"Anybody But" Campaigns unusually turn out to be party cancer.

As the Liberal Party of Canada prepares to pick it's new leader, it appears that an "anybody but" is present, and not even centered on one candidate, but three. Ontario Liberals feel that "Anybody but Rae" holds some zest because so many of them fought tooth and nail against him in the 80's and 90's. "Anybody but Volpe" because he managed to find a loophole in the donor rules which may not have been unethical, but in the end legal under current law. Finally, Michael Ignatieff, with "front runner syndrome".

Let's look back to any but campaigns, and what electoral result they produced.

Progressive Conservatives 1976- Anybody but Wagner, former Quebec Liberal, not another Prime Minister from Quebec, too right wing.

Results: Joe Clark emerges leader and becomes P.M. only to blow it all nine months later. Fortunately Mr. Wagner didn't live to see it.

Ontario Liberals 1976- Anybody but David Peterson- Too right wing, too Toronto (even though his riding is in London). Party settles on Dr. Stuart Smith.

Result:

Dr. Smith goes on to lose to Bill Davis twice, while Peterson delivers the first Liberal Government in Ontario in 42 years nine years later. Then of course he calls an early election in 1990, and we all remember the results. Peterson also faced a similar opposition in 1982 in his successful bid for the party leadership.

Progressive Conservatives 1983- Anybody but Joe Clark- Brian Mulroney arrives in Ottawa with less than a third of the party's support on the first ballot, and walks out the winner. Then goes on to form two majority governments for the Tories with a shaky coalition, but with a price. The party is reduced to two seats in 1993, and then dies ten years later. Also reinvigorated both Quebec and Alberta separatism at the same time, who would have thunk it.

Federal NDP 1995- Anybody but Svend Robinson

The second place candidate Lorne Nystrom drops out to support the third place candidate Alexa McDonough in an ultimate gang up. I have to hand it though to Ms. McDonough, she didn't allow for the reins of the government to be handed over to Stephen Harper during her leadership.

Ontario Liberals 1996, Anybody but Gerard Kennedy- Too Toronto, too left wing, not been a Liberal Long Enough.

Fast forward to 1999, Liberals under Dalton McGuinty are trounced but Mike Harris, sending the province back twenty years. Dalton eventually becomes Premier and proves to be an effective leader, but the damage has already been done.

Gang up campaigns that what if only they had succeeded.

Federal Liberals 1984- Anybody but Turner- Three dropped out leadership candidates would be in Jean Chretien box during the second ballot, but that wouldn't be enough to stop the "optionless", "bum patter" from becoming party leader.

Federal Conservatives 2003- Anybody but MacKay

Poised to become the official opposition in the next election, and possibly form a government thereafter, Mr. MacKay sells out the party of John A. MacDonald to the Social Credit leftovers who were already about to become extinct. Mr. Orchard tried and failed.

The 68' Leadership Race was Considered Boring at this Point Too.

When Lester Pearson stepped down as Prime Minister in December of 1967, reports were flooded with which St. Laurent Era leftover would get thumped by the regenerated Tories under Robert Standfield. As the race began to shape it looked certain that the Liberals short time in power may come to an end. Trudeau was a stuffy intelectual, Winter's a cold hearted capitalist, Hellyer a Tory in disguise (later proving to be true), Turner a cocky opportunist, Martin Sr. a has-been followed by several other fringe candidates. Even the start of the convention weekend would prove to be bore, with a fringe candidate by the name of Joe Greene delivering best speech during the candidates night. Trudeau had yet to master the art of being a charismatic orator.

This all changed the next night when Canadians were treated to the most dramatic made for T.V. spectacle to choose the next Prime Minister. A gang up against Trudeau proved to be ineffective (only two candidates went over to Trudeau and were both considered fringe at best)and a shot was sound and a new era in Canadian politics began.

Oh and the Harpocrits that have nothing better to do between their internet porn surfing, I will once again save you the typing and you can cut and paste
"Liberal are going to lose and slip behind the NDP no matter who their leader is". Cntrl C Cntrl V

One can only speculate what events may unfold in Montreal.

Allen Cutler: Where's my Fruit Basket!

It's truly sad that the Conservatives managed to resonate the problems associated with the sponsorship program with what they said to Mr. Cutler. If John Baird made promises to Cutler, he should keep them.

This government must not think much of civil servants. They think that doing your civil duty is not good enough incentive, so they throw in a $1000 crackerjack prize to report wrong doing. Too bad Mr. Cutler found only caramel corn at the bottom of his box.

The Conservatives have exploited the sponsorship program to death, and yes it was wrong, but their actions in response to hit have not made any difference in cleaning up government. They truly are just a bunch of "Harpocrits".

Anyone Who Paid an Observer Fee to the Conservative BGM Unwittingly Contributed Directly to the Parties' Coffers.

Observer fees for a convention a meant to cover the costs of staging a convention. This may not be the case if you cook the delegate fees to create a fundraising scheme. The Conservative Party officially ripped off the dozens of Liberals, NDP, Bloc and journalists that had to cough up observer fees for the privilege of attending their convention in March of 2005. The party didn't need their money to stage the convention, so they ended up making donations to the party. That my friends is fraud. Every person who paid an observer fee to that convention should receive a refund, because they where not told where the money was going.

How do the Conservatives react to this situation? By bringing forward an investigation into Liberal convention practices, instead of their own. Well I can save you the couple hundred grand of taxpayers money this is going to cost by telling you all Liberal conventions finish in the red.

Wow they were in opposition when this happened. Just think how they can rip off taxpayers in government.

Well it Didn't Take Long for the Harpocrits to Show How Corrupt They Are.

Well the chinks in the almighty political armour of the Harpocrits have now turned into gaping holes with this new scandal. Looks like squeaky clean neo cons managed to steal $2 million of Canadian taxpayers money, because they didn't understand the Election Financing Laws. Looks like they stole money. Corruption! I think they have lost the moral authority to govern. They won't let the Liberals hold their convention, but they can steal taxpayers dollars with theirs. I know that this posting is going to get a bunch of anonymous responses with "Liberals stole money too", so I will save you the typing and you can just cut and paste the quotations you Harpocrits.