(Including mine!) And from a possibly unlikely source, here.

Wonderfully written, and very astute, too.

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I was with a ton of Dalton McGuinty folks at a pub near Queen’s Park last night. There was much laughter – and no tears that I could see.

That’s because, as I’ve written in the Sun – and as no less than a generous Tim Hudak said – he’s the most successful Liberal Premier in a Century. His integrity is unquestioned. And he brought about changes that made Ontario a much better place than it was before.

As I’ve also written, if he enters the federal Liberal Party leadership race, the folks I was with last night will follow him. And he will win.

At Queen’s Park, his successor will take over an Ontario Liberal Party that is better-funded, and better-organized, than the Ontario PCs and the Ontario NDP put together. We have a ton of highly-qualified candidates. And I fully expect the new leader will repeat what happened in Alberta and Manitoba – a return to the privilege of governing, with a healthy majority, too.

For Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath – the Gridlock Twins – they are left complaining about a situation which they themselves created: they paralyzed the Legislature, and did their utmost to ensure no meaningful work could be done there. They’ll pay a price for that.

Count on it.

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Jerry Agar, who is a far-right radio shouter, hates Fight The Right. That, of course, delights me.

In his review – which is more about me than the book – Jerry suggests it lacks facts.

Which moves me to ask Jerry: facts, like when someone falsely passed themselves off as American in Kansas City papers? Those kind of facts?

Didn’t you attack Michael Ignatieff for doing the same thing, Jerry?

These guys slay me.

God, not government, gives liberty
The Kansas City Star
Fri Dec 17 2004
Page: 8
Section: B
Byline: By Jerry Agar

…The Founders, unlike kings, knew it wasn’t their right to take our life and liberty. They set up a system in which the government derives its power from the people and its moral guidance from God.

Because we elect our representatives, we can be a godly country with godly leaders while never becoming a theocracy.

If we were to truly achieve a separation of church and state we would have set up a government that has no moral authority above itself.

What then will be our rights? Whatever the government says they are. What Uncle Sam giveth, Uncle Sam taketh away. Who says he can’t?

I believe God says he can’t. The Founding Fathers believed it as well.

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About a decade ago, when the federal Liberal Party was being destroyed by the ambitions of a few – and when I was a disillusioned former Jean Chretien aide – I got a call.

“If they don’t want you, we do,” said the Dalton McGuinty confidante on the other end of the line. “Come and help us and we’ll win.”

So I did. And we did – win, that is. In 2003, in 2007 and 2011.

In all that time, my take on the Ontario Liberal MPP was always the same: with this guy, what you see is what you get.

He loves his country, and he loves his province. He loves his family. He believes in public service. He’s a genuinely nice guy.

I never saw him lose his temper. I never saw him treat a staffer or a volunteer with anything other than respect. I never saw him act like a phony.

That’s why, in part, so many of McGuinty’s political adversaries paid tribute to him last night. They, too, considered McGuinty to be a genuinely nice guy.

So, do nice guys always finish last?

Not McGuinty. And, if – as is widely rumoured this morning – he seeks the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, he’ll be more than a contender. Three reasons.

One, he has government experience. The other expected candidates, as impressive as they are, just don’t. Government experience counts, particularly at times like these. Particularly against a cagey opponent like Stephen Harper.

Two, McGuinty has a winning record. He’s the longest-serving Premier. He’s a survivor. And, as noted, he has won three back-to-back victories – two majorities, and one very near majority. That’s not bad.

Three, McGuinty has built up the most successful Liberal machine in Canadian politics. All of that team – and, full disclosure, I had the privilege to run his war room in all three of his election campaigns – will follow him wherever he goes. With the help of the likes of Don Guy, Dave Gene, Laura Miller his brother Brendan, McGuinty has been the winningest Grit in Canadian politics.

Will he run for the top federal Grit job? Should he? The pundits and the pollsters will moot those questions endlessly, in coming days.

But know this: if Dalton McGuinty seeks the federal Liberal leadership, he’ll win it.

So, to curious Liberals across Canada, I recommend not making any commitments. I also advise sticking by your phones over the next while.

You never know who might call.

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He is my captain, and I will follow him into any battle. I’ve been with him for more than a decade, and he’s got me (and plenty of others) for the next decade, too. If he needs us.

But my reaction? I am so sad to see he and Terry go. Very, very sad.

But in every sunset is a potential sunrise, no?

Comments (51)

From:Gunter W (safari4711@live.ca)
Sent:October-15-12 5:04:47 PM
To:warren.kinsella@sunmedia.ca

Keep your jewish invented Hollywood Neo-Nazis,were you fit in very nicely. Nuremberg II is coming so prepare yourself !

UPDATE: And he’s sent me another nice note!

Compare this to your IQ, MORON !But the Irish were always infested with TRAITORS ,that’s why the Anglos were kicking the shit out of them.In the past and so ever today.

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Right here – and, by the way, James Moore: re-fund RCI now!

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Perhaps ever.  Only thing that I dislike is now we McGuinty Liberals can’t use it in the campaign that Hudak and Hudak Helper are pushing for!

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The federal Liberal Party has, for years, hurt the brand of the Ontario Liberal Party.  The reverse is now happening.

If Hudak and Hudak Helper are dumb enough to force an election in the Spring, I’ll be one happy frigging camper.

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So sayeth the Hill Times, and my brother Bob Richardson. I think it’s funny and pretty accurate.  (I also like that some North of the Queensway types think calling me an “idealist” is an insult.)

Ironically, the lovely Bea’s story is behind a paywall.  But the picture will entertain you.  I look like a crazy street person, which, most days, I sort of am.

Highlights from Bea’s interview, with me fixing up some of the prose with punctuation (I do tend to speak fast, so it’s my fault, not Bea’s):

How have Conservatives “radically changed their approach to politics?”

“It’s by learning how to win elections better. Their achievement is considerable. … [Harper’s] doing it by communicating better than his opponents do.  And he does that by speaking about values, the Tim Hortons and the hockey dad stuff. It may be phony, and it may be made-up, and it might come out of focus groups.  But it works. … That’s one of the reasons why [progressives] are losing. The other thing he’s been assisted by, obviously, is that Liberals and New Democrats stupidly still refuse to acknowledge that they’re fighting over the same piece of political real estate.  And so Harper just sails up the middle.”

You say the left needs to take back values and words. Which ones?

“Well, what I talk about in Fight the Right is this: the most powerful message – the most powerful words to come out of progressive politics in 100 years – is the one per cent versus the 99 per cent. When you consider what the Occupy [movement] kids did, [it’s amazing].  They didn’t have a Madison Avenue advertising budget behind them. They had no leader – you can’t even name a leader of the Occupy movement. They had no organization. They had no membership. They had no fundraising.  [Despite that,] they changed progressive politics.  Or, they had the potential to do so, with this one per cent versus 99 per cent. That IS the message.”

“That is why Obama was ahead of Romney – because he was saying, ‘He’s part of the one per cent and I’m with you guys, I’m with the 99 per cent.’ Then he stopped doing that, and he starts losing. … It may be the reason that Obama may lose.  And it’s certainly why we [Liberals] might lose.

You say the media are mostly right-leaning, but people like Kory Teneycke say the right still needs more space. What do you think the media’s role is or was in helping the right win?

“One daily newspaper in the last federal election did not endorse the Conservative Party. The Toronto Star endorsed the New Democratic Party. [Every other daily newspaper endorsed the Conservative Party – ed.] You look at radio, it’s totally dominated by voices on the Right. The media…are dominated by the Right.  On TV, they have to be careful, because it’s public airwaves and all that stuff.  But with the exception of the CBC, I don’t think anybody feels that the Left dominates the [TV] discussion. I’m not whining about that. 

I’m not complaining about that. That’s why I say, Fight the Right. That’s why I’m the house communist at Sun News, because I believe in taking the fight to [the Right].  I like getting up in their grill and just letting them have it.  I enjoy that. My friend Bob Richardson says I’m a walking Irish bar fight, which I thought was funny.  But that’s how you win. That’s how you beat them back. These kinds of gentle discussions about policy, that ain’t how it is.  And it hasn’t been that way in a decade. So you’ve got to Fight the Right.”

So you don’t think in Canada they’ll be able to get their act together for 2015?

“No, [Trudeau and Mulcair] say they won’t. They’re categorical. Both of them are doing the ‘read my lips’ kind of thing. Trudeau, in fairness to him – because I like him – I understand he can’t run for leader and then say he’s going to turn off the lights. But, [Trudeau should’ve] just left the door a little open and say: ‘You know, I always listen to Mr. Chrétien, because he is the most successful Liberal of the past century (with the exception of Mackenzie King). I pay attention to Mr. Chrétien. But I’m running for this job, and that’s what I’m focused on now.’ But he gave a very unequivocal condemnation of [cooperation with the NDP] last [week].  When, in March, he said this is what we need to do. I  think [the Conservatives] are going to go after him on the contradiction. 

“I don’t know [Justin] as well as I used to, but I think he is very decent. He’s exactly what we need. Harper and Mulcair are angry old guys.  And Justin has this positive energy.  He’s a young guy, a lot like Obama in 2008.  Hopefully he has the same result –  bringing young people back into democracy.

But some of the folks around Justin, giving interviews about themselves and all that stuff, I don’t think it’s a very good idea because we should be hearing just from Justin. Katie Telford, she should just stick to running his campaign instead of talking about her world view.”

What’s the response been from right-wingers about your book?

“They say they hate it, but they’re all buying it. So I’ll take their 25 bucks.”

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