Liberals need Stephen Harper as much as he needs them

Can one feel apprehensive about tomorrow and yet elated?  I am at a loss at how my emotions are all over the place. Of course, I want the Conservatives to win and win big. And, I absolutely hate the fact that the hard-left party is now in second place. The elation I feel is seeing the Liberals get their comeuppance. That's pretty mean and nasty of me... I know. But truth is truth, no getting away from it.  Given that most of the Liberals are more like the Conservatives... I should not feel elated to see their party falling down  an abyss from which they might never be able to emerge again.  And, the thought of so many great Liberal MPs having their careers come to an end... is not pretty.      But try as I might  I can't forgive them  for dissolving the minority govt of Stephen Harper and for calling this election and hence have nobody to blame but themselves for the plight they find themselves in.

In today's Toronto Sun, Lorrie Goldstein says: Liberals need a Stephen Harper. .Imagine if someone had told you in late 2003 — at the height of the Liberal Party’s decade-long reign as the government of Canada, that by May 1, 2011, the following things would have happened

(1) The Liberals, having won three consecutive majority governments in 1993, 1997 and 2000, would be reduced to minority status under Paul Martin in 2004, and then defeated by the Conservatives in 2006, 2008 and, unless every poll is wrong, 2011.

(2) That on May 2, 2011, the Liberals — now on their third leader in eight years, post-Jean Chretien — would not only no longer be considered “the natural governing party of Canada,” but facing the prospect of third-party status, behind the Conservatives and NDP.

(3) That in this election, the Liberals will consider it a miracle if they somehow hold on to second place, and official opposition status, by as little as a seat ahead of the NDP........

The fact anyone making any of these predictions in 2003 would have been regarded as ... well ... bonkers, underscores how fast and far the Liberals have fallen.


Indeed, they could emerge from the expected carnage of Monday’s election desperately needing a Stephen Harper to save them.

That’s “a” Stephen Harper, not “the” Stephen Harper, who will learn Monday whether he will be leader of: (a) a Conservative majority government; (b) a third straight Conservative minority government; or (c) a Conservative party headed for official opposition status in the face of a minority, NDP-led coalition government, headed by Prime Minister Jack Layton. (Another prediction no one would have considered making in 2003. At least, no one sober.)............