Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Travers Nails Harper the Bully

If you haven't already read it, take a couple of minutes to scan James Travers' insightful take on Stephen Harper in today's Toronto Star.

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/447680

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Travers and his fellow Star Journalist at the Star are hardly independent. They are the very definition of “Liberal Bias” in media coverage.

The Mound of Sound said...

No one suggested that TorStar isn't left-leaning, Anon. Just as the G&M is now centre-right and NatPo is the house-organ of the far-right. Regardless, Travers has very accurately dissected our Furious Leader and it's worth a read.

Ti-Guy said...

I think Travers was being complimentary and generous...fawning even...by invoking H. L. Mencken as an influence for Stephen Harper.

I usually think of Tracy Flick in The Election when think of Harper's style.

Anonymous said...

Dion with his green shift wants to push an even bigger and more draconian government on us. He will take more from everyone and then decide who is worthy to get some back. Who is the bully?

Anonymous said...

I get a kick out of using the word bully to describe Harper...the left uses it like its a bad thing.
I'm not sure of your age MOS...but surely you remember that PET was the most hated PM in Canadian history in non election times. He was labeled a bully and an elitist snob...mostly by the media. I'm not comfortable with the way the media labels "nerd" or "the slight professor" on Mr Dion, its unprofessional of a journalist, I'm sure you feel the same...its as equally unprofessional of Travers. Tit for Tat I guess.
billg

The Mound of Sound said...

Yes Bill, I remember PET. Even managed to interview him in my day. As bullies go, he couldn't hold a candle to the authoritarian control-freak now running the PMO. Trudeau used his intellect to infuriate opponents, not a made-in-Chicago warped ideology.

And, no, I don't find anything unprofessional about Travers describing Harper as a bully, if that's what the guy is - and he is. It's a fundamental character flaw that deserves to be recognized and discussed.

Anonymous said...

Maybe...I just dont think it adds to anything because is speculative.
Harper's a bully..Dion is weak...
Does a bully take a full day and issue apology's for what could only be considered a dark time in our history...and then thank Jack Layton?. Does a weakling offer himself, his career and his legacy up all for a single passionate ideal? Sorry..IMO it adds nothing for a journalist to speculate what he or she may "think" they know about a persons character, but, the crap sure sells!! billg

Anonymous said...

Sorry...the PET interview must have been so cool!! Your lucky. I had coffee with John Turner, well, my wife worked with CTV and had to do his make up and hair and I got to chat with him a bit. Large man with a big hand and big smile...very nice man too.

WesternGrit said...

Trudeau's eloquence and mastery of the spoken word helped him run circles around opponents who - unable to debate him - resorted to name-calling to criticize him. If I can't argue sensibly with you, and I know you are a far superior debater/thinker, I'll just dub you an "intellectual elitist", and be done with it. That's the strategy the Right always uses when trying to be populist. Best way to avoid intelligent debate...

The Mound of Sound said...

Actually Bill, I was too young and inexperienced for it to be cool. I was a bit scared going into it. Thinking back on it I had the chance for admittedly brief interviews with a number of players at the time - Marc Lalonde, Bob Stanfield, Dief, David Lewis and a gaggle of others. I even got to interview Xaviera Hollander "the Happy Hooker" who staged an appearance at the National Press Club when she was trying to fight deportation. In those days we used to have protest turn into riots on the lawns of Parliament - native groups, labour organizations. You might remember the railway workers who went berserk the day the Commons legislated them back to work. They stormed the Centre Block which, back then, was defended only by a couple of mounties and a small gaggle of commissionaires. The mounties, wisely, retreated in such a way as to draw them right through the rotunda and back to the bolted fire doors of the library which, miraculously, kept the rioters from going down the hallways in either direction where they could have pillaged the senate and the commons. The thing only ended when diminutive David Lewis stood up on a chair and talked the angry workers into leaving.

Funny, the memories that come back.

Anonymous said...

Thank you WGrit. But your forgetting why John Turner quit the Liberal party. Your forgetting "zap your frozen", or, nailing Clarke to the wall about gas tax's then hiking them himself.
PET was called a bully because, no one got in his way when he wanted to win..not even the truth, and history proves that. Hey..I'm not saying its a bad thing, I'm just saying when its the other guy its an ugly character flaw..when its your guy its leadership. Po-tait-0, Po-tat-o. billg

Anonymous said...

You interviewed Xaviera Hollander?
You are now the coolest blogger in the sphere! And yes..I do remember the rail workers riot. I was working as an apprentice glazier and worked at the Mint, I use take my lunch late and go watch QP...(i was a big Ed Broadbent fan). I guess you cant just park your truck and walk into the HOC and watch QP anymore..

The Mound of Sound said...

Alright Bill, one time only, I'll tell you the rest of the story. XH called a "press conference" at the press club. A bunch of us stood there scribbling down her speech. At the end, when I wasn't looking, she planted a big, wet one on me - right in front of my friends and colleagues. I didn't know whether I needed Listerine or Lysol. She also gave me an LP that she'd made but I think I maybe just left it there in my dazed confusion. Yikes! Today, however, I'd be flattered.

Walks With Coffee said...

Good on Mr. Travers. Although, he was being generous.

The National Post cited Stalin as Mr. Harper's favourite reference material.

I'm not kidding here; the national post ran a story on Harper and his mastery of Stalin's strategies (CPoC insiders confirmed).

Mr. Travers was far more liberal in his characterization of Mr. Harper than the National Post... on that all should agree... although the bent was to Harper's favour this time.

WesternGrit said...

Trudeau argued matters of human rights vs. a society which wasn't quite ready to change - BUT - he had the courts and the charter at his back. That's one of many, many, many, many, many key differences between he and Harper. Harper is pushing an ideology from one extreme wing of the political spectrum - not a balanced centrist approach - which doesn't have the backing of the Charter, or of courts in all cases. Much rather, he is trying to battle the courts, judges, the legal community, and he has much disdain for the Charter. It is appalling what he did concerning judges' salaries. He is about changing the fabric of this society and courts and Charter be damned.

Harper could never be compared to a good PM, let alone a great one.

The Mound of Sound said...

Trudeau, of course, masterminded the Charter and it's encouraging to see that the majority of Canadians solidly support it. There is a group, however, to whom the Charter isn't welcome and that group currently holds the keys to 24 Sussex Drive. These people view the Charter as a restraint on the unfettered power of politicians to run roughshod over the country and its people - and that's exactly what it is. They positively shriek at the idea of a judge being able to measure up their legislation against the standards of decency and fairness prescribed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
I wonder if Trudeau had an image of a future prime minister just like Harper in mind when he brought the Charter into existance.