…and out of it emerges a portrait of a greatly self-indulgent, spoiled, dislikable little twerp.

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Can’t wait to hear tomorrow from the anti-gay Ontario PC campaign manager with, er, a pharmaceutical interest!

Also coming up in coming days: this session by Messrs. Giorno and Martin, both at Fasken’s, both advisors to Ornge and both card-carrying Conservatives!

Wow! There sure were a lot of card-carrying Conservatives making big bucks at Ornge, weren’t there?

Oh, yes, there were.  Stay tuned!

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VIS are always hard to read, but this one more than most.

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Brad Lavigne looked stumped, for a moment or two.

Lavigne — the brilliant Jack Layton loyalist who helped pilot the New Democratic Party to its historic gains in the election of one year ago — seemed uncertain, however briefly, about what his answer should be.

In an exchange with Tim Powers — the much-liked Conservative Party pundit — Lavigne had been asked about when Stephen Harper’s war room intended to start attacking newly minted NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair.

Lavigne eyed Powers warily. The two political strategists were on a stage at the Ottawa Congress Centre for the annual gathering of Canadian realtors. Finally, Lavigne allowed that he did not know, exactly, when the ruthless Conservative attack machine would strike. “But it’s coming,” Lavigne said. “It’s coming.”

Indeed it is. But when? And, more significantly, why hasn’t it happened already?
The questions aren’t irrelevant.

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Sent by reader Scott, spotted in NYT on Sunday. He and I found this weird. You?

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The Alberta result should remind us all that is foolhardy to read too much into polls, and particularly one poll.  But this depressing result is consistent with a batch of other recent surveys – that the contest is now between the Conservatives and the New Democrats, federally.  And that the once-mighty Liberals don’t factor. At all.

What can we do?  Well, a bunch of things.  I spoke before the annual gathering of Canadian realtors in Ottawa, this morning, and suggested in response to a question that the Liberals’ problems aren’t just about leadership.  The problems are myriad: membership, fundraising, policy, organization, readiness, you name it.

But – without even having seen this poll – I made one other point: Bob Rae has been the leader during the entire period when we languished in third place.  Even against a lightweight like Nicole Turmel, Rae couldn’t make us competitive.

To me, Bob Rae is the wrong choice.  He’s the wrong choice because of his tenure as NDP Premier of Ontario.  And he’s the wrong choice because of his term as interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, too.

 

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Chretien legend Randy McCauley, Clinton legend Paul Begala, and legendary failure Whatsisname.

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Here it is – the official cover to the new book, out in September! Plan to share it with some DNC and former Chretien folks at a dinner tonight, here in Ottawa. The U.S. cover, I’m told, will be different.

Link to pre-order is under the image, or on the banner to the right. No pun intended.

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Ever voted for more than one political party? Never purchased a party membership card? Ever refused to vote, after having come to the conclusion that “none of the above” is the best choice? Have “conservative” views on some issues, and decidedly “progressive” views on others?

If you answered yes to those questions, congratulations: You are part of the majority. You are part of the biggest political demographic there is — the independent voter.
In the U.S., independent voters have held sway for years. The Democrats and Republicans can generally count on their own partisans to come out and vote. But to win, they need to capture the support of the millions of Americans who call themselves “independent,” and who make up the largest and fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate.

In Canada, it hasn’t always been that way, but it’s changing. In recent days, a series of polls have been released showing many Canadian voters turning away from the traditional two-party alignment of Conservatives and Liberals, and indicating support for New Democrats. A Harris-Decima poll published late last week showed the NDP is now favoured by 34% of voters, to 30% for the Cons, and the Libs’ 20%. More than 2,000 Canadians were polled near the end of April by Harris-Decima. Their numbers closely reflect those published by Ipsos, Forum Research, Leger and CROP.

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Some of us suggested the Harper Reformatories would come to profoundly regret messing with Canadian seniors. Dance with those that brung ya, etc. Looks to be happening.

I’ve never been a fan of CARP – they became rent-a-grassroots-lobby, a few years back – but this seems consistent with gen pop data now kicking around. Governments defeat themselves, someone once said, and someone was of course correct.

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