NDP Divided Over WWI!

The Frenchy thinks it was bad; the Anglo thinks it was good.  Sun News digs up a few geezers old enough to give a shit.  Federal Liberals stand to reap benefits.  LPoC leader-in-waiting Justin Trudeau rumoured ready to declare ancient conflict a "harshing of the national mellow but, like, I refuse to take a postion until I've had a conversation with the  grass roots." 

An Historical Turning Point...?

Talked to my dad the other night.  He told me that he could see himself voting for Justin Trudeau.  This from a life-long NDPer, an old coal miner who can still  remember them from their CCF days.

But something about Mulcair seeming doesn't sit right with him.  The guy  seems angry all the time and--I am looking below the surface of old dad's words here--the beard is a bit of a flop.

I should say that my dad, historically speaking, is a leading indicator.  Last time his opinion shifted like this was back when he served in the armed forces.  Shortly thereafter, they ended the Korean War.

Justin Trudeau Is NOT Opposed To Pipelines

Just this pipeline...and this one...and this one over here.  Clever strategy, actually. Don't attack the tar sands in the abstract, just any concrete manifestation of the tar sands.

Campaign Buttons For LPoC Leadership Contenders

I'm thinking I might give the old political consultant business a try, figuring that if LaForet can pull it off how hard can it be?  So I've had several buttons made up as a kind of "proof of concept", and if these are successful, more will follow.  The two buttons are shown below, accompanied by some notes as to the thinking that went into them, and a few ideas for future projects:

Button #1:

And Button #2:

So, one closely guarded trade secret among us consultant types is that excitement can be added to pretty much any political talking point just by using exclamation marks.  Note the three exclamation marks  I have employed in the very exciting button #1.  The same principle can be imagined in extremis by means of the following example: say we are running a candidate for some office who is young and charismatic.  We might create a pin for this candidate with lettering that read simply:

JUSTIN!

But--and this is where the real excitement would get added--every letter of the text, including the exclamation point...would be composed of tiny little exclamation points!  As though to say that this guy is made of excitement...is so full of the stuff that he might just go off any second.

Obviously, attempting such an approach with Marc Garneau would strain credulity.  These are only tin buttons we're talking about, not some kind of magical ring.  And indeed, my Button #2 dials back the number of exclamation points to evoke a quieter, more contemplative mood.  A thinking man's button, as it were.

In any case, if these two items sell big, I have plans for several additional Garneau campaign pins ready to implement.  For example:

Marc Garneau: He Is THE OTHER ONE

...and:

Garneau: He'll Put His Finger On It, Not Stick His Foot In It

...but I'm afraid this latter message is a bit long and might have to be stretched across two buttons, which would drive up my production costs.

Furthermore, my so far unnamed consulting business (and, by the way, if anyone wants to help with that, let 'er rip in the comments) won't just be about buttons.  I will also be offering more traditional political advise, ranging from don't insult Alberta because they're a bunch of vindictive pricks all the way to when speechifying in a restaurant/banquet-hall setting, do NOT quench your thirst from from the finger bowl.  (Technically, you can--its just a bit soapy, is all--but people find it gauche.)

My advice may not be the absolute best you can find out there, but it will be cheap and the portions, as it were, will be ample.

So I'm just going to sit back and let my buttons go viral.  You may place orders in the comments.

Sometimes A Witch Hunt Helps The Witch

If the Torys want to haul Justin Trudeau before House Natural Resources Committee to explain his Alberta statements, then let 'em.  Give the guy hours of looking handsome and acting human to lay out his leadership platform before a national audience.  Because, believe me, this will get covered wall-to-wall.  The One, getting nagged by the one with two chins.  Although I suspect Stephen Harper will find a means to  make this stupid idea go away.  As for us Liberals, of course we should all bust out a can of fake outrage.  But, really-- pray for this to come to pass.

Jesus Is Right

...its too soon to declare victory.  But maybe not for the reason Mr. Trudeau thinks.  What I would be worried about in his shoes is that his "supporters"--those folks that have signed up on-line  to vote in the LPoC leadership race even though they aren't LPoC members--massively don't show when the time comes.  A bit of recent history: The NDP got 60,000 real people to cast real ballots in their last leadership campaign, and expected about 60,000 more to vote on-line. Barely 6,000 bothered.  I don't know why the percentages should be different in the LPoC race; online connections are extremely tenuous.

Rise Teenage Jesus...Or Fall!

WK says Justin Trudeau is going to run!  Great news?  Potentially.  If the guy can perform long-term.  But Justin's fucked a few things up in his time as MP, in ways that have made folks (me included) question his maturity and readiness. I won't get into specifics, but history may be repeating itself. WK says:

I am told the Trudeau campaign will make a point of insisting that all of the team (or its bosses) are under age 40. If accurate, that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard.

So the guy supposed to save the LPoC is going to, as his first act as a  leadership potential, step on a rake and smack himself in the head, according to WK.  Don't do it Justin!  And if you insist, Liberals should consider voting for The Spaceman.  Less hair, more gravitas.

Under Conditions X,Y, or Z, Teenage Jesus Would Save

Frank Graves is going senile, or desperately poll whoring to get his name in the papers--from anointing Justin, to suggesting that BOC Presdient Mark Carney would woo 'em as an LPoC leadership candidate because of his "magic reviews" with the public, which presumably means that the four people who could pick him out of a police line-up really, really like him.  Rob Silver, in addition to being (in my wife's words) "devilishly handsome" is clearly correct here.  Committing to an LPoC leadership candidate right now would be ridiculous.  Not that I have anything against Justin Trudeau.  His enthusiasm is contagious, and  he's put himself on the right side of a number of fights over the years (including his somewhat tentative embrace of NDP/LPoC merger talks).  And he is definitely the MP I would want  covering my back during a bar fight.  He's also stuck his foot in his mouth way more than once.  His burden, should he choose to run, will be to prove to folks that he has judgement and discretion.  That the foot will go in the mouth less often.  That he can, as Paul Newman put it, be himself...but on purpose.  If he does run...and remember he is still saying he won't...and he CAN do that, he may indeed be THE ONE. But maybe not right away--which is why the party needs someone to who is willing commit  a full decade of their lives to the project.  I suspect that, in 2015, if the Canadian people are tired of the Tories, and they might well be,  they will  more likely  turn to the Mulcair NDP (what the hell, they'll say...if Conservatives can learn to eat with a fork than why NOT try out the long-haired commies?) than back to the LPoC.