The Globe's not buying it

The Globe absolutely roasts Martin in today's editorial:

(thanks to Scharma for helping circumvent the damn Insider Access foolishness!)

"Call it the Blazing Saddles strategy. In a famous scene from the Mel Brooks movie, a black sheriff beseiged by hostile white townsfolk takes himself hostage, putting a gun to his own head and threatening to shoot unless they back off. Which they do. Do the Liberals think Canadians are that dumb?"

OUCH.

Ever more damning coming from the newspaper that ran an almost infinite amount of editorials over the past years, urging Chretien to step down so that boy wonder Martin could grab the helm. Unimaginable, even.

"As talk about a spring federal election grows, the ruling party has been warning Canadians that if the Conservatives force an election, all the wonderful things the government has been doing will be swept away forever. Tax help for the cities. Health care money for the provinces. The Kyoto greenhouse-gas reducton plan. All gone. With the entire government agenda reduced to dust, Canada would have to start over from scratch. What malarky."

Malarky indeed.

It's why tonight Martin has to be ever so careful to avoid making this a partisan pitch for Liberal government in favour of the broader agenda that Parliament as it stands seems to support (as I argued last night). Once the election inevitably comes, he can claim that mantle back.

"There is a distinct odour of desperation in the air, as a frightened government tries evey dodge it knows to avoid facing the voters, and hopes they won't catch on. 'Oh baby,' Sheriff Bart says to himself after fooling the town hicks with his hostage play. 'You are so talented, and they are so dumb.' Canadians aren't so gullible, whatever the Liberals may think."

I would add that to this point the Liberals under Paul Martin haven't been that talented, either, and that is probably the bigger concern. Should be very, very interesting, regardless. The showdown is coming, and Martin's behaviour resembles a guy letting it ride who still hasn't checked his hole cards yet.