Inkless Wells

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Perhaps-not-ideal political metaphor of the day

by Paul Wells on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 1:45pm - 9 Comments

Former Liberal defence minister David Pratt has a hard time telling the difference between a democratic challenge for a riding nomination and a deadly attack by Iraqi insurgents:

“When I arrived in Baghdad, they took me through what to do and not do when you are ambushed, and now I’ve been ambushed in Ottawa.”

Tags: David Pratt, insurgent democracy

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http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

I am doing fascinating post-conflict work in Iraq, but now I have to come back and sell party memberships to win the nomination.

Aw, poor guy.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

I am doing fascinating post-conflict work in Iraq, but now I have to come back and sell party memberships to win the nomination.

Aw, poor guy. Democracy's a real pain, isn't it?
Anon

How many times does David Pratt have to lose before he gets the message?

Why doesn't he run in his original Nepean-Carleton riding against PP, or does he regard that as a suicide mission?
http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Suicide mission? No, he regards that as a Prattfall.

Sigh

Chuckle

Stephen

Interesting that Pratt was in Iraq "to promote democracy and nation-building in the war-ravaged country."

Leaving aside the fact that he was–like his leader–one of those calling for the country to be ravaged back in 2003, I wonder how he had planned to go about promoting democracy while there?

By instructing Iraqi political higher-ups and insiders on how to quietly assure candidates of entitlement that open nomination contests won't be a problem?

http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Candidates of entitlement? You mean he brought Dingwall along, too?

Sea Otter

What I find interesting is that Janet Yale is sniffing around for a nomination. She would be a good catch for the Liberals, but Paul Dewar is going to be tough to beat in Ottawa Centre – he is a high profile MP with strong name recognition, both his own and his late mother's. Incumbency is very powerful – in the last election, almost 90% of incumbents of all parties were re-elected.

Not that Ottawa West-Nepean would have been much easier. John Baird has increased his margin in every election, and historically high profile senior Ministers don't lose their seats unless their party gets absolutely whitewashed.
Mike

Pratt has always shown himself to care more about the issues than the politics and partisan attacks. Seems to me that is exactly what we should be encouraging more of.