The progressive Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff’s PR video is billed as “The Video Everyone Is Talking About” at Liberal.ca.
Of course if that were true, neither them nor I would have to tell you that. The video has been viewed about 25,000 times which is impressive enough (actually it’s kind of shocking), but not nearly as impressive as the over SIX MILLION views one of my PTBC videos as been viewed, and I don’t claim anybody is talking about that… (but it seems likely they are!).
No, Mr. Ignatieff, absolutely nobody — not one person — is talking about your video. Nobody. Well except me, now, but not for the reasons you’d hoped.
Ignatieff starts by once again calling the Prime Minister of Canada “that guy”, which is the way he almost always refers to Canada’s Prime Minister, which I think he does as a sign of his great respect for Canada’s institutions. By way of reminder, Ignatieff is the respectful gentleman who constantly derides Stephen Harper for “not respecting our Canadian institutions”.
I like the part in the video everyone is talking about where he says that because he was a “self-employed writer”, he adds pensively, “means I lived without a safety net!”
Oh my God, man! Without a safety net you say! It’s like you’re a war hero! Except that liberals are such pacifists. 
To a liberal or progressive or socialist, living “without a safety net” as a “self-employed writer” isn’t merely heroic — it’s beyond that. It’s like being a martyr to the cause.
But then he goes off the deep end. He explains that based on the whole living without a safety net as a self-employed writer thing… “So I’ve lived the life of a, almost like a small business person! …. living paycheck to paycheck in fact” (although I’m sure he spells it “paycheque”). And, he reflects thoughtfully, “I’m proud that I’ve made it work, I’m proud that it was successful!” He’s proud ….. of that?
Just to clarify, I know self-employed business “persons”. I have been a self-employed business “person” (although I went ahead and called myself a businessman). Self-employed business “persons” are friends of mine. Michael Ignatieff, I don’t think you don’t have the foggiest clue what it means to be a small business “person”, if we are to be honest about it. And in the interest of fairness, I don’t hesitate to add that I feel the same way about the you’ve got to be kidding party’s Jack Layton and his knowledge about being a 
self-employed business “person”, and the Conservative leader Stephen Harper. The difference is that they don’t pretend to be just “like a self-employed business person”.
He then went on to explain what government is. This, he should know since he seems to be so enamored by government.
“The granite under our feet. That’s what government is there to put …. under your feet. The granite. Of a common life.”
First of all, what? But moreover, no, Michael (I assume I may call you Michael after extending the offer to “meet Michael”), the “guy” who put the granite under my feet was God, actually. Not some damn government. So sorry. But I niggle. Ignatieff is actually talking about “free” socialized “healthcare”, and education, and the welfare state, and presumably the CBC, its Little Mosque on the Prairie, taxpayer-funded abortions, all those other nationalized, socialized programs he so admires, and all the myriad new ones he has in mind for us, being “the basic stuff”, and “the granite under our feet”.
So nice to meet you, “Micheal”. And good luck with creating more of the granite. And slipping it under our feet. Which are currently perched upon… what?
EXTRA CIRCULAR GOVERNMENT LOGIC AND SYMBOLISM
Ignatieff isn’t standing on granite — I’m not sure what ship or dock and what waterway Ignatieff is perched upon for his exciting video that everyone is talking about, but watch the background, and what appears could be the SS Granite, or one of the bits of what he thinks is “granite under our feet”, tootling about in the water, in endless circles, like a merry-go-round. The fact is, it looks exactly like one of BC’s state-owned, state-run ferries. I didn’t change the order that these appear in what I now see as a dizzying video.
So yeah, let’s meet Ignatieff and his government plans: like a useless state ferry to nowhere. Wondering, aimlessly, burning diesel fuel at taxpayer expense… circling around, nowhere to go… accomplishing nothing… except adding to the size and scope of government… defeating private enterprise… competing against citizens….
It’s a perfect backdrop. A perfect metaphor.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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