Even the best politicans have bad days. They'll say something stupid, they'll let an offhand remark get caught on camera, and for a few cycles they'll be mocked by geeks who follow politics.
Then there are less experienced politicians. Former academics, noted authors - people like that. When they say something stupid, the real problem is that they think they're being clever. When they do that, you end up with headlines like this:
Ignatieff touts bird that hides feces as party icon
The money quote, from a Canadian Press story:
It's a noble bird because it has good family values. They stay together for 30 years...they lay one egg (each year). They put their excrement in one place. They hide their excrement... They flap their wings very hard and they work like hell...This seems to me a symbol for what our party should be.
I've spent the evening discussing this quote with a few Liberal insiders I know, including some current and former Ignatieff staffers - and no one has a clue what he was talking about.
Just a reminder of who we're talking about: Ignatieff was a professor at Harvard, a noted author and policy wonk, a frequent critic of non-intervention in genocide, and almost won the leadership of his party.
And now, for the rest of his political career, he will be dogged by references to Puffins, and how great it is that they organize their dung.