The thing that pushed me completely over the edge on Ignatieff was reading his spectacular (and often frustrating) short book 'The Lesser Evil.'
His article 'Getting Iraq Wrong' that recently ran in the New York Times is one of the best (and most readable) political philosophical treatises I've encountered recently. Read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/magazine/05iraq-t.html?_r=1&bl=&ei=5087%0A&en=25418cdecb0dcd13&ex=1186545600&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1186413128-B9y1eq62RoHK5m6JHu+4AA&oref=slogin
He's a courageous thinker. He rarely, if ever, lets himself fall into the laziness of ideology.
I think the biggest things that separate Ignatieff from almost every other politician I know of, are that he plays the game of politics less than most (though I've recently seen him say some of the same ridiculous partisan talking points everyone in Ottawa seems compelled to periodically burden us with), and he approaches the issues without a sense of having arrived at any irrevocable conclusion. Of course he has to make a decision at some point, but you get the sense that even after he's made his call he keeps an open mind and TRULY ENGAGES with critics of his point of view.
He's definitely got his critics, and I think they make some good points, but in the end it's Ignatieff's way of thinking rather than the conclusions he comes to that makes me such an enthusiastic fan.
His wikipedia article has links to a lot of the articles he's written.
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The thing that pushed me completely over the edge on Ignatieff was reading his spectacular (and often frustrating) short book 'The Lesser Evil.'
His article 'Getting Iraq Wrong' that recently ran in the New York Times is one of the best (and most readable) political philosophical treatises I've encountered recently. Read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/magazine/05iraq-t.html?_r=1&bl=&ei=5087%0A&en=25418cdecb0dcd13&ex=1186545600&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1186413128-B9y1eq62RoHK5m6JHu+4AA&oref=slogin
He's a courageous thinker. He rarely, if ever, lets himself fall into the laziness of ideology.
I think the biggest things that separate Ignatieff from almost every other politician I know of, are that he plays the game of politics less than most (though I've recently seen him say some of the same ridiculous partisan talking points everyone in Ottawa seems compelled to periodically burden us with), and he approaches the issues without a sense of having arrived at any irrevocable conclusion. Of course he has to make a decision at some point, but you get the sense that even after he's made his call he keeps an open mind and TRULY ENGAGES with critics of his point of view.
He's definitely got his critics, and I think they make some good points, but in the end it's Ignatieff's way of thinking rather than the conclusions he comes to that makes me such an enthusiastic fan.
His wikipedia article has links to a lot of the articles he's written.
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