Operating in Future Tense

Interim Liberal leader Bill Graham is left with no more than pounding on his chest, playing tough for reporters, to draw attention away from the visible fact that his party is in a bit of disarray at the moment.

Although the headline the Citizen gave to the CP story is in the present tense, Graham is quoted in the future tense: “the party will be ready,” “the Liberals will provide an effective and disciplined Opposition,” “the party will deal with the issues one by one, but will be ready in case of a snap election,” and “the Liberals will pressure the Conservative government.”

The constant use of the future tense in Mr. Graham’s discourse is effectively an admission that his party is in disarray –not doing right now any of the things that he claims his party will do later. He is projecting to the future what an opposition party should be doing presently.

To boot, in other related news, Liberals are admitting to their obesity (in the present tense). Is that what Liberals mean when they say that they’re on the same page as the public?

Crossposted from Civitatensis.caÂ?