Is Justin entitled to his? Publius reveals Liberal (un)reality:
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Justin Trudeau is a mediocre MP unqualified to head a major political party. His accomplishments both in an out of public life do not warrant the profile he has garnered. That he is discussed as a serious contender for the leadership is by virtue of his surname and histrionic public speaking style. Beyond the now shrunken confines of the Liberal Party base his name is at best a historical curiosity. In the West and Francophone Quebec it is utterly toxic.
…While working my way through university I could usually smell the Grit apparatchiks in the making. Literally. They tended to wear cologne. Good old Irish Spring just wasn’t enough for them. There were a few ethnics preparing for a profitable career in establishment grievance mongering. The Liberal Party was their ticket to patronage heaven. Most, however, were WASPs (or at the very least WASPish) whose parents were lawyers, doctors and the odd engineer thrown in for good measure.
They were upper middle class. Working as a barista was considering “slumming it.” They did not get their hands dirty. Uncles and aunts hovered in the background with internships and well placed phone calls. Granddad had fought in the war, yet they always spoke highly of peacekeeping, though few understood the concept beyond the image of nice men in blue berets handing out bags of grain.
Their conversations revolved around networking, status symbols and which professors were the easiest. When pressed they would offer political opinions. The more practiced ones could deliver pitch perfect sermons on the conventional wisdom. Multiculturalism, multilateralism, the importance of French (at a university where Mandarin was the unofficial second language) and the value of preparing for a globalized world through increased public investment in R&D. Trudeaupian Newspeak…
Justin Trudeau is their candidate. An unreal leader for an unreal party. He is where he is because of his father and grandfather. Just like the Liberals I meet in school. Unfortunately for both of them they are almost the only Liberals left in the country.
Read it all.
The Liberals are dead because the powers that be in the party will not let the unwashed grassroots have a say. The pontificate and appoint because they want all the power. This last election was their last grasp for power because the stakes are so high in their eyes. Bring down the government on their bogus contempt charge and seize power with a coalition. The waning chance to fleece Canadians with a carbon tax or other mechanism so billions would be funneled to the their buds at Power Corp and others connected via the UN. Four Supreme Court appointments, the renegotiation of the transfer payments system, 30 new seats distributed from Ontario and west. All going to happen with out a the Liberal Party taking a cut for themselves or buying off Quebec.
It’s a new era for Canada. Trudeaupia and the Liberals who rode it long past the due date is dead.
Great article. Captures the malignant smugness that pervades the LPC (until 9 days ago anyway).
I remember circa 2001, after “Da Liddle Guys” boorish response to 9-11 my neighbor telling me that the worst thing about the Liberals is that they were starting to make him hate his own country.
We shouldn’t be complacent, B.O. was basically a junior senator with a histrionic speaking style.
Bart F. at 11:01 PM: “…after “Da Liddle Guys” boorish response to 9-11″
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That was one of the blackest days in Canadian history. It was also the day I wrote the Liberal Party off for good.
In fact, whether it was Chretien’s infamous response (blaming America for the 9/11 attacks), or not, I think 9/11 was a turning point for Canada as well. The Liberals took a black eye that day, from which they have never recovered, and, unbelievably, to this day, they don’t seem to understand what they did themselves. And it’s only gotten worse, what with their virtual anointing of Iggy. They’ve even abandoned their own base. Frankly, I don’t think they are coming back. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
I watched batb’s video until they started talking about proportional representation and all the great liberals in Alberta who have no voice. I think most of the group in the video and the Liberal Party as a whole do not get it. J. Simpson listed all the constituencies that the LPC has driven away over the last 50 years and the rest of them started talking about PR.
Maybe I’m being unfair and someone said something different than “it’s not our fault” later on. I turned them off before that came up just like millions of other Canadians have.
I see the LPC now as the PC’s of 1993 with a few more seats. The PC’s eventually were absorbed and cleansed into the CPC. The Libs will be more and more of a rump until they expire. Anybody think that the three seats in Vancouver and the Saskatchewan will stay lib once the current incumbents retire?
It’s a new era for Canada. Trudeaupia and the Liberals who rode it long past the due date is dead.
Posted by: Bob Daye at May 11, 2011 10:53 PM
An excellent summary, Bob. The importance of pending SC appointments and the addition of ridings in generally Tory-friendly areas cannot be understated. Aren’t there some empty senate seats as well?
Whether the Liberals pick Kim Justin-il to lead them or not, they’ll have a shot at forming the next government if the Harper Conservatives screw up too much.
In a Rock and Roll environment Just-in would be known as “a poseur”.
No substance, Fluff in other words.
Not to be missed.
Or rather WON’T be missed……
BJG: Maybe I’m being unfair and someone said something different than “it’s not our fault” later on. I turned them off before that came up just like millions of other Canadians have.
I cited this video, BJG, because it’s the closest the Liberal$ have come, since I’ve been watching them, to admitting that, LPC Headquarters, we have a problem.”
At the same time, of course some of them were making excuses for the Liberal$: That’s their usual modus operandi. They are becoming aware, however, that doing the same-old, same-old, entitled, we’re-the-best-just-’cause-we-are schtick isn’t working for them and won’t work for them.
They’re beginning to eat humble pie (sans Bob Rae) and they obviously don’t like the taste. Poor babies.
Cross post from Reader Tips at May 12, 2011 8:46 AM:
The headline at today’s National Post: “HARVARD rallies round its man IGNATIEFF
“Boston intelligentsia lament Canadian voters’ ‘narrow direction’”
These people are altogether out of touch: stupid, to boot. What the h*ll do they know about Canada anyway?
I’d imagine, with the possible exception of Jack Layton, that Michael Ignatieff is the worst PM Canada’s never had! But how would the navel-gazing elites at Harvard ever be able to figure that out? If they want Ignatieff back, they’re welcome to him: take him, please.
http://digital.nationalpost.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
Bring back Zippy Dion…He won more seats than his successor, Count Iggula…He!He!He!