02.17.2013 05:17 PM

When you strike at the king, you must kill him

Sayeth Emerson.

Otherwise, you’ve only killed yourself.

36 Comments

  1. J.W. says:

    The Senator Brazeau of the federal Liberal leadership contenders in the ring against Trudeau.

  2. bluegreenblogger says:

    It was a cheesy thing she did. Then the non-apology, that turned into: Vote for Me, the experienced manager. I really really enjoyed the debate though, despite Marthas fatal mis-step. I am not one for endlessly reading the entrails. I received positive impressions for most of the candidates, only a couple that were just out of their league. Martha is pretty well toasted though. If she had actually apologised in her much ballyhooed apology then perhaps she could retain something, but nothing doing now. $75,000 down the tubes for her, with bridges burnt and all.

  3. Rockfish says:

    Good of her for apologizing — shows she has more character than the whole Con tribe. As to Marc Garneau, his pointed questions didn’t seem to cross the line and were in the spirit of an honest debate. For the most part, JT demonstrated plenty of moxie and restraint and came out ahead.

  4. james curran says:

    So much for her getting a cushy riding to run in this time around. Let’s see how she makes out in a nomination fight.

    • dillon says:

      Whereever you try to run will be safe for her. This lady was spot on. The pretty pony is not leadership material. Without a Quebec base he is toast Coderre could help but will he?

      • james curran says:

        Give your head a shake. At least I attended St. Edwards school when I lived in Willowdale and campaigned as a kid for Peterson and Kwinter. Then again that was before you were even a thought in your parents head.

  5. El Capitain says:

    “King” seems to imply a coronation has already taken place. Guess this leadership race has the verisimilitude of reality television where carefully prescreened contestants almost inevitably create the basic drama the producers were wanting in the first place – in this case, the vicious Judas-shrew attacks the Dear Leader and then hangs herself politically via public self-denunciation.

    Factoring in Ignatieff, are coronations the de facto process of “electing” the leader of the Liberal Party? If, “politics and political communications are all about the effective use of symbols, not words,” wouldn’t you want a different script? More like long-shot outsider fights against impossible odds and triumphs? If ancestry is all, why trouble ourselves with contradictory notions of democratic reform and meritocracy?

    God Save the King!
    Loyal Serf

  6. !o! says:

    I don’t know how he does it, but the man seems to just grow with the telling.

    The time for CPC attack ads was 6 months ago.

  7. Mary Fitzgerald says:

    Kinsella,

    Well I’m at page 19 – “How to Identify A Conservative” – interesting stuff.

    You might find this article interesting if you haven’t read already:

    http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/24/051024fa_fact1?currentPage=1

    The gest of it, today’s Conservatives are not really that conservative.

    Further, your notion that “country music is the musical genre of white people who lack rhythm or self-awareness” is pretty low-down. Johnny Cash? Seems like folks like Neil Young, Robbie Robertson, and Daniel Lanois all adore country music and also have a very strong social conscience. Bands like the Cramps and other Cowpunkers?

    Over and out.

    • Swervin' Merv says:

      “… a movement infiltrated by religious fundamentalists, paranoid patriotic groups, and big-business leaders, united in their loathing for the cosmopolitan élites on the nation’s coasts.”

      Thank you, Mary, for sharing that New Yorker link on “The First Conservative.”

  8. Beth Higginson says:

    I find Jason Kenney’s comments humourous. Before Stephen Harper became Prime Minister he had only been out of Canada once – even his wife who had lived in New Zealand with her first husband had been out of Canada more.

  9. Tim says:

    Elitists attacking elitists for being elitist. No wonder we fuckin suck.

  10. Kevin says:

    I cannot think of a more vacuous Liberal leadership candidate in my lifetime, than Justin Trudeau. God help the Liberals if he wins.

  11. Lynn says:

    Martha appears bitter and shrill to me. Outside of Ontario, who knows this woman? in the east, it is Martha who? IMO if the Liberals want to revitalize M. Trudeau is the only answer. Why would a 20 yo want to vote for any of the others? Like it or not substance is not the only criteria, it is who can win and Justin, like him or not, has people watching, any other candidates have that? Youth and progressive policies are needed and I do not see that in the other candidates. None are perfect but neither was steve and look where that man is now. Money and privilege counts everywhere and to think that does not help in any career, wake up — not many poor kids from public housing are connected enough to end up in positions of power. So be it, that is another issue. Inequality and inequity are Mr. Harper tools he uses to divide us, do not fall into that trap. Who cares where the leader was born and educated as long as he is a person who can lead and win and surrounds himself with good people. I want Harper gone and I do not see the others as able to do that. Garneau is unimpressive IMO and the others are not really known in the east (like we matter anyway :-().

  12. Ted H says:

    “When you are explaining you are losing” Karl Rove

  13. Lawrence Stuart says:

    All this chatter about JT being ‘out of touch,’ ‘inexperienced,’ ‘vacuous,’ etc. reminds me of Hillary’s ‘crisis call’ attack ads from the Democratic primaries in ’08. The one that implied a certain young, inexperienced Senator from Illinois was incapable of handling the burdens and responsibilities of the Presidency. And I note that the labels of being a ‘light weight,’ of being inexperienced and incapable, etc., have dogged Obama (in perfect, if rather incongruous, company with charges of hauteur, arrogance, and the like) through his convincing victories in two hotly contested elections. But the charges just didn’t stick: not in the primaries, not in the National elections. And they didn’t stick because they don’t correspond with the character Obama is able to project through word and deed.

    I have a sense that JT shares Obama’s ability to cut through this kind of crap. JT seems effortlessly able to project a solidity of character: a genuine, rock steady set of humane core values combined with a pugnacious (but not, I think, ungenerous or spiteful) spirit–without both of which attempts to build a winning (Liberal) political image are doomed to implode.

    • Nicole says:

      I agree completely. These constant attacks on his experience don’t play well with voters under 40, especially those over 25 who are going to vote and are trying to make their own way in the working world. Besides, what experience did Harper bring prior to being appointed party leader? He was a policy wonk, which does not hold any more substance than being a teacher. In fact, it is arguable that being a teacher is a more valued job. Everyone needs a chance to prove themselves, and as there is no obvious Liberal candidate that polls ahead of Harper outside of Trudeau, then why not make him leader? I suspect that Trudeau can also bring out the youngish adult vote more than any other party leader, which will hurt the NDP. His name recognition and brand are too valuable to pass up. I don’t think that Trudeau can win the 2015 election, but I most definitely think that he can retrieve Official Opposition from the NDP.

    • Thomas Gallezot says:

      Except that Obama is African American + he was a brillant senator + he ran in an election where any democrat would have won after 8 years of Bush Jr. Trudeau is nothing except the son of his father and a curly haired boxer. I think he will win the liberal leadership and I am very happy about it. I hope Marc Garneau will accept to work with a Mulcair government because if there is someone who embodies what is great about liberalism, it is him.

  14. frmr disgruntled Con now Happy Lib says:

    MHF lost me a long time ago with her attacks on marketing boards…..check the price of american cheese and millk a hundred miles south of the US/Can border,Martha, and youll find they are comparable to ours or higher….Of course doing away with marketing boards in Australia has been a real success too…..many “family” farms have been lost….only to be replaced with agricorps…..

    Some of the world’s best leaders have been to the manor born….and as long as they have a sense of ‘noblesse oblige’, I dont care what kind of dough they were raised with. Justin Trudeau seems to care about ordinary people.

    I am supporting Justin Trudeau because he gives the Liberal Party the best chance of defeating the Harper cabal, and ending their reign of error……..Vive Le Roi!

  15. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    Jason needs to renew his conversations with Ralph. Ralph will remind him what good sense really is all about.

  16. dave says:

    I cannot remembere the name of the Justice of the Supreme Court of USA who was asked, “Does putting on the robes aof Junstice ofhte Supreme Court change a man?”
    Answer:”If he has any kind of character it does.”

    I’ve seen some of the young NDP’s in HOC growing into their roles nicely.

    JT grew into his role as an MP and as a fund reaiser for his party nicely as well. Makes me think that the odds are pretty good that he can take the extra steps should he be elected Lib leader.

  17. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    W,

    Of course, technically this is all pie-in-the-sky because until we have a new leader, no one can truly predict how events will play out under the next leader. I like to stick to the facts: Harper is in power since 2006 — and his government sits at 34% — without a permanent Liberal leader in place. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but that does not predispose me to think of political strength…our party, under Bob Rae, finds itself fighting for second place with the NDP. That suggests that Mulcair has yet to catch fire, to put it mildly, in English Canada.

    I see wiggle room there for Liberals. The geniuses said it was impossible for Obama to win in such a bad economy. He was no FDR, they said. And yet he did. We have a reasonably good economy and yet this Prime Minister has long kissed off his 39% received in the last election. The short answer from a long-winded poster: only a fool can count Justin out at this point. Assuming he is chosen leader, he has as good a chance as his major leadership rivals to at least be competitive. If he wins, it will be thanks to Justin, ditto if he loses.

    But in the final analysis, Canadians will have to ask themselves under a Trudeau leadership — do you really want more of what we’ve got in Ottawa or are you ready to move to something else? If Liberals and Justin run a campaign the way Harper did in 2006, Conservatives will have plenty to worry about in that election.


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