Cursory comments on last night's speeches at the Liberal leadership convention:
Martha Hall Findlay: she ran an extraordinary campaign, given the resources, and will be good for the Liberal Party but her speech - asking for support because she is a woman - was a shameful finale. Votes are earned on the basis of policy and ability - not gender.
Scott Brison: excellent speech but it missed the point if Scott was looking for support. Perhaps, accepting that he is out of the race, Scott just wanted to take the opportunity to talk about his policy priorities (the economy and the environment) which he did with heart.
Joe Volpe: skipped it - time to prepare dinner.
Ken Dryden: passionate but that awful snorting into the microphone was back (maybe not heard in the room but disastrous on TV); a feel good candidate but not likely to swing any uncommitted delegates.
Stéphane Dion: A good speech if only he hadn't run out of time - unfortunate if he wanted to convince delegates he is not a pedantic academic; too little English is he wanted to show he has an adequate command of the language; little lost - little gained.
Gerard Kennedy: The only candidate with an original video that made a point (all the others resembled a mother's scrap book); the only speech about reforming the party but maybe short on details. Clearly the best speech of the night.
Bob Rae: the free-style chat was Bob at his best, surprisingly little French; only time will tell if he swayed enough delegates.
Michael Ignatieff: any other time it would have been a good speech but it lacked any excitement and failed to rise to expectations; the too-frequent switches between English and French destroyed any momentum the speech might have had; nothing new and unlikely to draw any new support.
