Hitting a sour note

Did Michael Ignatieff become disoriented over the weekend and believed he was back in the U.S.?

He made a tactical error last weekend when he shed his measured tones for an impassioned rallying cry -- one that died horribly.

Unlike his American counterparts who seem to get bigger rewards the angrier they get, Ignatieff's "rise up" speech left many more laughing, or thinking "Who pee'd in his Corn Flakes?" than envisioning of the next Prime Minister.

Now being called his "Howard Dean moment" (referring to the American politician whose voice took on a little too much enthusiasm and broke into a shriek - one which he never lived down), Ignatieff repeatedly yelled the new mantra during weekend speeches with an intensity that bordered on a kind of creepy anger.

His new, tone deaf approach appears to have risen out of a few homeruns delivered during the party leader's first national campaign debate.

Ignatieff hit the perfect pitch note of indignation in his campaign against Stephen Harper's disdain for democracy during last week's English language debate when he said "This isn't bickering, Mr. Harper, this is debate."

He later added: "There he goes again with this word 'bickering.' You keep talking about Parliament as if it's this little debating society that's a pesky interference in your rule of the country. It's not. It's the Parliament of the people of Canada."

Touch.

In those brief sentences, Ignatieff finally delivered an effective blow, and it seemed the entire country (well, those paying attention anyway) knew it.

With this attack, he diminished Harper to power hungry, unfazed by the people's will and dismissive of the whole democratic process.

But leave it to the Liberals to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

Ignatieff followed on this deft moment by going a little bonkers.

What happened? Did he get drunk on this newfound adulation? Did the desperation just get too overwhelming to contain for a moment longer?

Whatever the reason, what's not in doubt is he hit a sour note. Even his own rally supporters looked around at each other as if to say "Does he literally mean rise up?" before getting to their feet.

It's hard to tell whether even Ignatieff himself was convinced as he repeatedly yelled "rise up" five, six, then seven times.

It was too easy to lose the train and wonder "Against what?" Then just like that, the tide's turned against him.

And now the YouTube videos have popped up cutting back and forth between Ignatieff's speech and Dean's fateful shriek. Another version jumps between Ignatieff and John Belushi rallying his Animal House frat brothers.

The Liberals should immediate shelve the "rise up" speech and resurrect it only when someone can effectively deliver it. Scratch that - just shelve it.

And then they should stop getting so overexcited about one homerun they forget to run the bases for want of the people's cheers.