Forcing Elections

Okay. So the Liberals are basically saying, "We're not supporting the Government, it can only survive with the NDP and Bloc."

Some might say that they have balls. Some might say they're also insane.

First - they're leaderless (Bill Graham's a nice guy, but . . .). They're also policy-less, thanks to 2 years under Martin's idea that every random musing (remember the Notwithstanding Clause?) constitutes a concrete policy. They're deeply in debt.

And yet they're saying to the two parties most opposite to the Tories (i.e. more left wing than the Liberals), "It's up to you to keep it going."

It could so spectacularly backfire. If there were an election tomorrow, would the the Liberals do better, or worse?

Arguments for doing better include a) no Paul Martin, b) a chance to maybe get the campaign right (not likely), and c) the Emerson/Fortier issue.

Arguments against include the fact that the Tories didn't spend their first days cancelling Medicare, moving Parliament to Calgary, razing Toronto and stealing everyone's firstborn. And the fact that this is basically the Liberals saying, "We're not accepting we need a time out. We're not accepting the fact we're not in Government and we want back in."

Personally I think it's stupid. If he came across as a bit more accomodating - "There are areas where we disagree but we'll not bring down the Government for it" or even "There are areas where we do agree - probably more than most people think - and we can work to make Parliament work, unlike the last dysfunctional Parliament" it would be one thing.

Thoughts?

UPDATE, six hours later: This is wild. Liberal and Bloc numbers down, Tory numbers constant, NDP numbers up. Right now it should really be the NDP who are saying they don't want to prop up the Tories, not the Liberals. If I were Jack I'd be looking for an excuse to pull the plug, while finding a way to blame it on someone else. If I were Graham and Duceppe I'd be doing my darndest to keep the Gov going, in order to give Harper chances to screw up.