Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Is It Friday Yet?

If you're like me, a Liberal who is maintaining optimism, these past couple of weeks have been pretty brutal. In fact, I'm feeling beat up, in a way that allows me to stand again, only to be knocked back. But this isn't about me. This is about what is going on in the party.

National Newswatch is reporting that Duffy broke some news tonight, that is, another potential candidate for the Lib's, Pierre-Luc Bellerose, has left the party. (The fact that Don Newman announced this at the opening of his program, apparently means nothing.)

While this is bad news of course, with perhaps more implications than are obvious at the moment, I also see a purging here. To compare this to Garneau's departure, I think is wrong. He did not leave the party and indeed he stated just how committed he remains to supporting the Liberals as the next government. That said, Bellerose seems intent on causing trouble. How he and others believe that this will be helpful to the party absolutely escapes me. In fact, I'd go as far to say that perhaps he didn't have what it takes to run in the first place, if he doesn't understand this basic fact.

Sigh, now Jamie Carroll is demanding more than a year's salary, because his reputation has been besmirched. (I love that word, the sound of it defines it.) Someone get to Jamie quickly and stanch the flow of that particular wound, now!

What seems more than apparent here is the fact that there are only too many in the party ready to run to the media, blackberry people like Duffy and the CBC and those are the people that must be shut down. Good grief, how tough can it be to figure that bit out? The media obviously know who they are, (note to media, I'm not trying to take away your sources. The Lib's are playing by the rules, but the con's are not...thus your focus. Think.) How difficult can it be for the Lib's to identify who is hostile in their ranks? Do it people! Stand up, identify them and let's get this over with now.

Here's my take. It was clear from the outset that the Lib's had a history of internal strife and that was not erased with the appointment of a new leader. Dion may be well above this and I believe he is. I also have faith that the other leadership candidates are not keen to see the decimation of the party. Their supporters on the other hand continue to behave as if it's the "night after". We've seen it on the blogs. I won't mention names, but you know who you are. What you think you're achieving is beyond me. You're sticking the long knife into your own belly. Foolish, juvenile and sure to end in pain.

I get the impression, especially amongst some bloggers, that they think they are courageous. They aren't. What takes courage is to admit that "the people have spoken, I don't agree, but I'll work for the cause". That is courage my friends.

So, here we are, watching what had to happen. We have to purge ourselves of those who are most interested in their own self interest. They don't care about the party and it's direction, they care that perhaps their guy would do it differently.

Perhaps "their" guys could come out a little more strongly. Perhaps they could say that they've seen the platform and support it fully.

And media, I know this is tasty stuff and I do believe in the "people's right to know"...but you're beginning to look like the proverbial sharks, smelling blood, or maybe, flies....draw your own conclusion. You're not looking at what Harper, etal is doing, the guy that hates you, remember? Btw, did anyone hear Bernier today at the UN? You think Dion speaks English badly?

When Duffy opens a segment with, "What's that word in German? Shade-N-Frood", we have to be a little worried about who is giving us information, no?

Schadenfreude, perhaps my most favourite word on the planet. The fact that a journalist used it, couldn't pronounce it, but used it with a smile on his face, is disturbing.

It's more disturbing to me that some Lib's are suffering from it.

15 comments:

Steve V said...

Are you referencing me as one?

Karen said...

Absolutely not Steve. I'm kind of surprised you'd think so, but I re-read my words and understand.

No, I'm referring to those who from day one, began this knife throwing.

You on the other hand, have taken a considered view and to the contrary of the motives I cited, I think you do have the party at heart.

Steve, I respect you and your views. I would have thought that was a given.

Anonymous said...

Stephen Harper strategy
for calling the 3 by-election seems to be paying off. Especially when they lost the long time Liberal ridding of Outremont thats when the flood gates started to open. Every other day it seems to be opening wider and wider. Now there is even talk of court challenge. People from the Liberals are now calling for Dion to step down.

KNB

"Btw, did anyone hear Bernier today at the UN? You think Dion speaks English badly?"

The difference here is that Bernier isn't running for PMO Dion is.

Anonymous said...

How dare the media report on the collapse of the Liberal party. Don't they know that they are supposed to be attacking Harper. What a pathetic argument.

Steve V said...

Okay, I just wasn't sure :)

Karen said...

Gee...I didn't know that Bernier wasn't the leader.

Sigh, the point was, it's a ridiculous point for the media to harp on. Chretien was much worse than Dion and everyone knows it. Dion has been pilloried for no good reason.

The media is listening to "anon" talking points and not thinking. That's a problem for me.

I think it's time to make you all have the courage of your shallow thoughts. Hide behind anon and it's gone. At least give us the ability to follow you through a thread and call yourself something. I know it take gut's, but try.

Oh, one more thing. We all make typo's, but if you could learn to spell and study grammar a little bit too, that would help the rest of us follow your inane comments.

Anon @ 8:22...if that's what you read, you also should brush up on reading.

Karen said...

Steve, here's the deal. If I felt that way, I'd tell you straight up on your blog.

I don't, so I espressed myself here.

Without getting too into this stuff, if I was expressing this here, but hadn't the courage to express it to you, on your blog, I'd be one of those people I'm calling out.

I'm not one of those people and I know you aren't either.

Anonymous said...

knb you go ahead and insult i don't care! I have my reasons why I use anon just like you have your reasons why you use knb.

Don't want anyone to use anon? Simple don't allow it.

As for Jean Chrétien's
english being worse so true i grant you that.

What you have to realize back then the right was divided,its the reason why the Liberals won the majority governments.Unlike today!

So knb insult it really shows how you respect the opposite
view on things. Its your or the highway right? Just pathetic!

Anonymous said...

(Its your or the highway right?)
I meant to say its your way or the highway right ?

Karen said...

I have no problem with opposition, particularly, reasoned opposition. That, I invite.

Anon...I'm not asking you to tell me who you are. Just give all of us the respect of being able to follow your comments.

Yes, I comment under knb, my initials. No more complicated than that.

If you consider yourself the Werner vs Red Tory...I'd say give it a rest.

Anonymous said...

knb said...

"Anon @ 8:22...if that's what you read, you also should brush up on reading."

"(note to media, I'm not trying to take away your sources. The Lib's are playing by the rules, but the con's are not...thus your focus. Think.)"

"I know this is tasty stuff and I do believe in the "people's right to know"...but you're beginning to look like the proverbial sharks, smelling blood, or maybe, flies....draw your own conclusion. You're not looking at what Harper, etal is doing, the guy that hates you, remember?"


Sounds to me like you're begging the media not to shine a spotlight on the Libs. No doubt you'd be much happier if they focused exclusively on Harper and gave your party a pass.

As for the anon thing, go ahead and disable it. The silver lining there is that you would only have to respond to fellow Liberals and not those pesky people with alternate views.

Anonymous said...

So I see some of you libs are starting to figure it out now after what? One decade?

The divide isn't on one front, its on several.
Going public with a policy statement would be a good start, but if you recall that last convention you had the policy meeting where sparsely attended and there seemed to be more emphasis given to monogrammed underwear and condoms than what your principles and policies where.
Purge of the ranks also a good start, please start with the left wing kook fringe that has taken control of the Quebec wing.
One last thing.
Don't think about renewal by replacing the leader, until you "clean house" and remove what ails ya you will only end up like the old PC party waiting for a take over by another party. In you're case it'll be the NDP and Bob will make a deal with the devil to win it.

Anonymous said...

Is the Pierre-Luc Bellerose who quit as the federal Liberal candidate in the Quebec riding of Joliette today the same Pierre-Luc Bellerose who quit as a Quebec Liberal Party organizer in a snit before the last provincial election?

And is he the same Pierre-Luc Bellerose who considered running for the ADQ after quitting the PLQ in that snit?

And is he the same Pierre-Luc Bellerose who had nice things to say about Stéphane Dion's visit to his riding less than two weeks ago?

Hot Damn! It seems to be the same Pierre-Luc Bellerose.

As an aside, the Liberal Party Team Martin won all of 9.92% of the popular vote in Joliette in 2006.

And tomorrow, someone won't join the Liberal Party in Rocky Mountain House. That could be front page news too.

h/t Cowboys for Social Responsibility.

Could we say the Duffy (Harper's current TV strategist) and like are "over-reacting" rather than dealing with real news? I think so.

Gayle said...

knb - if it is any consolation, last night CTV led off with a report on Harper replacing Hillier with someone he likes. Fife was rather dismissive of Harper on this story. I watched for the first 20 minutes or so and saw nothing about the liberals.

Duffy is nothing more than a characature of a journalist. He makes no attempt to even pretend he is not editorializing.

burlivespipe said...

I am in complete agreement. As Liberals, we can't be doing our rivals work for us -- however it seems frustrating that whenever there's a leadership change some faction (too often emerging from Quebec) can't accept the facts.
Dion deserves the time to set the winning conditions. It's his job and his job depends upon it.
As to the media...
There's currency to be had in being 'Canada's pill O'Reilly'; Duffy slurps the soup that is easy to get, just as the CanWest braintrust is eager for a maj Harper gov't to open the valve of foreign investors into the media. The CTV crew is angling to be Fox-Canada before Harper unleashes the real Fox-Canada onto Canadians.