Angry in the Great White North

There was a lot of buzz about the memos:

A key Tory strategist says that, of all the Liberal leadership hopefuls, Michael Ignatieff "worries" him the most if the Tories were to face him in the next election, according to a leaked memo.

"I would most like to see Bob Rae as our opponent in the next election," the Conservative party war room operator Doug Finley says in a strategy memo obtained by globeandmail.com.

The memo says Tory strategists polled members of the Liberal party to determine a rough idea of their leadership preferences. While the memo notes that the only "serious contenders" are Mr. Ignatieff, Mr. Rae, Gerard Kennedy and Stephane Dion, the most known leadership contender is actually Ken Dryden, but more for his hockey career than his life in politics. It also notes that Joe Volpe has a lot of support in the Liberal party.

There was also a lot of skepticism, mostly from Bob Rae:

"My first reaction is profound skepticism," Mr. Rae said. "These guys haven't got much right over the years, so don't take this 'inside view' very seriously at all. For all I know, this memo was leaked for a reason — could be a bad case of doublethink or even triplethink. If it really is a considered view, I can only say I am used to being underestimated by these folks, both Joe Clark and Frank Miller did the same thing."

Well, in case people are wondering just what the memo said in total, instead of depending on filtering from the media, I'm happy to present to you the full text, including handwritten margin notes, for your perusal. As always, no mention of where I got it.

You can decide for yourselves if the memo is an elaborate mindgame being played on the Liberals, or a serious evaluation of the leadership candidates. My opinion: serious evaluation. Sorry Bob.

Enjoy.