Wednesday, December 24, 2008

REX MURPHY: A GREAT NATIONAL INSTITUTION WHO SHOULD TALK LESS AND LISTEN MORE

CANADIAN ICON AND TALKING HEAD
REX MURPHY


Rex Murphy, one of CBC’s better talking heads, is a very compelling character. He’s a smart Rhodes Scholar and possesses the gift of the gab of his ancestors. He also has a pair of original asymmetrical eyes, a sober and righteously indignant mien, and a broad Newfi accent. When these unique characteristics are combined with his pedantic and scholarly language, his penchant for satire and irony, and his regular use of obscure quotes from the bard and vignettes from Greek and Roman mythology, he comes across as a morally and intellectually superior odd-ball.

Whether it be on The National on CBC television or on CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup which he hosts every Sunday afternoon, I among many Canadians usually find him to be an amusing and informative guy. His ubiquitous media presence has become as much of a Canadian institution as Hockey Night in Canada. There is no one quite like Murphy in Canadian radio and television and one hopes that his career as a boob tube pundit and radio host lasts for a very long time.

He also writes a weekly column for the Globe and Mail. In my opinion, Murphy is not as good with the pen as he is in front of a camera or microphone. To me his columns too often are pretentious intellectual snobbery and for that reason so boring it is hard to read the stuff to the end. His writings all too frequently display a self-indulgent pedantry seemingly written for the benefit of himself, his Oxonian pals or the gifted few he accepts as his intellectual equals. Nonetheless, he warrants his place on the Globe’s Op-ed page and we can only wish that his quality graced the pages of the hapless Calgary Herald.

In Saturday’s Globe and Mail, Murphy penned what was by and large a good column on the arrival of Michael Ignatieff as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada entitled Grit miracle: Iggy to fish in Tory water.
See: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081220.COMURPH20/TPStory/TPComment/?query=

In the piece, Murphy describes Ignatieff’s strengths and promise and the bizarre sequence of events that expedited his recent rise to power. He noted that Ignatieff had reignited Grit party morale and that Canadians were giving him attention. He applauded the new leader’s wooing of Quebec and observed that his style could do well there. All of which was music to the ears of Liberals throughout the country, myself included.

Murphy saved what he thought was the best for the last. He enthusiastically approved of Ignatieff’s stated intention of giving the west due recognition in his future plans. In his inimitable ornate prose Murphy pointed out that,

“The Liberal Party has long treated Western Canada as some kind of political ultima Thule or if I may maul a familiar phrase from Hamlet, an “undiscovered country from whose bourn no Liberal MP returns.”

The Hamlet part didn’t faze me, - but “ultima Thule” - what the hell was that supposed to mean? For those of us of the great unwashed who have never been invited to Murphy’s salon to engage in the scholarly and rigorous intellectual discourse practiced among his lofty peers, this is what the on-line dictionary tells us it means:

The northernmost region of the habitable world as thought of by ancient geographers.
A distant territory or destination.
A remote goal or ideal: “the ultima Thule of technology, the ne plus ultra . . . the answer to every earthly problem” (John Gould).

What he is saying I suppose is but another wrinkle on the old saws about Liberals in the west being protected by the game laws, or having their conventions in telephone booths. They are gross exaggerations.

Let’s consider British Columbia. Gordon Campbell leads a Liberal government in British Columbia. His former finance minister is Carole Taylor, a former CBC Chairperson. Taylor is married to a former Liberal MP during the Trudeau years and former Vancouver Mayor, Art Phillips. Campbell was elected leader and then Premier after Gordon Wilson had led the BC Liberals to become a strong Official Opposition, overtaking the now-defunct Social Credit party. Christy Clark, a noted federal and provincial Liberal who is married to famed federal Grit organizer and mover and shaker Mark Merissen, was Campbell’s Deputy Premier. In fact, in the Federal elections between 1980 and 2006 British Columbia Liberal seats jumped from zero to nine.

Even in conservative Alberta, under the leadership of Laurence Decore, the Provincial Liberals won 32 out of 83 seats and received 39% of the vote in the election of 1993. Federal Grits did well enough in Alberta to win 4 seats in 1993 and hold two until the federal election of 2006. Former Edmonton Liberal MP Anne McLellan served with distinction in many portfolios during those years, including a stint as Deputy Prime Minister. And even in its present weakened state, the Provincial Liberal Party boasts five Liberal MLA’s in Calgary, of all places.

Murphy also dragged out the worn and bedraggled National Energy Program for one more tired turn in front of the footlights. According to Murphy, “That policy burned the house of Liberalism in the West to the ground.” Hardly. Save for a few scattered and muffled voices, neither British Columbia, Saskatchewan, nor Manitoba cared a whit about the NEP. The bellyaching came from Alberta.

Murphy also tells us that “Mr. Ignatieff is the first Liberal leader I’ve heard since the dread days of the NEP to make clear acknowledgment of the resentments and mischiefs it inspired.” Perhaps Murphy should listen more and pontificate less. Had he been listening he would have known that every federal Liberal leader since John Turner has been groveling their NEP mea culpas to the people out here at every opportunity. At Alberta federal Liberal fundraising dinners addressed by visiting Liberal MP guest speakers, it is as common as the plates of rubber chicken on the tables. It is as common as Murphy sporting his Oxonian pedigree with his obscure but weighty Shakespeare and Latin quotations. And as to the real impact of the NEP I urge once again that everyone read:
http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/07/calgary-heralds-disrespect-of.html

Let me conclude by wishing all of my readers of all political or other persuasions a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

7 comments:

Dame said...

Well I don't like Rex at all . his "know all " bombastic style just a Turn Off for me even if hes content is not always negative to my personal view.
I wish he would Not be a Regular on CBC less would be more I guess.
He represent something totally outdated in our present Times.. especially what is going on this crisis time what needs more pragmatic approach from journalists and politicians

Sorry being a Smart Rhode Shholar doesn't mean that much any More It is a Myth .

/we have to step over lots of myth another one is Stephen Harper the Economist... /

I Wish You all the best Darryl for the coming year and beyond..
Your Columns are priceless For the masses .. keep up the good work.

marta

Raymaker said...

Marta:

There is no doubt that he is off base much of the time on his observations.

I also think that there is a pseudo intellectual quality to much of what he says which is arrogance, pure and simple. This results from his penchant for multi-syllable words and obscure quotations. Much of the time it is simply frivolous. It demeans his Rhodes Scholar accomplishment.

I also agree about the myth of Harper being an economist. Although he may have taken courses in economics, he is first and foremost a neoconservative ideological zealot. Clearly he is an extremist. Certainly not an economist.

And thank you for your compliments. I will endeavor to continue to tell the truth about current events, hopefully in an amusing way that people will find interesting.

Pot Shots said...

Oh great, Just what the world needed, another "Passhole" from southern Alberta yapping off because he's got a little shake... There must be something in the water down there that breeds that idiotic spew that erupts out of that greedy little crap spot on the planet. Everyone is glat that you are not representing an area "Oil Bitch Scum".

Raymaker said...

Jesus, I have picked up another lunatic who reads my blog. Well, Potty, thanks for reading my blog. Just what is your problem with God's country? And how do I rate as 'Oil Bitch Scum', you twit?

Raymaker said...

Jesus, I have picked up another lunatic who reads my blog. Well, Potty, thanks for reading my blog. Just what is your problem with God's country? And how do I rate as 'Oil Bitch Scum', you twit?

Dame said...

Lololol they are everywhere they are animus they are Anonymous
I wonder why is that?
I never undertand why wearing a mask if you stae your opinion...

Darryl Raymaker said...

Dame
They are nasty weaklings. They never have the guts to reveal who they are. But they are mean and miserable people. They are to be shunned and avoided.