NIMBY Liberals

By most accounts, Howard Dean gave a pretty decent speech at the Liberal Leadership Convention last night. That didn’t, however, erase a nagging non-issue that seemed to have certain people, including Ken Dryden, in a snit.

For all Dean’s fund-raising bona fides, there was still considerable grumbling among Liberals about the appearance of an American as keynote speaker.

Leadership candidate Ken Dryden was perhaps the bluntest of the field when he told the Toronto Star earlier this month:

“Whatever interesting things Mr. Dean might say, and I’m sure he has lots of interesting things to say, it’s just not the place. This is an event that has to do with us.”

Ridiculous. If these people had their way, they’d probably have had Dave Broadfoot.

The point is, the party’s broken. It needs new ideas, and in a global culture such as ours, it shouldn’t matter where they come from. I’m not suggesting you should be leading the party if you don’t know the Canadian political landscape (hi, Iggy). But there’s nothing wrong with getting some international perspective, and for my money, Howard Dean was a great pick, especially considering the Liberals are having trouble raising money the old fashioned way.

So Ken Dryden, you’re my idiot of the day. ‘Grats!

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