Saturday, December 02, 2006

Really, We're All Closet Gliberals

It was a political orgy in the media. The Gliberal Leadership Convention.

I must find a name for the new Gliberal leader. How about Dion & the Outremonts?

Green Party, watch out. In fine Gliberal tradition, they will soon out-Green you if M. Outremont has his way. Traditional Gliberal tactic: co-opt the enemy's platform. Personally, I don't quite buy it.

As it turns out, they need not have held the actual convention, since, in spite of what all the pundits have been saying, the result was fore-ordained. Why do I say this? Because.

M. Outremont was the only Québecois in the leadership race. The Gliberals had no choice but him. Otherwise they would have broken their tradition of alternating French & English leaders. Heaven forfend! The Gliberals carried out their subterranean genetic heritage admirably.

Le roi est mort. Vive le roi. Bring on the Harpies! Gather the Few Democrats! Block the Bloc! Smite the Greens with their own old-growth planks!

Give me Gliberal or give me Deaf!

The best line I heard in all the media commentary was this. Shortly before the results were announced, there was a discussion about Ken Drily (a well-loved former goal-keeper with the Montreal Canadiens) and why his campaign got shut out. The consensus was that "he was all over the place". Charles Adler (a talk-show host from out west) asked Peter C. Newman. "So, do you think that was it? That Ken Drily was a man in search of an editor? [ie. unable to articulate a coherent program] And Newman's reply, proving that a writer is always an asset when talking heads are on tap: "No, the problem with Drily was, he was a goalie, and goalies don't score!"

Other losers:

Iggy Popped Martha has left the Hall...Finally
No Camelot for Kennedy No Frisson for Brison
Bob's Rae Faded A Wolf in Italian Clothing

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmmm.... call me naive, call me whatever, but I found it rather refreshing to watch a convention on TV - rather than delegates sending in their votes via telephone.

And Stephane Dion? His history is interesting - he's seems unpolished sincere - and heck, I kinda like his accent. And he has a huskie called Kyoto (sp? too early in the morning to look it up)...

The environment will be a good issue to galvanize against the Conservatives - and surely the lefties out there can't claim the environment as their "turf" only... the issue is too big for that. In any case, we have a politician who seems very different from Stephen Harper - that (at least appears) to give Canadians choices.

Okay, Okay, I might as REALLY go out on the limb. I hope Bob Rae runs for the Liberals and wins a seat in the House of Commons. Even though he jumped ship, I think he's a man of thought and conscience. Hell, maybe the fact he jumped ship SHOWS he's a man of thought and conscience. A lifetime's a long time to think a specific way...

Larry Keiler said...

I agree with you Madame X about watching the convention on TV. (And listening on the radio.) I too am a sucker for all the Rah Rah and examination of entrails. It's fabulous theatre for wonks. And, in a certain sense, it's about the only time we political bystanders (ie. most of us) get to see a little of what's going on in those entrails. Far more interesting than telephone voting.

However, maybe they could take a lesson from the Alberta Deservatives, who also elected a leader and new premier this weekend. There, if you've lived in Alberta for six months and had five bucks for a membership, you could vote for the candidate of your choice, even if you only joined the party on voting day.

What a lineup they could have had in Montreal, eh?

I'm less optimistic about the environmental thing. Dion & the Outremonts may be sincere, but I'm not yet convinced. I see him as as a bit of a Dionny-Come-Lately with his environmentalism. After all, it was the governments of which he was a minister that failed to live up to any sort of Kyoto program, thus giving Harpie his excuse to say, "Sorry, guys, we can't do it." His dog Kyoto could come back to bite him.

Meanwhile, this is the party that can hold Paul Martin, Bob Rae and Belinda Stronach all in one basket. I don't call em Gliberals fer nuthin. At no time during the weekend did I get a true sense that any of them recognized the real loss of trust they brought on themselves. A lot of talk about "Canajun values." Ok, if inclusiveness is one, I go along with it. But at what point of inclusiveness do Bob Rae and Belinda Stronach intersect? Methinks the answer is Power.

They think they've been in the dog house long enough already. Perhaps not.

Anonymous said...

I think we'll see a more defined Liberal Party over the next five years. Steven Harper will make that easier. As for the NDP, I think it's going to be replaced by the Green Party. Hallejuah. I like the colour Green. Obviously, so does Dion from the scarves and hats. I just find it all so silly - arguing about who/which party had the "environmental" issue first, and therefore has claim to it.

Anyway, as for the environment, no one has done a good job. Dion hasn't been in politics that long. There is a learning curve. Perhaps this time he will know what needs to be done, having not reached the goal last time.

I don't think they'll get out of the doghouse too easily. They will be in oppostion for a long time. But opposition is a good place to be, if you have an effectual opposition. I hope that happens. And I hope Bob Rae is there, and Belinda, and Michael (although he may go back to Harvard) and even Justin Trudeau. It makes for better TV (lol) and amusement.

Help! I've written and I can't get up!