerated what Ignatieff said; the Liberals’ House Leader flat out gave a false interpretation of what Harper had said.
Still, that was downright sophisticated compared to what followed the next day, when the Liberals tried – and to some extent succeeded – in manufacturing a controversy by feigning shock and horror at Harper’s taunt about “all the tapes I have” on Ignatieff.
Any idiot could infer that Harper was referring to his party’s tapes of Ignatieff’s comments in various TV interviews, of the sort that have already turned up in Conservative attack ads, and Ignatieff is no idiot. But that didn’t stop him from accusing Harper of being “Nixonian” – a clear implication that the Prime Minister was spending his time secretly recording the private conversations of his political foes.
The Liberals would no doubt reply that they’re just giving Harper a taste of his medicine. And so they are. But once upon a time, Ignatieff seemed genuinely interested in – and capable of – rising above the fray. Pity he seems to be giving up on it so quickly.
