The Jim Watson Effect
The fog of Toronto
Tweeted this foggy morn by Sun man Don Peat. Wonderful.
The fog comes on little cat feet.
It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.
– Carl Sandburg
In today’s Sun: that ad will work
The ads are pretty good, as these things go. They cite unhelpful things about Rae’s record as the NDP premier of Ontario, and they end it with the obvious tagline: “He couldn’t run a province. He can’t run Canada.”
That’s the main criticism that can be made of Bob Rae, of course, and you’re going to be hearing a lot of it in the months ahead. Under his watch, Ontario became an economic basket case — unemployment and welfare rates way up, growth and investment way down.
The purpose of attack ads is to surface feelings voters already have about a politician. Rae, Canadians suspect, makes wildly spending drunken sailors look like paragons of fiscal probity.
The Con ads will remind voters about Rae’s record and voters will vote accordingly.
Toronto needs a mayor, March 19 edition
Define or be defined, ad nauseum
Said they were gonna do it, now they’re doin’ it.
Say it again: Rae’s record can’t be erased. It’s a disaster. If the Grits go into 2015 with him as the leader, and without an arrangement with the NDP, turn out the fucking lights.
Define or be defined. It ain’t something.
It’s everything.
This looks like a rhinoceros colliding with a map of Ireland
In today’s Sun: colour me frustrated
Progressives, meanwhile, remain powerless — despite the fact 60% of the electorate favour them. The sad saga continued last week. Speaking to a group of students in Victoria, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau said this: “… If by 2015, with the election approaching, and neither party has gotten its act together enough to shine and to be the obvious alternative, then there will be a lot of pressure for us to start looking at that.
“I think there is not anyone in Parliament, outside the Conservative Party of Canada, that is willing to risk seeing Stephen Harper become prime minister one more time.”
Authenticity
Gary Mason’s (typically) thoughtful column, here, reminded me of a cautionary tale about another BC Liberal, here.
Abrupt changes in your ideology and your identity – your authenticity – can be as disastrous as, say, plaid shirts.
In this business – and in BC, in particular – authenticity isn’t just something.
It’s everything.