Are We Just Crazy Or What?

Let's get right down to brass tacks: this Brown thing is like a providential life preserver from on high for Charest. Forget the bullshit -- all CPC members knew in their hearts that Jean didn't have a realistic hope in hell before this happened. I like calling it honestly, even if I'm for Charest.

So, when you suddenly become the only moderate crucible that can win, well, you use your brain and stay the fuck away from Brown and his campaign.

You also don't call or take one from Brown practically on a daily basis and you sure as hell don't make previous race comparisons! 

Jesus H. Christ...the front-runner last time was a PC, just like you and he lost to a pretend True Blue. And guess what, the front-runner now is True Blue and a populist so tell us all credibly now how he's about to go the way of MacKay.

Mind boggling. Is our campaign just stupid or what? Stay off the air when it comes to Brown or risk being tarred dishonestly with the same brush. Again, where are your fucking brains? Beyond incredible. No wonder we're losing...

And what about Leslyn, Scott and their people? Better still not be crickets. Otherwise, we're pretty much already done as dinner.

Canada: Nixonian Vs. Trumpian.

That's the biggest danger to our democracy and country: parties and individuals who dwell in the recepts of Trumpism, or worse yet, Nixonism. These types quite deliberately go there with relish and see absolutely nothing wrong with that. Like I said, that puts our parliamentary democracy in terrible, terrible danger.

So...there comes a point where you give up on these people, you no longer show them the road to political sanity and consensus and you finally believe them when they repeatedly show you who they truly are as per Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are believe them, the first time.”

No matter how many times you bring that horse to water, it still refuses to drink the wisdom of common sense and tent-building. It quite deliberately chooses to exact a political war by division and potentially scorched-earth policy. Country comes last rather than first and democracy is used as a tool to propel the efforts of negative wedge policies that pit one Canadian against another. 

Scorned are the better angels of our nature and a new low is reached in politics with gusto. That's not my Canada, not the Canada I live in nor the one most of you live in either. But the political horse perceives itself as all knowing and of a higher stature, capable of telling the rest of us what we should believe, not to mention what's justifiable and right in politics.

By all means, those of you who must, go with that but count me out. No ladies and gentlemen, Pogo was not right.  We Have Met the Enemy, and He is [only a few of] Us. 

Down the slippery slope to potential dictatorship Canadians will not go. Not the horse, or anyone else, will ever get an opportunity to theoretically take all of us there. Never.

Poilièvre Keeps Digging Towards All But Certain Defeat...He's The NEXT O'Toole.

Quite obviously, everyone already knows that Justin Trudeau's Liberals won't and can't talk about the economy because like Biden, it's positively killing them one day at a time. So, they will do what they do best: attack Poilièvre on some of his ill advised policies and positions and deform the shit out of the CPC platform. That's pretty much what has always worked for this Prime Minister but it may not next time unless Pierre leaves an impression that he'd rather serially shoot himself first in the foot and ultimately in the head rather than hold the center-right and win. Like I said before, it's all on Pierre and he, like O'Toole, will either make or break this party in the next election. Period. No doubt about it. And meeting with Bernier is precisely the wrong signal to send to potential voters. It tars our party with the lunatic, kookish taint of the PPC. Great going there Pierre. Are you really that politically dense? Sure looks like it from here.

Well, as a result, it's all smiles on the Charest campaign, at least for now.

CPC: The Good, Bad And Ugly About Being Vanilla.

Well, a vanilla anything is thoroughly loved by almost everyone. That person wins every federal election in the theoretical political games. Applies here, applies in the States. Trouble is, polling should never be based upon results pitting an incumbent prime minister or president against an unknown other guy or gal. One of the best examples for an unelected person is Hillary: remember most of her polling numbers as first lady? Exactly. Once she got into the arena and won, she never achieved polling numbers as high as she had as first lady.

In this country, our invisible Conservative leader has already won the next election. How many times have I seen this kind of polling before? Too many. So it becomes all about the canvas and the quality of the paint. 

This brings us to Pierre Poilièvre. He's rolling the dice and running on issues he believes are future election winners. When he talks about the cost of living, the housing crisis, the irresponsible digitization of money by the Bank of Canada (and the Federal Reserve), he's on solid ground. But when he supports the unvaccinated, possible investment in crypto and protesters, some of whom have committed illegal acts, that's where his slippery slope begins. Team Poilièvre thinks they can win with all of this. I'm not as confident to put it diplomatically.

The next election will be all about listening and government helping people where it can and to the extent that our fiscal capacity permits. Poilièvre has that part down pat. But on likability and powers of persuasion to really move the needle in his direction with undecided voters, well, there's still plenty of room for improvement there. 

I would argue that Trudeau's 2015 canvas was comprehensive enough to almost assure a win. Poilièvre's on the other hand still lacks the royal jelly that's needed to cement him into the PM's job. Mulroney naturally had that jelly. Harper came to eventually develop it. It remains to be seen if Poilièvre can successfully tweak his game plan, thereby returning the CPC to power come the next election. It would be a mistake to count him out at this juncture. However, in the end, Poilièvre himself will be the sole architect either of political failure or newfound unity. Only the fates know how this one will eventually turn out.

My CPC Ballot - UPDATED.

1. Jean Charest

2. Scott Aitchison

3. Patrick Brown

4. Roman Baber

5. Leslyn Lewis

6. Pierre Poilièvre

Dion.

It shows I'm not in the loop. Now he has not one but three jobs.

Nice. Classy. But why am I not surprised from this Prime Minister?

You know what they say about reaping what you sow. Stay tuned, just in case things suddenly get interesting in Ottawa.

Someone has gone down in my esteem.

C'est un vrai coup de cochon.

Freeland.

Is it really true that Freeland has got over the bug and is no longer interested in succeeding HimselfTM? What? God knows Trudeau did everything he could to indirectly cement Chrystia in place. Why the "change"? Is it because even she can see that her predecessor is more of a net-negative than anything else?

That takes us to the next obvious question: what about the ex-central banker opportunist? Talk about bad timing as inflation rages. Does Mark still see himself as having at least some royal jelly? And then there's the age thing with Carney.

But you know Liberals -- always looking for the next saviour, so who really knows. Guess it will ultimately depend on whether Trudeau runs Canada, this economy and his party right into the ground. Don't underestimate Justin, for once I have every confidence in his abilities.