And some people still think we were joking when we called them the Libranos; (link fixed)
It was only when we got to Windsor for the convention that I realized just how much the Martinites had invested in the campaign — literally. With the money I’d scraped together, I’d rented a couple of cheap yellow school buses to transport my supporters. My opponent’s voters turned up in a fleet of Greyhounds. The bulk of them rounded up from a couple of high schools, they had everything — food, board, delegate fees, liquor — paid for. Some of the kids were informed they wouldn’t get a ride back to Toronto if they didn’t vote the right way.
Not surprisingly, I lost. But I’d come close enough to winning that the Martinites were convinced I had another leadership campaign running the show. And from that point, they made a concerted effort to ensure I had a minimal role in the party.
How times have changed…. “There are certain jobs, it seems, that no one, but no one, wants to have…”
More on McKenna, from Coyne.
In the comments – “Orchard delivering the leadership to Belinda on the last ballot to stave off Scott”. I’d pay good money to see that!
Geeze…that whole article has a kind of Soviet flavour to it, don’t you think?
D
Pity Radwanski didn’t come clean earlier with respect to his true colors so those people reading his columns could put his viewpoints in context. He’s been an apologist for Liberal policy since coming on board the Post as a “columnist”…
I’ll venture that being steamrolled by the Martin machine has only temporarily dented his Liberal worldview and he’ll soon rejoin the flock when the great philosopher king Ignatieff assumes his rightful place in the firmament.
Here’s a question for you folks out east – did Martin ever communicate that he and his loyalists cared about the people of Canada, or did you hear, like we did out here, that they just cared about power?
See Judge Gomery’s reference to >>jobs>> aka lateral promotion, e.g., from Ottawa to Fort Beaver. >>>
SNEAK PREVIEW: GOMERY, THE SEQUEL
The Globe leads with a preview of Judge Gomery�s recommendations report (aka Phase II, after the Phase I fact-finding report released in November), which is due out on Wednesday. The report is set to recommend measures to ensure �greater openness in government, a clearer definition of the individual responsibilities of ministers and civil servants in the handling of public funds and better ways to punish rule-breakers.� Last May, during the public hearing, Gomery lamented the government�s inability to sanction those who breach government policy, saying,
�There is nothing really that you can do with that person except to move them out of that job and into another job where probably that person will be equally incompetent or equally incapable.�
Prime-minister-designate Stephen Harper has made the passing of an �Accountability Act� a top priority, but, while the Gomery report will surely figure as a backdrop, its recommendations may not be the act�s backbone. Harper has said he will take the recommendations into account only if they �are consistent with our principles and our objectives.�
The preview comes as CTV News, the Star and La Presse run a Canadian Press story about an ongoing investigation into the alleged overcharging of the federal government by some of Canada�s biggest companies, including Air Canada, Boeing, Bristol Aerospace, IBM, Lockheed Martin and Spar Aerospace. Federal auditors are looking into sixty-two contracts, most of which were with the Department of Defence, �alleging some corporations have claimed for ineligible costs, excess profits, overpriced goods, incorrect wage rates and a dozen other problems altogether worth about $9.5 million.� The Department of Defence is still reeling from a computer-maintenance contract fraud worth $146 million, which was uncovered in 2003. >>
http://maisonneuve.org/index.php?&page_id=12&article_id=2038
Stephan Dion… isn’t he part of the “Quiet Revolution” taking place in Quebec? Read it, don’t know if it’s true. Read it in one of Peter Newman’s books or Diane Francis’s.
” — food, board, delegate fees, LIQOUR — ”
I’m sure Mr. Martin and is manipulators are not prone to breaking the law by feeding potential underage supporters with booze, is he?
I can’t believe these moral infants ran our country. If they are willing to do this, plus steal millions from taxpayers pockets, what else have they done? Does anyone know if any of their political opponents have gone missing?
Better dredge the Rideau.
That’ll be a little hard at the moment. Ice-skating season, you see.
What a wonderful time to NOT be a Liberal.
Y’all may quote me on that.
David,
Sadly his is not the only party that this behaviour happened in. I could tell similar stories about leaving the PC’s, provincial largely, in or around 1985….some of those people went on to powerful positions but have subsequently fallen from grace in the conservative world.
I know of many others. Power attracts strange creatures….and watch they will show up in the CPC soon enough. It takes the adults to keep them under control, the problem is when the adults dont, like Martin….
Paul Martin blows a kiss to some
334 x 366 pixels – 49k – jpg
http://www.herald.ns.ca
Copping A kiss
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http://www.telusplanet.net
Paul Martin
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news.bbc.co.uk
.. 1992 the day Paul Martin Sr. died.
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fullydevoted.blogspot.com
Paul Martin with Paul Desmarais Sr.
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paulmartintime.ca
I am thinking that maybe Mr. McKenna got a much better offer.
One that involves residing somewhere like Florida or Arizona.
THE CANADIAN BLADE
How many papers in the US ran a picture of New Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin’s inauguration on the front page? I bet the answer is one!
http://fullydevoted.blogspot.com/archives/2003_12_07_fullydevoted_archive.html
This shows Chief Somebody-Ponytail (Fontaine?) hexing Martin at Martin’s swearing-in ceremony in Ottawa. Oh, for a screenshot. >
There would be only one thing better than Orchard handing the leadership to Belinda on the last leadership ballot…and that would be if she turned right around and struck a deal with the NDP to become an allied party. Orchard’s head would surely explode!
Im guess the libs actually won the election. only lib headlines on pravda today.
Quite the tale of catharsis…but after all that time in Librano ranks I’m surprised the poor bugger can even walk straight of pass up the opportunity to steal a sucker from a kid when no one is looking. 😉
Maybe next time Adam will do more to gain the gay vote.
And unless the current version of the Liberal party has a lengthy time out, they will come back in exactly the same form. Scott Brison on the weekends Question Period said that the Liberal Party has learned its lesson, they haven’t even seen the opposition benches yet but, they have learned their lesson, Hmmmmm…. Don’t think so Scotty.
BTW: Pauls last Poll @ http://plattytalk.blogspot.com
The “Quiet Revolution” most often referred to in respect of events in Quebec hacking down corruption of the Duplessis era, by separatist Rene Leveques.
This could also be interpreted by the Martinis as:
YOU BE QUIET, OR YOU WILL BE SILENCED.
This could also be the small q “quiet revolution”.
So after the mighty Goliath has been slain, AR loads his sling? Somewhat late, but perhaps there are a few more Philistines?
Favorite Poem Project: The Poems: Casey [McKenna} at the Bat
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, But there is no
joy in Mudville�mighty Casey has struck out. Click Here to Watch Video …
http://www.favoritepoem.org/poems/thayer/ – 8k – >>>
Da Values next up to bat>>>!!!
It is a black Monday for the Liberal party. First my salutations to a man I have never met, but desire to meet now more than ever. I have heard great stories about his values and ethics and he sticking to his commitments and not becoming a turn coat due to political pressure especially when he supported buddy Akaash�s candidacy for the president of Liberal Party. I was impressed how he did not come down with a wall of pressure. So Sir, I bow to you; you have left an ever lasting impression on me on the importance of values among politicians. >> ??? ???.com
“What A Difference A Day Makes: 23 January, 2006” >>>>
Wow.
I never have and never will be a federal Liberal, but I and my friends have gone through just about everything Radwanski has mentioned in the provincial Young Liberals in BC.
Those familiar with BC politics will know that the BC Liberal Party is not like other Liberal parties in the rest of the country. It is a coalition of federal Liberals, Conservatives and other free enterprisers set up for the specific purpose of defeating the NDP.
But it is a party full of Martinistas, and was the source of the first scandal of the Martin prime-ministership with the raid on the offices of ministerial assistants Dave Basi and Bob Virk, who also happened to be key BC organizers for the Martin leadership campaign. And for that reason, the Martinista cancer has spread into the BC Liberal organization, with the people who now run the provincial youth commission employing precisely all the methods Radwanski cited.
I’ve been on the receiving end of these tactics folks, and I can tell you that it’s not an enjoyable experience.
With hope, Harper’s victory will help to remove this cancer from corridors of power from one end of this country to another. Once and for all.
Posted by: Brandon Langhjelm | Email | 1/30/2006 7:27PM
http://andrewcoyne.com/2006/01/la-recherche-de-keg-parties-perdu.php
I think the Liberal debt and image issues along with the paint roller of scandal are why McKenna dumped the leadership.
The billion dollar lawsuit could be a factor.
TIZ
the final Gomery report will be available in 2 days….
who is mentioned in it, that is considering leadership?
anyone?
all the people mentioned here have so much crap in their pants. it almost makes me want to see Rock do well ! just for the frenzy it would generate.
Radwanski’s piece makes for very interesting reading (with an open copy of Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer – Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements” close at hand)
“What a diff………. 2006.” Oh, the irony. Echo: Alberta can b… Murphy? >>>>
Published in The National Post on May 18, 2005
Sucking them in, blowing them off
On paper, Stephen Harper has it all over Paul Martin. The Conservative leader is more principled. He’s more thoughtful. He’s more youthful. He leads a party untouched by scandal, and comes off squeaky-clean himself.
But yesterday, we were reminded why none of that may matter.
The main focus, of course, was on the mind-boggling opportunism of Belinda Stronach. At least when Scott Brison crossed the floor to the Liberals, he could claim genuine discomfort with the newly merged Conservative party; having played a central role in building that new party, running for the leadership and then functioning as one of its most prominent members, Stronach can make no such claim.
But the story behind the story is the one thing that Martin has over Harper: his ability to win people over.
If there’s one thing the Prime Minister has always been good at, it’s recruitment. After all, it’s how he got where he is today.
Whether it’s playing on insecurities, dishing out flattery, offering up postings and patronage appointments, or telling a wavering pol what he or she wants to hear on policy, Martin and his handlers always know exactly what buttons to press.
That’s how they got the vast majority of Liberals – left and right, old and young, urban and rural – to rise up against a prime minister who’d led them to three straight election wins. And it’s how they’ve kept them onside even in their party’s darkest hour.
Then there’s Harper.
That the Conservative leader has a less than sunny disposition is obvious. But not enough has been said about his utter failure to connect even with those who want to be connected with.
On several occasions, he’s met with this newspaper’s editorial board – on the whole as friendly a group of journalists as he’s likely to encounter. And each time, he’s looked like he’d rather be anywhere else – coming off as cranky, condescending and uninterested in any opinions that weren’t his own.
That, by all accounts, is how he treats everyone outside his inner circle. And that’s mostly why the road between the Liberals and Conservatives only has traffic in one direction.
Nothing excuses the way Stronach stabbed so many Conservatives – especially those who worked tirelessly to advance her career – in the back. But when she showed signs of drifting away from the party, Harper should have done everything he could to keep her onside. Instead, he was almost openly hostile – and yesterday, he seemed genuinely relieved that he would no longer have to deal with her.
Maybe that was the natural reaction, given Stronach’s increasingly brazen attempts to upstage him. But it’s not one that the leader of a supposed big-tent party can afford to have.
More to the point, it’s just the sort of spiteful response that Paul Martin would have scrupulously avoided. Which, more than anything, explains why the PM may live to fight another day.
adamradwanski.com >>>
H/T:
Comments
Takes a lot of guts for a petty officer to pile on Team Martin now.
Posted by: yyc | Email | 1/30/2006 5:13PM
andrewcoyne.com
No one wants to captain the Titanic after the sinking. Belinda clawed her way onto a lifeboat but there’s a good chance it may never make it to shore. TG
Maz2, that article you posted is highly worth reading, but you didn’t make it clear that its author was Adam Radwanski, writing in 2005 that PMPM was a great guy and great consensus politician that the inept Stephen Harper could never hope to match. Still a great post though — really tells me all I need to know about Radwanski.
Dear Adam:
Barn door has been open for some time. Horses left quite a while ago. Thanks for your help.
FYI The Libranos link is no longer valid. Intentionally pulled on the other end??
Syncro
Voy.com posts are up for about one day. Have tried to find archives there; none? Seems to be worth going there for a scan; some good items; a lot of blather, name-calling, & etc., however. >>>
Elsewhere:
It’s a wrap for “Iggy” (Ignatieff). He seems to be the default position; brains, & has a good dialogue; “amazing person”. Looks like brains baffling bs. Watch for the deification of Iggy. The seating/positioning of Iggy in the Commons will be a clue. >>>
Young Canadians among many other Canadians are attracted to him by his intellect and he is an amazing person to have a dialogue. I have spoken over many years to Iggy on issues relating to Kashmir and Sri Lanka and I have to admit that I�m amazed by his knowledge and pragmatic perspective that he brings to the board. >>>
???.com
Maz2
In your conversations with Iggy, did he ever mention Martins unflagging support of the Tamils?? and their contributions to the Libs.??
“Libranos” link not working
“A close run thing” — The Duke of Wellington. >>>
Top soldier says he was insulted by Liberal attack ad about the military
17 minutes ago
OTTAWA (CP) – Gen. Rick Hillier, the country’s top soldier, says he was insulted by a Liberal attack ad which spoke darkly about a Tory plan to put armed troops in the streets of Canadian cities.
Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, kept mum during the campaign, but is speaking up now with the election over. He says he received hundreds of calls and e-mails from angry military personnel after the campaign ad was posted on the Liberal party website.
He says it was an insult to the men and women of the Forces. … >>> yahoonews via nealenews
cal2 is onto the bs. >>>
Buying votes with Canadian security
Mr. Martin’s attendance at it was a way of bolstering very large Tamil support
for federal Liberal candidates in the Greater Toronto area. …
canadiancoalition.com/forum/messages/10532.shtml – 11k – Cached – Similar pages
Letter to Prime Minister Martin (Human Rights Watch, 7-2-2005)
As you know, Canada�s large Tamil population has been a source of both financial
and political support for the LTTE, often funneled through �charitable� …
hrw.org/english/docs/2005/02/07/slanka10147.htm – 17k –