— Musings —05.05.2010 03:25 PM
Interesting opinion column
…by my former fellow Herald alumnus, Don Martin. Don apparently sat down with the Last Elected Majority Prime Minister on Monday, the same day I saw Da Boss.
Comments are open. And be very, very careful what you say about my friend Chretien. I’m not at all afraid to find out where JC-haters live and, if warranted, terminate with extreme prejudice.
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Don Martin still have that Harper Manual of Dirty Tricks?
Maybe not. He seems to have it down to memory.
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Funny. And the Harper guys will all tell you he’s a Liberal.
Personally, I thought it was a pretty interesting column.
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Sensitive.
Personally, it was what I would expect.
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Interesting in which way…….his dissing of iggy?
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Just got to it today. Martin’s laying out one possibility, but there are just as many reasons to believe the exact opposite.
I’m starting to believe that the problem with our party lays not so much in the leader as in a general funk in Ottawa. We need less bureaucrats acting as Liberal MPs and “political insiders”.
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so you think the problem with the liberal party’s fortunes are bureaucrats in ottawa? really? would love to hear Warren’s take on that analysis. mine, is that if the best the Libs can do, in terms of moving up the polls, is to point at bureaucrats in Ottawa then there is near zero hope of your party recapturing the Chretien era.
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You misread that. I’m talking about Liberals in Ottawa who are more bureaucatic than political.
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There are other great Liberals, I’m sure. But none have his presence or his innate ability to know what the average Canadian actually wants from government. With apologies to the current leader and to those very committed, genuine folks who support him, there is a gulf the size Canada between where we were with Chretien and where the party is now. (Note use of “we” when I speak of Chretien and lack of “we” when describing the current state of affairs.)
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I remember Chretian giving a speech in Prince Rupert, BC cica late 1989 / ’90. It inspired and convinced me that better days were ahead for both Canada and the Liberal Party. Everyone there understood and felt that Chretian was one of us, that he understood what Canadians were thinking and what they wanted out of a leader.
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It’s good to get the kind of wake-up call this offers, Mr I & his folks should look at it that way. It’s also good to here Mr C is doing well.
Speaking of THAT LOOK I got it once,
I was cannon fodder as an Alberta Liberal candidate, Mr C was out of office having lost to J Turner & was making an fundraising appearance at the late great Sheldon Schumer’s HQ. As we candidates were introduced we hopped onto an all too small stage. Midway through the intros Mr C made mincemeat out of a heckler, the intros resumed & I must have looked like another heckler & I got THE LOOK & almost got shoved off the stage until the MC said “no, he’s okay, he’s one of our candidates!” At that point he put his arm around me & said “Oh! in that case you are my very best friend!” to the delight of the crowd & me. I only wish I had of photo of any part of that event.
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I hear Jean Chretien speak at the University of Guelph in 1989? when he was out of politics. I was just so impressed by his engagement with the audience, his self deprecating style, and his natural wit. And yes dam it it was inspiring.
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For that reason, Don Martin’s article was a total waste of time and space. He had all that time to talk to Chretien and that’s all he could say?
Did he think Chretien would fall into his attempted trap to comment on the party at this time? That’s why Chretien was a good PM and Martin an average writer.
A couple of sentences about Chretien and the rest and excuse to bash the Liberal party. What an idiot – how many times will he get an opportunity like that?
I remember they used to call Chretien “yesterday’s man” when he was low in the polls in opposition – now how did that go? Ah, yes – consecutive majorities.
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Will you be attending the hanging, Warren?
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In Europe, we loved Trudeau and highly respected Chretien. Harper? Well, Silvio Berlusconi likes him. And Harper on Berlusconi, July 10th, 2010: “He gave me tremendous gifts. He has been a great host. He’s a very successful businessman with constantly interesting comments on the economy and other issues.” Oh Canada, you deserve better!
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Correction: July 10, 2009
Whether Mr. Harper will be in Rome in July 2010, I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Rome is hell in July, with or without Harper.
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Column not so interesting. National Post predicts demise of Liberal Party. I’ve seen this show before, and Martin’s column is becoming a lot like “24,” season 8.
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Ahem.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t say it.
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I’ve given up on reading Don Martin and only read the piece above because Warren suggested it.
Warren, “fail”!
Don Martin was not worth the read, again.
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I think the most interesting thing about the column is that Warren thinks it’s interesting. If he thinks a column that says/doesn’t say what it does/doesn’t about the current/former Liberal leader is interesting, then it’s interesting and, I dare say, informative.
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I’ve actually always been sorta neutral on JC, but I do have to concede a few things that I do think history will judge him well on.
1) He kept us out of Iraq.
2) He and Paul M balanced our budget and stuck with it.
And most importantly:
3) He told our banks each and every time they wanted to merge and be deregulated to take a hike. If he hadn’t, we’d be just as screwed at the other major western economies right now.
Agree or disagree with his direction for the country, at least he proved himself an able leader and someone who was willing to find pragmatic and workable solutions, unlike this lot we’re stuck with now. Impervious to evidence, it would seem.
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I agree, Gord. There were a few things I didn’t like, but nobody’s perfect. Chretien, though, was definitely one of the better ones, especially in the issues you pointed out. I shudder to think about where we would have been if he didn’t do those three most important things.
If it wasn’t so pathetic how the Harperites are taking credit for what were clearly Chretien’s and Martin’s policies, it would be amusing. But, if one were to judge from the EKOS poll just out, the REALLY pathetic part is that some Canadians are still buying the ConParty cowplop.
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I won’t say anything nasty about JC, as I think he’s tops. But I will take a shot at Don Martin, whose great writing is unfortunately almost always coloured with an anti-Liberal tone.
Even on TV Don is predictable- he’ll always defend Harper to a fault. It is almost laughable. -Surprising that the Harperians consider him a Grit…
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I ran into Jean at the Stampede some years ago. He was wearing a battered cowboy hat, jeans, and boots. I introduced myself and we chatted briefly. Next year’s Stampede I ran into him on the Stampede grounds again. He shook my hand, looked closely at me, and remembered my first name.
Now that’s political style!
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Don Martin definitely has a personal perspective, and it strikes me as right-ish, so I read his stuff with that filter. Having said that, I think he’s a speaker of uncomfortable truths to all parties. I don’t think Don is the final word on the subject but I don’t think it is wise to dismiss what he says out of hand.
Oh, yeah, and Mr. Chretien is a person I admire. He won convincingly, repeatedly, and then used his victories to do what needed to be done.
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Mr Chretien is like Mick Jagger – old but always new, cool and current!