Angry in the Great White North

Stephane Dion has been an abject failure as Liberal Party leader.  Indeed, Stephane Dion will be the standard against which political failures in this country are measured for decades to come.  I think it's fair to say that Stephane Dion redefines the word "failure" in the political context, making the concept entirely his own.

It's hard to imagine any political figure replacing Stephane Dion as the epitome of Canadian political failure any time soon.  Maybe not even in our lifetimes.

Pretty sobering stuff, especially for those Liberals who supported Stephane Dion from the beginning and who invested so much of their own political future in his success.  I think we can be confident in saying that the political future of a lot of people has been wrecked thanks to Stephane Dion.

Of course, all Liberals are suffering as the polls suggest that the party is doing worse now than ever before. 

So I think about all this, and the fact that Liberals are ignoring their own constitution in order to get Stephane Dion out of the picture, perhaps before the end of the week:

Embattled Liberal Leader Stephane Dion will step aside before Christmas as his party gears up for a possible early election, senior Liberal sources say.

Until last week, Dion had been expected to stay on as caretaker leader until a new standard bearer is chosen at a convention in May.

But his inept performance against Prime Minister Stephen Harper in their recent political showdown convinced the party that it could no longer afford to have Dion at the helm. Governor General Michaelle Jean's decision to grant Harper's request to prorogue Parliament until Jan. 26 has given the Liberals a window to assess their leadership situation.

Dion has reportedly been resisting suggestions that he should resign his post for the good of the party, but it appears increasingly likely that the pressure to do so at the Liberal caucus meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday will prove irresistible.

Dion is resisting calls for his resignation?  How obtuse can this man be?

And that got me thinking more. 

Dion led his party through 43 abstentions during the last parliament in order to avoid an election, and still Dion would not resign. 

Dion led the party to the worst showing ever at the last election (one brought on by Stephen Harper after Dion begged him not to call one), and still Dion would not resign.

Oh, he agreed to step down in May, but insisted on staying on as interim leader.  And the party leadership decided there was little harm in that.

And so almost immediately Dion leads the Liberals into the separatist coalition, embarrasses everyone with his YouTube quality video, and now polls show the Liberal brand worth less than ever.

And still he won't resign!

So he's going to shoved out.  Stephane Dion is going to be dragged kicking and screaming from his position as Liberal leader, and I'm not certain I'm speaking metaphorically.  I can't imagine the party leadership being too concerned about Dion's dignity.

So my prediction is that his removal will be announced with a terse news release.  There will be a brief note of thanks for, well, not much.  No speech.  No news conference.  Just a telling reference to turning the page and building for the future and all that.

Dion, get the hell out of Stornoway, you and Krieber, and if you decide that you want to drop out of politics altogether, that's fine by us.  If not, do us a favour, and join the NDP.