That's more or less what we've come to, isn't it? No one's much interested in talking policy these days, for the same reason that so little policy is being made: The civil war that has broken out within the Liberal party among the various leadership contenders.

Paralysis has set in, as the conventions of Cabinet solidarity are discarded for the pleasures of petty intrigue. It's all who slagged who, which minister contradicted which other minister, and whose pet policy just got knifed in the alley. This isn't a government.

It's the palace of the Borgias.

All right, I'm game. Why did Allan Rock speak out as he did? We know it wasn't "on principle," whatever Mr. Rock's painful ("dammit") attempts to portray himself as a martyr to party democracy. The only principle he has in mind is the inalienable right to charter buses full of Sikhs and other malleable ethnic groups to stack delegate selection meetings, and the rule to which he objects so strenuously would require nothing more than that these people have names and addresses.

Was it, as some said, a "Hail Mary" pass, a last, desperate attempt to keep the party from slipping wholly into the clutches of Paul Martin's vast organization? This popular theory runs up against two uncomfortable facts. One, as Hail Marys go, this one hasn't a prayer.

The party already is in Mr. Martin's clutches. The rules will be pretty much as he says they should be. And even if, by some miracle, Mr. Rock were to get his way, he'd have to be be printing membership forms round the clock to overcome Mr. Martin's lead. All Mr.

Rock has bought for his furious denunciation of "country club elites" and the like is a ticket out of Mr. Martin's Cabinet.

But two, there isn't going to be a Martin Cabinet, because Mr. Martin is never going to be Prime Minister. He may have the party, but Mr. Chretien has the leadership. He can't become Prime Minister until he becomes leader, and he can't become leader until Mr.

Chretien steps down. But Mr. Chretien will not step down, not at least until Mr. Martin is of pensionable age, and Mr. Martin has no realistic prospect of forcing him out. If, as now seems likely, Mr. Chretien runs for a fourth term, he will have the pleasure of inflicting the most exquisite torture on his ancient rival: that of being forced to watch, helpless, as time slowly runs out.

Suppose Mr. Rock knows this. His people, after all, are in many cases Mr. Chretien's people, and would be as well-apprised as anyone of the boss's intentions. If so, and if we are indeed in the post-Martin era, then who or what was his broadside directed at? My guess is: the other leadership candidates, John Manley, Sheila Copps et al.

Mr. Manley, since his elevation to the Deputy Prime Minister's job, is well-placed to inherit many of Mr. Martin's followers, whether as a matter of ideology or opportunity.

Mr. Rock's first objective must be to round up the anybody-but-Martin vote: all those Liberals who, whether by choice or circumstance, find themselves outside the circle of Mr. Martin's admirers.

These are a disparate group, as the label implies, and might be tempted in any one of a number of other candidates' direction. And with Brian Tobin out of the race, the opportunity was suddenly present for Mr. Rock to stamp himself as the populist standard- bearer, candidate of the outsiders and the aggrieved. His broadside at Mr. Martin was not so much aimed at the Finance Minister, or even Mr. Manley, but rather at Ms. Copps and the others -- perhaps even at Mr. Tobin, should he have any designs of returning to the race. You don't like Martin, he was saying to left-wing Liberals? Manley's no better? I'm your guy.

The more desperate Mr. Martin and his followers grow, and the more heavy-handed their tactics become, the more Mr. Rock might hope to capitalize on whatever backlash this engenders in the party. At the same time, if Mr. Manley is indeed likely to be the beneficiary of Mr. Martin's political estate, Mr. Rock will need all the membership forms he can get. Either way, if you calculate, as I do, that Mr. Martin is unlikely to ascend to the leadership, the percentages are all in favour of Mr. Rock's sudden interest in political ethics.

But wait, there's that important policy paper to discuss. You know, the one outlining Mr.

Rock's comprehensive strategy for securing Canada's economic future. Hey! Where's everybody going?