Vaccination of MPs: O'Toole's Lack Of Judgment.

From WarrenKinsella.com

Sean,

If they do not reverse and reverse quickly, that will say more about Erin O’Toole’s personal judgment than anything else he has done or failed to do since becoming leader. In my case, it’s reverse now or I’m off the reservation as far as defending his leadership is concerned. So, choose wisely Erin because you desperately need all of us who apparently have a lot more common sense than you seemingly do…

Vaccines In Parliament.

Have a vote in both chambers and whip that vote. Period.

The "Talk".

In life, nothing truly important is simple: sometimes you just have to have the talk, be it in politics, business or your personal relationships. But that's not easy to do, especially for those who put their ego and pride above all other considerations. 

So, this weekend I took it upon myself to have The "Talk" with a friend who's a longstanding dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. Never bolted, unlike yours truly, who said Fuck You and departed for a decade. Anyway, back to the story: I explained to him the facts of life. I told him how he and his friends were simply both passionate and deluded when it came to replacing O'Toole. 

This guy thinks it's already a done deal: he takes those signatures from twenty percent of caucus as an eventual given -- not on your life. He's living in LA LA LAND. I reminded him what happened at the CPC convention in Montreal after the election loss. 

Many gathered around the bars with the various discussions primarily driven by the strutting peacocks of the day -- you'll know who they were. LOL. Anway, they all sang from the unity bible as the scotch flowed and was consumed by all. Except not by this bozo, I showed up at that convention to vote against Harper and that's what I did, only to run straight into him and his entourage five minutes later. Boy, did I feel cheap. Point is, the tide was turned and my friend voted for Harper and for me that was the biggest conversion I'd seen since hearing about the one on the road to Damascus.

I told him this is exactly what will happen at the next policy convention. The stirred up will go out with a whimper, not a bang. The party will rally around Erin and generously give him another shot, as they should. Now, if the leader blows the next one, he won't need to be prompted. He'll do like Harper and Martin did.

So, there you have it folks. Been there, done that and am smart enough these days not to go there. (I used to joke that when I died, on my headstone you'd find my full name, birth and death date and the following: Against Harper.) Caucus, like all caucuses everywhere only care about three people: me, myself and I. They very much want Erin to consider them for cabinet -- or at least parliamentary secretary when we finally get there as a government and we will. They also, to a person, want the leader to sign those nomination papers. So, voilà, that pretty much says it all except for those who are both deluded and hopelessly low-ranking. This thing is already done meaning Chen, Byrne and company should speak their final piece and then quickly move on. End of story.

They're Going After Chen: Big Mistake.

National Council is acting like a bunch of amateurs -- look, this thing was already dying a natural death and now they've gone and blown the breath of life right back into it. Not the smartest.

Do I think Chen and the others are going to get any traction? Of course not. But this bungle keeps it alive and gives it political oxygen. So, it becomes a chronic rather than a passing irritant for the leader and caucus.

So, put Chen back on and let him speak his peace. Then move on to other more pressing party matters. Like I said, Erin is going nowhere and the next review will only come at the party policy convention. And O'Toole will pass that, just like Harper did in 2005 or was it 2006?

Forgive me if I'm stupid or something but I have a mind to tell National Council where the party's priorities should be: how about on doing anything and everything we possibly can at a party level to oust HimselfTM and his government in the next election? Kind of more important than Chen, right?

So, keep moving and stop providing Chen and others with a multitude of reasons for seeing something here. To conclude with a Kinsellaism: You're welcome.

Batherson vs. Chen.

Our job is to quickly defuse this leadership struggle and that won't happen if Batherson either directly or indirectly sees to Chen's removal from National Council.

Don't make Chen a victim, or a potential hero. Just let it be and concentrate the mind solely on keeping Erin in his chair.

That's my take on it and hopefully it's also O'Toole's.

Going NEGATIVE.

Let's face it, in the first two weeks, Trudeau's goose was cooked. But it's so true when they say that a week is a lifetime in politics: panic and desperation in Liberal ranks meant only one thing: strategically going negative.

And so they did with spectacular results: they lied their asses off on O'Toole's Assault-Style weapons position and on CPC candidates and vaccination but it worked like a charm, especially with Blair effectively fronting for them in TO.

You see, Liberals go negative with positive reinforcement in Ontario. It's that basic. You spin it and the province reflexively laps it up. It's only when it gets gonzo, à la Martin with soldiers in the streets, do Ontarians turn away in disgust. 

So, going neg has its natural advantages for Liberals. For the Conservatives, the exact opposite is very much true: push Trudeau's buttons too hard and you risk a sympathy backlash. 

That's precisely why CPC ads were weak as milk toast. They didn't move the dial one iota and were a complete waste of money.

Once the Liberal ads got traction it was time to go for the gusto and damn them torpedoes. But O'Toole's strategic braintrust failed miserably at doing precisely that.

End result: Trudeau wins when he shouldn't have, while O'Toole loses when victory was almost his.

Look forward to the OLO and party firings. Those people deserve it in spades, period. So, let's have at it right now.

Nobody Showed Up With Signatures.

Caucus met on Tuesday morning. They met for six hours. But no one showed up with the signatures of 20% of caucus. Translation: O'Toole is safe in his job.