Just the name "LavScam" rekindles memories of Liberal scandals past, especially the AdScam or Sponsorship Scandal that condemned the Liberal Party to wander in the desert, unloved, unwanted for a decade.
It revives memories of a prime minister past on whose watch the debacle unfolded. That, of course, would be former prime minister Jean Chretien.
There is among our ranks a former aide to prime minister Chretien who has become a relentless critic of the current prime minister, the fellow who, as far as I can tell, actually coined the term "LavScam."
This same fellow regularly renews his vows of fealty to "the Boss," the former prime minister whom he served.
This naturally invites the question of how Jean Chretien is taking his former aide's scathing and relentless attacks on Justin Trudeau? Could Mr. Chretien have no knowledge of this? Alternatively, does he approve of the attacks on the son of the man he himself served, his successor to the throne, and, unavoidably, their Liberal Party? Is there some bad blood between prime minister past and prime minister present?
Just askin'.
I understand Chretien was upset about how Justin treated Stephane Dion, but I don't think that would motivate him to launch this. He is pretty detached from the scene. The aide in question has had a hate on for JT for years, and is pretty much a Conservative. Given a lot of the occurrences including Lisa Kinsella hugging JWR right after her testimony, I rather suspect this may be some sort of a political operation. The Kinsellas don't take up a cause unless it helps them. You may have noticed there are a lot of people saying now that JT must resign and JWR would be the preferred replacement.
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ReplyDeleteClarke, I have to agree. Something does appear to be going on, but what?
I honestly do not know. A lot of the people involved are pretty smart and are politically savvy, so it is hard to believe people are doing things without thinking them through as part of a plan. Here are potential hypotheses:
ReplyDelete1. Inflict as much damage on the Liberal brand to help Scheer. JWR crosses floor.
2. Inflict as much damage to convince caucus that JT has to go. She makes a play for leadership-either now or after a poor election.
3. JWR is really upset about being demoted and just wants the world to burn. (I have a hard time believing this).
Do you have any theories?
I once volunteered for a Liberal candidate engaged in a vicious nomination battle that arose over boundary changes. As a complete outsider, I observed and was made privy to more instances of backstabbing and dirty tricks over five days of work than I’ve seen in over thirty years of similar work for another political party. What really amazed me was that all of them, including the candidate, took it all with a shrug, and with some degree of pride in their understanding of it, as business-as-usual. Even the slugs were all gleefully inside-baseball on every rotten turn that the managers of each team and the party conceived.
ReplyDeleteIt was then that I realized that these guys were the pros. They can’t help it. They can’t let down for a minute; they might lose their edge. It’s how they keep in shape for the battle with the other parties. It’s why they win when they shouldn’t. When they eat their own, you usually won’t realize it until the cheque arrives. This time something different might be happening.
I wish I had some ideas but at best they would be a wild ass guess, a hair above conspiracy theory. There is some dynamic in play here. Clarke is plainly right on that. And I do sense that this individual and his wife have made some investment in Jody but what that might be is unclear to me.
ReplyDeleteI also get John's take on politics as a full contact blood sport. Still if your game is to topple the King you had better be ready to kill him if you want to keep your own head.
Like the AdScam scandal, something is happening here that really just stinks. The timing, the internal mess, etc. I don't want to suggest 'conspiracy', but the righteous indignation gets turned up to 'hysteria' when it's the Liberals and yet Scheer continues to walk free of any questions about his involvement with the Neon Nazis (for example). This is TRULY disturbing to me and all Canadians should be VERY concerned.
ReplyDeleteAnother question I'm going to float and I want to do this in the most delicate way possible: what if the LIberal insiders were simply asking JWR to do her job or respond to queries about an important case (that the Stephen Harper Conservatives were important to creating in the first place) and she misinterpreted the intent of the requests? Seriously: I'm not interested in debasing the credibility of either party here, but this question really has NOT been asked. At what point is 'interference' misinterpreted as 'queries'? The departure of Butts certainly rips apart my own question, but we need to ask these questions and stop dancing around protecting JWR.
If we don't ask these very hard questions, she will single-handedly be responsible for giving Scheer the PMO in October.
What is going on within the PM's office is beyond our pay grade.
ReplyDeleteOld school Canadian politics and establishment are being challenged by a pissed of first nations female!
After all the bullshit of right vs left is ignored ; perhaps truth vs the stench of history and it's manipulators is being challenged?
TB
#2
ReplyDeleteIt looks like an attempt to turf Trudeau but by whom ? None of the other candidates from 2013 appear to be the type to have deep backroom support. Was there someone else who chose not to run at the time for strategic reasons? Wornout's complaints could stem from having his preferred candidate ignored , but who would that candidate be ? More likely he was desperate for a job and was told to ' kiss my butts '.
ReplyDeleteJWR probably wants to be PM, and could only do it if Trudeau is pushed aside quickly : the passage of time is not in her favour. I seriously doubt she is stupid enough to think that enraging most of the Liberal Party if a good way to make friends and influence people. On the other hand Wornout is sucking up hoping for a government paycheque and she is his only hope.
ReplyDeleteWell, Rumley, PostMedia is reporting that J W-R says she will be running this fall as a Liberal.
Imagine if JT suddenly called for a leadership review. Do you think the Liberal rank and file would flock behind Jody? I don't.