06.10.2011 06:42 AM

Stephen Harper, boring (but lucky)

Those of us who worked for Jean Chretien always knew one thing about his schedule: sitting down for interviews with Peter C. Newman wouldn’t be in it.  Newman was enraged by that, and tried to get back at Chretien every chance he got.

Brian Mulroney learned, the hard way, why it is a big mistake to allow Newman and his wee tape recorder into your living room.

Michael Ignatieff and his inner circle are about to learn the same thing. He’ll say one thing, and do another.

Stephen Harper is boring? Not a chance.  I’ll bet he followed Chretien’s lead, and declined Newman’s offer.

Smart decision.

9 Comments

  1. Patrick says:

    That last comment in the article makes me wonder about Ignatieff’s motive for triggering an election when the polls indicated he should hold back. Maybe he just wanted to lose the election so he could get the he’ll out of politics.

    • The Doctor says:

      I think it was in Paul Wells’ election post-mortem where you almost got the sense of that. I don’t think Iggy wanted to lose or anything like that, but he was sick of the box he’d been in for the last couple of years. It was almost like that Neil Young quote — sick of being stuck in the middle of the road, so he aimed the car for the ditch.

  2. Catherine says:

    did you see this WK? Seems this guy either isn’t listening or is in full denial mode.

    http://www.nationalpost.com/Apps+throws+ideas+around/4922927/story.html

    • Warren says:

      The Globe has a report that they stuffed the room with Young Liberals, half of whom were on their Blackberries the whole time.

      This guy doesn’t have the confidence of the leader, caucus, membership or anyone who has ever been a Liberal. He’s Bay Street millionaire corporate lawyer who talks about being the party of “the people,” and isn’t even aware of the irony.

      Apart from that, he’s just swell.

      • Scotty Rowe says:

        I get the sense that Apps is trying to save face. If he goes down now, his legacy will be one of failure and ruin. He wants a few more months to portray himself as someone that tried to start the rebuilding and renewal. If the party’s fortunes improve, he can claim some of the credit. If not, he can claim that he tried but didn’t have enough time.

      • bruce the painter says:

        He is a horse’s ass of a human being who has neither the dignity, nor the courage to step aside.

      • Dave says:

        That is one of the burniest burns anyone has ever burned! +++++

  3. Ottawacon says:

    It is bewildering that the guy responsible for the ‘ground war’, the national organization, could now be blaming it for a disaster, while throwing out some fairly silly ideas that the Liberal Party will have years to contemplate. He has and has had the authority to do something about the former, and really has no business whatsoever spealing about the latter.

  4. Derek Pearce says:

    Newman is a decent enough writer, but man his sense of self-importance is icky. And Scotty Rowe, I think you’re quite right. But Apps should just, for the love of God, go, and go quick.

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