Can you just smell the irony....

From the Canadian Press:

On Sunday, Ignatieff insiders accused Rae of advocating an unconstitutional process in a desperate bid to find some way of overtaking the frontrunner.

"Bob Rae is trying to find any formula that avoids us winning, even if it's unconstitutional," said one member of the Ignatieff camp.

In an interview Sunday afternoon, Rae said a consensus has emerged that the party must quickly find a permanent replacement for Dion before Parliament returns and is presented with a budget on Jan. 27. He said the party has an "obligation to provide the greatest stability going forward" into the new year.

But he said allowing caucus alone to decide the leadership would be elitist, undemocratic and illegitimate.

"One suggestion that I've heard - that the caucus or even just MPs, for which there's no constitutional basis, but just MPs would decide - is to me unacceptable and just plain wrong," Rae said.

"People have to understand there has to be a process and it has to be seen to be a democratic and legitimate one."

Rae said a vote by caucus alone would disenfranchise Liberals in the 231 ridings not represented by a Liberal MP.

"The people have to be heard," he said. "At a time of party renewal, it's inconceivable to me that people would be even contemplating the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of Liberals."

So, Captain Democracy is concerned about disenfranchising Liberals when it comes to voting for a party leader, but has no qualms at all about disenfranchising Canadians when it comes to deciding their government.