Peter MacKay. Let the Feeding Frenzy Begin.

Having sold out the Progressive Conservatives to Stephen Harper, Peter MacKay is looking to climb over Andrew Scheer's moribund corpse to capture the Tory throne. And he has the gall to say that Andrew Scheer "stinks."

One-time and possible future leadership contender Peter MacKay says the “stinking albatross” of Andrew Scheer’s social conservative values cost the Conservatives the election. 

He offered the devastating critique of Scheer’s campaign performance during a panel discussion Wednesday hosted by the Wilson Center in Washington. 

“To use a good Canadian analogy, it was like having a breakaway on an open net and missing the net,” MacKay said. 

An increasing number of Conservatives, disappointed that Scheer was unable to defeat the Trudeau Liberals, have begun openly calling for him to resign and make way for a new leader who can expand the party’s base and gain more traction in Ontario and Quebec. MacKay — who briefly led the Progressive Conservatives before they merged with the Canadian Alliance to form today’s Conservative party — is prominent among those named as a potential successor.

Daft Peter, son of 'Airbus scandal' Elmer, proves that the apple rarely falls far from the tree.

MacKay, shown above shaking Andy's hand, demonstrates that it only takes one hand to shake, leaving the other free to wield the skinning knife.

Update:

What a difference a day makes.  Pete, it seems, had a late-nite change of heart. A few pointed phone calls perhaps?

"I've repeatedly said I support Andrew Scheer and I worked very hard to help in the campaign," he wrote.

"Reports of me organizing are false. Recent comments are about our party's shortcomings and making the necessary improvements with modern policies and better coms so we can win the next election."

But, Pete, you've got a history of repeatedly saying things. Remember that solemn pledge never to betray the Progressive Conservatives to Harper? I'm sure you said that repeatedly. Eh, Pete? D'incha?

Better Than Scheer? Hard to Tell.

Is Peter MacKay planning a comeback? According to the Globe, MacKay's people are laying the groundwork for a leadership challenge if Andrew "Summer Help" Scheer loses on the 21st.

Veteran Conservative Party insider John Capobianco, a senior vice-president at the public relations and marketing agency FleishmanHillard Inc., confirmed to The Globe and Mail that friends of Mr. MacKay have discussed the possibility he could seek the leadership if Mr. Scheer falters. 

Mr. Scheer would face an automatic leadership review in 2020 and senior players in the Conservative Party, to whom The Globe has granted confidentiality to speak about sensitive matters, say he would have difficulty holding on to the top job if he can’t lead the party to victory at a time when many loyalists believe Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is electorally vulnerable. 

Mr. Capobianco and other Conservatives reached by The Globe stressed that no one is trying to undercut Mr. Scheer’s leadership, and that Mr. MacKay and his supporters are working hard to elect a Conservative government on Oct. 21.

Yeah, right.

Peter's Porky Pals

One of the perks that comes with being justice minister is the ability to lay on the pork.  Peter MacKay seems to have that well in hand.  Why, just ask his personal friends - the gang that Peter has appointed to the bench in Nova Scotia.

MacKay was appointed attorney general and justice minister in 2013. Since then, he's made provincial Supreme Court justices of:

• Josh Arnold, a friend who served as best man at MacKay's 2012 wedding. He was also a regular financial donor to the Central Nova Progressive Conservative Association from 2008 to 2010.
• Cindy Cormier, Arnold's wife and a friend of MacKay's.
• James Chipman, a past president of the Conservative Party's Halifax West riding association and regular donor to the Central Nova Conservative Association from 2008 to 2010.
• Ted Scanlan, a past president of the Central Nova riding association and a former campaign manager for Elmer MacKay, Peter MacKay's father.
• Jeffrey Hunt, former executive vice-president of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Association.​
• LouAnn Chiasson, a colleague of MacKay's at the Dalhousie Law School. 

MacKay has held the Central Nova seat for the Conservatives since 1997.

MacKay Marches on Asia

Chronic prevaricator and Harper DefMin Peter "Airshow" MacKay obviously got a double shot of testosterone while in Washington for meetings with his counterpart, Leon Panetta.   MacKay rushed from the meeting to the Canadian embassy where he got on the telephone to gushingly call for Canada to establish a "permanent, visible [military] presence" in Asia.

"We have to be there in quality and quantity in the coming years," MacKay told QMI Agency during a call from the Canadian embassy in the United States, following meetings with his American counterpart.

Now if there's one thing that region needs it's more military to stir up the already simmering pot.   South and East Asia are undergoing massive and potentially destabilizing arms races as India and China lurch unsteadily to economic, political and military superpowerdom.

True to form, MacKay offered no rational explanation of exactly why Canada needs a high-profile and permanent military presence in Asia, possibly because no such rationale actually exists.   Perhaps he feels that rattling a few sabres and banging away on drums would be a great way to distract Canadians from his government's utter inability, perhaps even disinterest, in securing Canada itself.

My guess is that MacKay fancies the notion of Canadian F-35s deployed to Asia as part of America's aerial Foreign Legion, proving, in his mind at least, that we're one of the Big Boys.

Peter MacKay's Dog Ate His Lunch

Of course he knew that original $9-billion figure was nonsense.  And, sure, he knew that $15-billion figure wasn't the whole story either.   And, okay, he knew the $15-billion figure was shy $10-billion and should have been $25-billion all along...

...but according to Harper DefMin Peter MacKay the difference between $25-billion and $15-billion is in the eye of the beholder.  He was talking about apples, not apples and oranges, no matter what he actually said.   Which, of course, invites these truisms:

• There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. - Twain attributed this to B. Disraeli
•  
• It has long recognized by public men of all kinds ... that statistics come under the head of lying, and that no lie is so false or inconclusive as that which is based on statistics. - H. Belloc
•  
• Figures don't lie, but liars figure. - Samuel Clemens (alias Mark Twain)
•  
• If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment - Ernest Rutherford
•  

"Prevaricating Peter" MacKay Under a Microscope

The Ottawa Citizen's veteran reporter Sue Riley has done a terrific job putting Peter MacKay, or at least his honesty and integrity, under a microscope. Trust me, it's not a pretty sight.

McKay Knocked From NATO Perch?

It looks like DefMin Peter MacKay's chance of becoming NATO Secretary-General has died on the vine. Just weeks ago the media were reporting that MacKay had the backing of Joe Biden.
Word is out that, whatever Biden may think about it, the US will instead be backing Danish prime minister Anders Rasmussen to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer when he steps down on July 31.

Without Washington's support the idea of a non-European NATO Sec-Gen is a non-starter.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/03/21/us-nato-rasmussen.html

McKay on Afghanistan - a "Tremendous Success"

According to DefenceMin Peter MacKay, Canada's mission to Afghanistan is a "tremendous success." This from a guy who, nearly seven years after this dog and pony show began, still has to fly in secretly and keep his presence quiet until he's stepping on the aircraft to get the hell out.

MacKay, spinning so furiously that his head nearly exploded, said, ""the insurgency remains a real challenge, but you have to look at it in relative terms. You have to do a retrospective occasionally, look at where we were five short years ago, two years ago."

Okay, Pete, you want to take us back in time, say "five short years ago," to yesteryear before the Karzai government was totally corrupted and compromised, before the Taliban were resurgent and Afghanistan raced to set endless consecutive records for opium production. Yeah Pete, let's kick back with a cold one and do that retrospective stroll down memory lane - or maybe not.

Five short years ago. That'd be the time that America bugged out to go play in the sandbox of Iraq, right Pete? Five years ago today. Great timing pal. Idiot. Psst - Pete, the day you can visit Afghanistan without having to sneak in, sneak around and sneak out you can parrot "tremendous success" but, until then, try to come up with something that doesn't sound completely insane.

Can Harper Feel MacKay's Hot Breath on His Neck?

There's a curious piece in the Canadian Press, "MacKay says he has no knowledge of alleged financial offer to Cadman." My first reaction was "okay, so what?"

"I don't know anything about how this has come about. Certainly it was something that I was not involved with," said MacKay, who was in St. John's, N.L., to make a funding announcement.

"I think it's sad, quite frankly, that this seems to have come up. It's very unfortunate."

All MacKay seems to be saying is that he's lily-clean in this "unfortunate" business. No denial that Cadman was bribed. No indignant vouching for the integrity of his boss, Harpo. No accusation that the Libs are exploiting the issue to smear the prime minister. Just that "it's sad" and "frankly ...unfortunate."

I wonder if Peter sees the writing on the wall for Stevie? Just curious.

America's Shakey Assessment of Afghanistan

To listen to Peter MacKay and some Canadian generals, we're making solid progress in Afghanistan. That's the problem with listening to Peter MacKay and his generals. They can't afford to tell you how miserably "the mission" is faltering.

But, when it comes to tall tales you can expect the tallest to come from the Americans. So, what's their take on Afghanistan? According to the Washington Post, it's not nearly as rosey as the line coming out of Ottawa:

...the latest assessment [of the National Security Council] concluded that only "the kinetic piece" -- individual battles against Taliban fighters -- has shown substantial progress, while improvements in the other areas continue to lag, a senior administration official said.

This judgment reflects sharp differences between US military and intelligence officials on where the Afghan war is headed. Intelligence analysts acknowledge the battlefield victories, but they highlight the Taliban's unchallenged expansion into new territory, an increase in opium poppy cultivation and the weakness of the government of President Hamid Karzai as signs that the war effort is deteriorating.

The contrasting views echo repeated internal disagreements over the Iraq war: While the military finds success in a virtually unbroken line of tactical achievements, intelligence officials worry about a looming strategic failure.

But one senior intelligence official, who like others interviewed was not authorized to discuss Afghanistan on the record, said such gains are fleeting. "One can point to a lot of indicators that are positive . . . where we go out there and achieve our objectives and kill bad guys," the official said. But the extremists, he added, seem to have little trouble finding replacements.

Although growing numbers of foreigners -- primarily Pakistanis -- are joining the Taliban ranks, several officials said the primary source of new recruits remains disaffected Afghans fearful of opposing the Taliban and increasingly disillusioned with their own government. Overall, "there doesn't seem to be a lot of progress being made. . . . I would think that from [the Taliban] standpoint, things are looking decent," the intelligence official said.

Senior White House officials privately express pessimism about Afghanistan.

At the moment, several officials said, their concern is focused far more on the domestic situation in Afghanistan, where increasing numbers are losing faith in Karzai's government in Kabul. According to a survey released last month by the Asia Foundation, 79 percent of Afghans felt that the government does not care what they think, while 69 percent felt that it is not acceptable to publicly criticize the government.

Gee, does anyone remember another conflict not all that long ago where America won every battle but finished up losing the war?