05.11.2015 10:42 AM

POLITICIAN GETS DRUNK WHILE HANGING OUT WITH REPORTERS

Said no front-page headline ever, anywhere, BECAUSE IT ISN’T NEWS.

Sometimes, we are a ridiculous country, cf. here and here and here.

And media wonder why Stephen Harper never attends the thing anymore. Wonder no more, etc.

32 Comments

  1. SD says:

    Better Madam E. May drunk than E. May sober.

  2. Joe says:

    Elizabeth May is a very stupid woman. I was actually gonna vote for the Green Party, but I just changed my mind.

  3. Chris says:

    That reminded me of Ralph Klein in the 1980s. I think someone better step down. What an embarrassment.

  4. P Brennan says:

    not her first major gaff…she does weird stuff….drinking too much better excuse than I was tired …

  5. Priyesh says:

    “Sleep deprived.”

    Rob Ford struggles with sleep deprivation on an ongoing basis.

  6. kevin T. says:

    But until then, a heckuva party, amiright?

  7. Dave says:

    What DOES Harper attend, other than (A) events outside Canada, or (B) events inside Canada which are carefully scripted, and with smallish audiences, carefully vetted in advance by PMO and CPC?

  8. Tony Quirk says:

    I always thought these Press Gallery shindigs were suppose to be “off the record” to let politicians show their human side, but as soon as someone does something wrong, or slips up, it is sent everywhere via social media and then the mainstream media picks it up.

    Agree with WK on this one, no wonder the PM doesn’t bother coming.

    Sigh!

  9. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    Better to be sleep deprived than sleep walking to the polls…God bless Canada on behalf of he who no longer attends — since there is no possible net benefit which would require that he attend.

  10. Matt says:

    Well, to me had she just come out today and owned up to getting shit-faced, the story would go away. I think most people have had a little too much booze at a party and done something they regret afterwards. I know I have.

    But she didn’t do that.

    She claimed she was just trying to be funny, was over tired having worked 21 hours on Friday, and she hardly had anything to drink.

    I know someone who was there sitting at a table close by. She was downing glasses of wine like they were water, and those at her table including Rick Mercer were trying to get her to stop drinking so much.

    • W the K - No, not Warren says:

      Aww Matt, is this another one of your I Know A Guy stories?

      https://twitter.com/rickmercer

      Mercer has gone on record, but he’s just a commie employed by the CBC, right?

      Will your anonymous friend go on record that May was pounding them back “like they were water?”

      • Mervyn Norton says:

        I believe Mercer was right about May not being drunk, as most observers would agree if they actually reviewed her 9 minute press gallery dinner speech–on the theme of differences: some political leaders show up, all but one are men but all get to debate this time, some leaders may have artificial body parts, some can recall music from old TV shows, and some may have more class than others. More celebratory than self-deprecating, with several shots at Harper, but not nearly as “edgy” as commentators or May herself now portray. If only she would get beyond the almost endlessly repeated pseudo-apologies, which are much worse than her speech.

  11. I’ve always been uncomfortable about journalists & politicians hanging out together, even if it’s once a year.

  12. CSM says:

    The 21st century. No slip of the lip too small to generate outrage. No joke to bland to offend someone.

    Why should Harper attend? There is no upside.

    • Steve T says:

      No joke too bland? Are you kidding me? If the words had been exactly the same, but uttered by the CPC about the opposition, this would have been front page news for days. Ms May is given a pass simply because she is the leader of a party of negligible importance, and has said other silly things in the past. But it’s hardly any more “bland” than things the main parties are pilloried for.

  13. JH says:

    Hanging out with (supposed) reporters – that’d drive anyone to drink.
    Here’s where a Gallup Poll rates them.
    Nurses 85%

    Pharmacist 75%

    Clergy 52%

    Bankers 28%

    Journalists 24%

    Car sales people 8%

  14. Kaiser Helmets 'n Motorbikes says:

    Very true. Why does any Pol bother attending this thing anymore?

    As much as I agree with National Post on “Kotter”, shame on them for running this piece on May.

    May has a very reasonable excuse; not that she needs one: she was at a party meant to be off the record, meant to poke fun at everyone… and she was honestly trying to have fun.

    What excuse does the National Post have?

    Our media elites are idiots.

    • cgh says:

      You’re missing the point. She was drunk and said what she really thinks.
      In vino veritas.

    • Elisabeth Lindsay says:

      It has NOT been off the record for many many years, and everybody is made aware that it will be recorded.

  15. Christian says:

    Good on Lisa Raitt for being the “best friend” (aka the friend who picks you up off the sidewalk, steers you away from potential fist fights, cleans up your barf and then pours you into a cab at the end of the night). Pretty classy actually.

  16. Iris Mclean says:

    May might have been drunk or sleep deprived or whatever, but she spoke the truth.

  17. Pat says:

    I’m sorry Mr. K. But this stuff is news. She had it planned and even had the accompanying music queued up on her phone. This was not a drunken extemporaneous rant.

    The excuses were stinky. The sort of stuff of parents of a misbehaving daughter who make excuses such as, “Oh she’s just hungry..she’s tired”. Almost to Ghomeshian depths.

    • Warren says:

      That’s not my point. My point was that it shouldn’t have topped the CBC national newscast, the Post’s, and the Star’s.

      • Merrill Smith says:

        I agree 100%. Not big news. As for the comment itself, Lisa Raitt may have some class and maybe so do some of her colleagues, but others — Clement, Poilievre, Kenny, Fantino, Harper himself, etc — offset any of that and make Liz May’s comment accurate.

  18. WDM says:

    The only reason this is a thing is it happened in the midst of a bizarre speech that was falling flat and was basically incoherent. In the history of this event, a joke about Omar Khadr wouldn’t make the list of Top 50 offensive things said at the PPG dinner. Hell, bring a tape recorder into Hy’s on a Friday (or to the party watering holes on a Wednesday night) and you’ll hear a ton of off-colour humour. And that’s fine, people need to let off steam, but people pretending an f-bomb and a bad joke are not the tradition of the PPG dinner? Yeesh.

  19. davie says:

    Been there…etcetera…

    So, press gallery invites politicians to a party, and then reports what happened at the party. The rascals!

  20. sezme says:

    Hey, no such thing as bad publicity, right?

  21. edward nuff says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyXyxLiDtHo

    this didn’t take long. what adolph thought of the notley victory.

  22. ABlanas says:

    Who was the press person who leaked the cell phone video of this horribly improper incident? Otherwise it would have properly remained off the record.

    • UFP Ambassador says:

      Who leaked it? It was one of your extreme lefty pals at the CBC. Probably thinking hey, take down Lizzie, more votes for Shiny Pony!

    • Steve T says:

      Now it’s an improper “leak”? Like the leaked cellphone videos of Rob Ford, or the leaked cellphone videos of various inappropriate things said by right-wing candidates and MPs?

      It’s a world of cellphone cameras these days. Anyone who thinks a large gathering like this, attended by the media itself, is not going to be “on the record” is not worthy of calling themselves savvy enough to be a politician.

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