Team Trudeau: let’s talk about how we make sausages

— 10.07.2012 09:32 AM

I’ve received some pretty angry responses to the brief post below about the Trudeau folks from, er, Trudeau folks. Some have even taken the form of anonymous comments, which aren’t all that anonymous (I.P. and other identifying stuff load automatically).

Here’s my point, for those too obtuse to understand it: staffers shouldn’t talk about strategy in the media. Neither should candidates, for that matter.

When he oversaw the winning of three back-to-back majorities for Jean Chretien, John Rae would often say this: “When losing, say nothing. When winning, say less.” I don’t think he ever gave a single interview.

I mentioned that line to Don Guy, the Ontario Liberal campaign boss, and he had it made into a sign which went on the war room wall in 2003, 2007 and 2011. He didn’t give interviews about his world view, either.

In fairness, the Trudeau kids aren’t doing anything that a lot of the Martin, Dion and Ignatieff folks didn’t do, too. All of them were seduced by the media, and went along with fawning profiles about staff, interviews with Peter C. Newman, and so on.

But, in each of those cases, it’s interesting to note that no one ever found out all that much about the staff on the Conservative side. The Con staff refused to give interviews about anything. We all remember who won those elections, don’t we?

And while we are on this subject – which should be deeply boring for any sensible person – I don’t work for the Trudeau campaign. I don’t work for the Liberal Party of Canada, either. Instead, I am paid to write my views about politics. Most of the time, I’m pretty pro-Liberal. But not all the time.

Got that, Team Trudeau? I don’t work for Justin. And, in my opinion, nobody should be hearing about who does.


Comments (28)

In today’s Sun: the values proposition

— 10.07.2012 08:51 AM

Values, in politics, aren’t something. They’re everything.

So, too, is speaking with clarity and confidence.

Last week, both notions — having a set of values and communicating them to voters with conviction — were readily on display, in Canada and the U.S.

In Montreal, Justin Trudeau stepped up to a podium to talk, over and over, about “middle-class values.” And then, the next night in Denver, Mitt Romney stepped up to a podium to talk, almost as much, about “middle-class values.”

It was quaint, of course, to listen to two men born into privilege and power speak so earnestly about the mythic middle class. Neither has ever been part of it, not on a single day of their lives. Both weren’t just born with a silver spoon in their mouths — Romney and Trudeau came into this world equipped with silver shovels.

But there they were, talking like regular guys about everyday values stuff. Identity. Authenticity. Hope. Empathy.

And, in so doing — in a direct and forceful way — Trudeau and Romney pulverized their opponents.


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Ottawa-bound

— 10.05.2012 06:50 AM

Not because of the nascent Liberal leadership race. Not for top secret political meetings.

It’s way, way more important than that.

My daughter is graduating from high school, and she is checking out university journalism programs. Like at my alma mater, Carleton.

Yes, yes, I am old. You don’t have to remind me. Go jump in Dow’s Lake.


Comments (10)