01.19.2020 04:40 PM

Sad but better

39 Comments

  1. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    In all our lives, what goes around, ultimately comes around. My sense of it is that it’s based on that.

    • Fred from BC says:

      “In all our lives, what goes around, ultimately comes around. My sense of it is that it’s based on that.”

      So true.

      I don’t know if Trudeau is as much ‘sad’ as he is humbled (although I guess the two are somewhat interchangeable). Definitely changed, though. Reality crashing down on your head has a way of doing that…too bad that same reality has somehow escaped those who now chortle, “See? SEE? We TOLD you Justin Trudeau was a good guy!!”

      Well , no…he wasn’t…but he’s getting better now that he’s come back down to earth. No thanks to you obstinate fanboys who encouraged and enabled him no matter what he said or did. *You people* were the real problem all along, not Justin Trudeau himself. JT is just not that bright, unfortunately…but *you people* were supposed to be. You were the ones who should have taken him aside and explained the realities of public life and the political world, rather than turning suddenly and viciously on the people who dared to point out what a disaster JT was becoming…insulting them, slandering them and questioning their motivations and party loyalties. Shame on the lot of you; you DESERVE this minority government you’ve been downgraded to.

      • In Trump’s case, sad to say (in humanist terms), his reckoning will likely come by way of cognitive impairment. (The Mooch was so right.)

      • Mike says:

        Trudeau grew up knowing more of the realities and vagaries of public life them most people in the country. He is genuinely a good guy. Very few people would be prepared for the onslaught of the right wing gotcha movement he faced. Also, Fred, he is extremely bright and it is showing by his adopting to his current circumstances. Put your partisan lens aside cut him some slack. He has the makings of a great Prime Minister.

        • Fred from BC says:

          “He is genuinely a good guy. ”

          He doesn’t treat people (particularly women) like he’s a good guy.

          “Also, Fred, he is extremely bright and it is showing by his
          adopting to his current circumstances.” (adApting, you mean?)

          Sorry, no…watching him speak off-script was just painful..

          “Put your partisan lens aside cut him some slack.”

          I am. Read a couple of my previous posts.

      • Campbell says:

        I can’t tell if you’re mad at the Canadians who voted for a Liberal government and Trudeau, or mad at the party itself for not tuning him up and incurring damage to the brand. Which perspective are you coming from?

        • Fred from BC says:

          “I can’t tell if you’re mad at the Canadians who voted for a Liberal government and Trudeau, or mad at the party itself for not tuning him up and incurring damage to the brand. Which perspective are you coming from?”

          The latter. The party should have realized after the first couple of international embarrassments that they had to reign him in. These are not laymen volunteers…these are (supposedly) professional PR people who run the PMO. This is where the blame really lies in my opinion.

          The voters? Many of the voters are just gullible, falling for the obvious fear-mongering on abortion and same-sex marriage (and yes, I’m aware that the Conservatives do the same thing on crime and immigration). Doesn’t matter what country we’re
          talking about…the public just seems to fall for whatever quick sound bite is dangled in front of them. This I blame mostly on the news media for picking and choosing what to offer and what to bury.

  2. joe says:

    Justin Trudeau craves attention. He has admitted as much.

    In his term of office he has repeatedly lied and also broken many promises. He is a hypocrite.

    Now with his beard (added to show gravitas?) and sad demeanour (trying to show a new seriousness and reflection on lessons learned?), we are asked to believe there is a new Justin. No I think he just wants to regain the spotlight.

    Justin and his party want us to believe Justin has changed. “Trust us we’ve learned. We are now different. We say so.”

    Unfortunately when you have lied as often as Justin; when you are as hypocritical as Justin; talk is cheap and worthless. Actions speak louder than words and new costumes. And actions over a long time will be required to show that he has changed.

    With apologies to Tennessee Williams, the only thing worse than a liar is a hypocrite, and in his first term Justin was both a liar and a hypocrite. We shall see if he really changed.

    And now pardon me, but like Justin I have to fly off to a very warm place. Please everyone remember to turn down your thermostats and use less energy.

    • RKJ says:

      My cynical side says is just an act. Sadly. Now, if the CPC can keep from choosing another dumb post as the next leader will have a chance to form the next government.

      • Fred from BC says:

        “Now, if the CPC can keep from choosing another dumb post as the next leader (they) will have a chance to form the next government.”

        So…pray for a miracle, then?

        • RKJ says:

          Just saw a media picture (in the Star of course) of Justin picking up donuts for his cabinet at a local, mom & pop donut shop for their Winnipeg meeting. These pictures don’t cost a dime and also get some attention.

          Meanwhile our departing “dumb post” leader successfully frightened the 905 voters here in Ontario by stating he’d cut $2 billion from the Canadian foreign aid budget during the last election. Justin will waste $2 billion on a normal Friday afternoon.

          If we CPC voters need a miracle to find a leader who doesn’t do “easy stupid” the party is doomed. By the way, my wife and I both voted Green last time – a liberal and a conservative both fed up with their respective parties.

          • Fred from BC says:

            “If we CPC voters need a miracle to find a leader who doesn’t do “easy stupid” the party is doomed.”

            I hope I’m wrong about that. Must be getting more cynical in my old age.

            “By the way, my wife and I both voted Green last time – a liberal and a conservative both fed up with their respective parties.”

            I was lucky enough to have Jody Wilson-Raybould as my candidate. She must have generated a lot of support and raised quite a bit of money during the campaign, too…as I type this, I’m looking at another desk calendar from her that arrived in the mail after her re-election; those can’t be cheap.

  3. Paige says:

    Mondays Truths:
    1. Trudeau is more actor than intellectual. Probabilities suggest he is projecting gravitas rather than feeling it.
    2. The Ukraine/Iran tragedy was probably not an “accident ” as all the media outlets are currently characterizing it.

  4. J.H. says:

    When you’re an empty suit, fronting for the Laurentian elites and LPC backroom thugs, and reality up and whops you one in the puss, that could make you sad. So too could the way you’ve behaved and hurt those who trusted you, at the behest of self same thugs.

    • J.H.,

      In case you missed it, the latest buzz is about Harper supposedly running for the leadership again. Personally, I’ll believe that one, when I see it.

      • Fred from BC says:

        ” Personally, I’ll believe that one, when I see it.”

        Me too. He already ran for the leadership once because he was talked, cajoled and flattered into it…that won’t happen again. He just doesn’t need the hassle.

  5. Steve T says:

    Let’s go, at least for a moment, with the idea that his sadness is genuine. The question is why now? It wasn’t this way immediately following his humbling election results. It seems to be more aligned with the Iranian airline tragedy.

    To be sad for the tremendous loss of life in that tragedy is understandable. However, there have been other situations in his prior term that perhaps would have justified similar unhappiness, but all we got was smilin’, hand-shakin’, talkin’-out-of-both-sides-of-my-mouth Justin. Why, for example, was he not similarly sad as the massive layoffs and economic calamity was hitting Alberta? The impact on Albertans was, of course, not as dramatic as on the passengers in the airplane, but it affected a substantially higher number of people, and some of them did indeed die (from suicide). Similar analogies can be made for other widespread issues in Canada (eg: many Indigenous circumstances).

    So, going back to our original premise of genuineness. Perhaps it is genuine sadness, which makes its onset odd. Or perhaps, as others have suggested, it is the new “role” that Justin has decided is his better approach for public sympathy and attention.

  6. A. Voter says:

    JT is getting good at faking sincerity.

  7. Michael says:

    I love the comments on this thread. Various and sundry conservatives have described the prime minister as “not that bright”, “more actor than intellectual”, “an empty suit”, a “hypocrite” and a “liar”.

    Dudes, you (conservatives) had your asses handed to you TWICE by a guy you claim in “not that bright”, doesn’t say much about you or the CPC if a guy who is “not that bright” can beat them.

    Personally if it was my side that had lost twice to someone I would be describing that person as the smartest guy I had ever seen. 😉

    • Michael,

      Some say a win’s a win. The British Parliamentary system begs to differ. Let’s see how skillful the PM and his office are going forward. Bets are open on how long this governments lasts. That’s how Justin and Company will actually prove their mettle — or not.

    • Fred from BC says:

      ” doesn’t say much about you or the CPC if a guy who is “not that bright” can beat them. ”

      It actually says nothing about either one….it just illustrates perfectly what happens when you throw a few hundred million dollars of taxpayer money to your good friends in the news media.

      His first win was solely on the strength of his family name and the growing unpopularity of a Prime Minister who had overstayed his welcome.

      His second “win”, if you choose to call it that, was based on what Canadians know about him now that we didn’t know then. This time, Justin Trudeau (who most assuredly did not run his own campaign and thus can take no credit for any personal victory), went from a majority to a minority government *and* lost the popular vote, against one of the weakest Conservative political candidates in years. Not a real big “win” by any stretch of the imagination.

      He’s not smart…just lucky that his surname is Trudeau. If it wasn’t, he would never even have been elected as an MP, never mind Prime Minister.

      • Campbell says:

        “If it wasn’t, he would never even have been elected as an MP, never mind Prime Minister.”

        So what? We’d never had elected Pierre Trudeau as an MP it PM if he hadn’t been the privileged son of an oil prospector! And we’d never elect lots of people if they weren’t who they were by virtue of some uncontrollable grant from their previous generation. And Justin Trudeau is who he is – I don’t think it’s fair to treat his uncontrollable grant from the previous generation any differently from anyone else’s.

        • Fred from BC says:

          “So what? We’d never had elected Pierre Trudeau as an MP it PM if he hadn’t been the privileged son of an oil prospector!”

          No, I was around for Trudeau mania 1.0. It was basely solely on his flamboyant “over-the-top” personality, which hadn’t been seen before in Canadian politics (at least not in recent memory). Comparing him to Robert Stanfield in particular was a real eye-opener.

          “And Justin Trudeau is who he is – I don’t think it’s fair to treat his uncontrollable grant from the previous generation any differently from anyone else’s.”

          I’m not. I’m saying that he had nothing else to recommend him other than his family name (unless you’re a fan of his ‘great hair’?). His career and prior accomplishments were unremarkable as well. Remember that the Liberal Party, at that time, were flailing about in disarray looking for the Messiah who would save them…Dion wasn’t the guy, nor was Ignatieff.
          Trudeau was pretty much their last hope, it seemed…

  8. By the by, it’s Freeland that lucked out: she’s got Broadhurst as HER Chief of Staff.

  9. Steve says:

    Sorry Warren, I think Trudeau’s behavior of late is the next evolution of the “narrative” he has been crafting since before he boxed with Senator Brazeau – you know, when he said he was looking for someone that “fit the narrative” when they found him.

    Trudeau will only ever be an actor, pretending to be something he never will be: an empathetic leader to be trusted to do the right thing for Canadians.

  10. jsa says:

    he’s ready to quit and he has been for a long time. prime minister of canada is a shitty job, at some point you’re nothing more than an object of ridicule.

    no way does he want to have to campaign for another election anytime soon

    • Chris Sigvaldason says:

      If he doesn’t win his coveted UN Security Council seat I think he will resign. It appears that most of the Global Affairs department is permanently assigned to getting him this post because he just craves the attention and international adoration.

    • Fred from BC says:

      “prime minister of canada is a shitty job, at some point you’re nothing more than an object of ridicule.”

      Never seen it put quite like that before, but I think you may be right. Ditto for US President.

  11. PJH says:

    Just as the minority gov’t was a humbling experience for his father, the same has been for the son, I believe. Justin Trudeau, who I really never had much respect for previously, handled the Ukrainian Airlines tragedy with dignity, class, and aplomb, and he should be commended for that. Now I see people are criticizing him because he and his cabinet prefer donuts from a local shop instead of corporate Timmies. Truth be known, I do too. If this is your method of attack, fellow Conservatives, we are doomed to perpetual opposition. If you want to criticize the man, at least have a legitimate reason to criticize him for. His choice of where he purchased donuts is not one of them. Tweet from the Oh Donuts shop where PM Trudeau purchased said donuts:

    We are locally owned;employ 30+ staff who enjoy breaks and have the option of joining a benefit plan;we use local butter, eggs and flour;our doughnuts are made fresh daily;we do our best to pay a living wage & never pay minimum wage;

    ’nuff said.

    • Fred from BC says:

      “Justin Trudeau, who I really never had much respect for previously, handled the Ukrainian Airlines tragedy with dignity, class, and aplomb, and he should be commended for that. ”

      Agreed (and have stated so in previous posts here). I was particularly impressed with his refusal to take the bait when certain ‘reporters’ pressed him over and over to blame Donald Trump for this tragedy, and he wouldn’t do it. Either he has matured, or his acting skills are better than anyone suspected. We shall see…

  12. Joseph says:

    He is an actor.
    An actor is someone that has an ability to emote enough pretentiousness that they can convince enough folks they are the real McCoy.
    There are a lot of Trudeau supporters and liberals (not necessarily the same) that are supposed to believe that he has “changed” and that he is so “serious” now.
    It was about a year ago many of those liberals where describing Justin as a lying hypocrite.
    Do I buy this new shade of lipstick?
    Nope.

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