Gerard Kennedy Pitch Speech

Gerard Kennedy is, beyond all else, a gorgeous specimen.

His speech this morning was all about "doing politics differently".  It was, however, a pretty standard issue "doing politics differently" speech.  A "new day"; "it starts now"; "nobody left behind" and so forth.  I suppose you are supposed to hear echoes of other great progressive speeches in it, and not just clichés   but I'm not sure how well the whole  party outsider approach works from a guy that's been around Cdn/Ont politics for so long.  And, as for me, I don't have a problem with the current OLP status quo: green belt; green energy; shorter wait times; better test scores.  But I suppose being outside in GK's context means outside Toronto.  There was a shout-out to Northern Ontario, and a promise to the effect that it would no longer be "the other side of the map".  Don't quite know what that is supposed to mean policywise.  And, again, I'm not sure how all of this sounds coming from the mouth of a T.O. boy.

Missed Takhar entirely.

Gerard Kennedy Event In Ottawa

This is a public service announcement, not an endorsement.  Very not an endorsement, in fact:


Dear Gerard Kennedy enthusiast,

We continue to work together to help Gerard Kennedy earn the position of leader of the Ontario Liberal Party and our next Premier.

We are pleased to have the Honourable Terry M. Mercer, Senator, will lend support to the cause. 

If you are in the Ottawa area, I hope you can join us and bring a friend. It will be a great chance to meet up new friends who care about Ontario as much as you do. You'll also get to know some members of Gerard's Ottawa team.

THE DETAILS
Gerard Kennedy’s Ottawa Cocktail Fundraiser
Monday December 17
5-7 PM
Grounded: 100 Gloucester street at O'Connor. Downtown Ottawa.

Suggested contribution is $25. We are looking forward to seeing you.

Thank you!
- Gerard Kennedy Campaign -- Ottawa Branch
Facebook invite: www.facebook.com/events/422869274451098/
email: gkLiberal@gmail.com

Not an endorsement.  Just a public service announcement.  Remember that.

Gerard Kennedy Cannot Claim OLP Leadership Until He Reclaims Leadership Of Own Hair

You can't  go from being a hair-guy to being a substance guy.  It just doesn't work like that.  In fact, it works just the opposite.  You go from being a hair-guy to being a hair-guy with hardly any hair that talks on and on until people pass out.  There's no escaping this trap.  Gerard must get his hair back, or "acquire" a whack of it from mainland China, if you get my drift, or get out of the race.

Expect A Lot More Of This Kind Of Thing

I am not sure that Bob Rae, given his obvious political skills, couldn't  transcend it with a good campaign performance.   On the other hand, maybe not.  Certainly, if there is anyone on offer in '13 without his baggage and even two-thirds of his charisma, then that person would be the better choice.  Bob Rae if necessary, but not necessarily Bob Rae.

Speaking of charismatic politicians, Gerard Kennedy might attempt a come-back.  He definitely has the hair to lead this nation to greatness.  I remember, though, finding his last go round as leadership candidate a bit light on substance, and at the time his French was said to be weak.  If Gerard up his game this time out, then maybe...

Brief Notes On Gerard Kennedy's Beard

I had heard rumours to the effect that Gerard Kennedy had "gone the full commie" (ie grown a beard), but now that I've seen pics, I am somewhat assuaged; I can still imagine doing a business deal with the guy, for example, which in many cases is simply inconceivable. 

I mean, a few Canadian politicians have made it work--Pablo made it work--but usually the result is disaster.  The beard wears the man.  And of course its not as bad as bald, which Mussolini ruined for generations of aspiring public servants. 

But if Gerard runs again, it should definitely come off.  The beard, I mean.  His other hair is, as per usual, excellently placed and coloured.

Meet Gerard Kennedy And His Awesome Hair

...at an Ottawa fundraiser on Monday, December 13th, to help Gerard pay off some Liberal Leadership Campaign debts. Gerard will be making available these limited edition drawings of Lester B. Pearson (at left)

...who, very unlike Mr. Kennedy, appears to have been suffering his own personal mini-recession up top there. Further details are:

Eggnog, Wine, Cheese, Art
Monday, December 13th, 2010
6:00 – 8:00pm
Heenan Blaikie
55 Metcalfe Street
Suite 300 Ottawa, Ontario

...and you can confirm via email (friends@gerardkennedy.ca) or by going here.

Remember, when you get close to Gerard's hair...you can look, but you can't touch.

Gerard Kennedy's Hair Re-Achieves Transfinite Sexxxiness!

Gerard's hair is in fine form these days. I'm thrilled he's letting it grow out a bit. The weird thing is, I think he's starting to look like me, if I ever got that tooth fixed.

A Grit Savior Appears

Canadian snowboarder and Olympic medal winner Ross Rebagliati plans to beat a new opponent: Stockwell Day. Rebagliati will seek the Liberal nomination on Monday in the Okanagan-Coquihalla riding in central B.C.

And why not? He's at least as sexxxy as Gerard Kennedy. And Canadians are a forgiving people.

(By the way, since no one else is running for the nomination currently, I imagine he has a good chance)

Iggy Not Catching On, Harper Not Taking Off

And I'm starting to think I'm stuck in the movie Groundhog Day:

An exclusive Leger Marketing poll for Sun Media reveals 36% of Canadians would vote for the Conservatives, down almost two percentage points from the last election. Only 30% would vote for the Liberals, but that represents a gain of 4% since the Liberals won 26% of the popular vote in the last election. The NDP is at 17% support, down 1%.

But of course there won't be an election since the Layton NDP will be propping up Mr. Harper's Tories.

...which is fine for now. The main point of withdrawing support was to pass off the hot potato that is the charge of maintaining this government in power to the NDP. Let them deal with it awhile. From the Liberals, I would hope, we get more stuff like Gerard Kennedy's analysis of patterns in the government's stimulus spending, which was almost universally praised by the MSM.

Substantive criticism, in other words...and hints of policy.

By the way, AA's (widely repeated) argument is bogus, in fact proves Iggy's larger point about the disconnect between stimulus spending and actual need: why would you fund a project that isn't supposed to happen until 7 years out to fight this recession?

XXXtraordinarily Sexxxy For A Couple Of Straight Guys

Iggy and Gerard at the Pride Day Parade.

Gerard's almost making me go blind. The hair...! The hair...!

Politics, Boobies, And Hair

Last week WAPO fashion writer Robin Givhan sparked a mini-scandal when she wrote a column dedicated to the quick flash of cleavage Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton displayed during one of her speeches on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Now the issue has come up again, as Howard Kurtz discusses the fallout from the original article.

Weirdly enough, this is a case of life imitating art. As I reported almost a year ago, sculpture Danial Edwards has created a topless vision of Hillary, "A Presidential Bust", which the artist hopes will instigate "a discussion about sex, politics and celebrity". Furthermore the question of "Hillary's hotness" was raised even earlier by actress Sharon Stone, who claimed that Hillary might simply be "too sexxxy" for the Whitehouse.

Nor should Canadians be complacent, for our own politics are not above such trivial concerns. I have argued in the past, and indeed correctly, I think, that Gerard Kennedy was denied the Liberal Leadership, not over matters of policy, but because of his hair. He simply possessed too much of it, and it was too soft and too lustrous, for the Liberal Party establishment. They feared his hair, and what the effect might be were Gerard to go before the people of Canada with hair that was, on the whole, so much better than average. Would Canadians connect with a hair God, or would Gerard seem elitist and out of touch?
Sadly, and for the same reason, Quebec MP Pablo Rodriguez will never lead the Liberal Party. He is simply too hot, and his hair too extraordinary, for the position.

Too Sexxxy To Lead