Stay classy, Christie Blatchford

So in the aftermath of Monday's passing of Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, the National Post's Christie Blatchford wrote a column in which she laments and whines about the fact that the nation is mourning. She also saw fit to trash Jack's last letter and message to Canadians, in which Layton wrote while dying this past Saturday, "...we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done. My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."

Blatchford wrote that Layton's letter was "vainglorious," full of "sophistry," and that "It's remarkable because it shows what a canny, relentless, thoroughly ambitious fellow Mr. Layton was. Even on Saturday, two days before he died, he managed to keep a gimlet eye on all the campaigns to come."

Blatchford has been ridiculing Layton since her Toronto Sun days, when he was a pioneering, pro-gay, pro-bike, jovial and progressive city councillor. I wouldn't be surprised how much Layton's rise has burned the right, and specifically people like Blatchford, who used to constantly belittle him. Layton's star rose far beyond anything they've ever had to contribute, or could contribute, to our civic life.

The bitterness Blatchford has revealed is deeply held. It is nothing more than the rage of a frustrated hack, who prognosticated nothing but humiliation and failure for Layton. So, having missed the mark so widely, what does she do? She does what she does best: reveal her true nature once more, with a nasty piece of vitriol which only illustrates how miserable she is, and always has been. Meanwhile in complete contrast, Layton displayed nothing but a complete generous, positive and compassionate goodness throughout his selfless existence and struggle for social justice.