PALIN AND WALLIN: RIGHT WING DIVAS COMING TO COWTOWN

PALIN (holding dead fish) Coming to Cowtown

WALLIN: Broadcasting Diva and political operator will moderate discussion

Once again trying to prove Phineas T. Barnum’s* truism that that there’s a sucker born every minute, a pair of Calgary promoters are bringing in Sarah Palin to impart her wit and wisdom to the residents of cowtown on March 6. See: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sarah+Palin+sets+date+with+Calgary/2521080/story.html

In case you missed it, Calgary was the first Canadian city that hosted Karl Rove and George W. Bush in their Canadian pickpocket debuts after they had left office. See: http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2009/02/george-w-bush-is-coming-to-town-as.html and

http://darrylraymaker.blogspot.com/2008/08/fraser-institute-invites-you-to-evening.html

I say ‘pickpocket’ because just as gullible Calgarians shelled out hundreds each to hear Bush and his henchman say nothing of consequence, 1000 of them are expected to pay 150 to 200 dollars for a ticket to receive the same from Palin - unless one considers seeing in the flesh a true celebrity from the dumb and dumber era of infotainment as something of value.

Ah, but I’m being churlish.

The star-studded event will be held at the Palomino Room at Stampede Park - yes, home of the Calgary Stampede and a favorite gathering place for the cowtown’s knuckle-dragging hard right. I say ‘star-studded’ because the event will include a question and answer session moderated by Senator Pamela Wallin, formerly a famous talking head on Canadian television news networks and now a formidable political operator in her own right.

Apart from her career in the media Wallin has displayed an amazing talent for getting governments of Canada of any political stripe to advance her career and resume. First of all the Chretien Liberals gave her the cushy appointment of Canada’s Consul General in the Big Apple where for a number of years she entertained the rich and powerful on behalf of Canada at her swanky Park Avenue digs. When she was done with that the Harper Conservatives put her on the laughable Manley panel to figure out what to do in Afghanistan. After having done such a bang-up job on that assignment – remember the panel said that 1000 extra troops and a little more equipment could do the job in Kandahar - the Harperites then appointed her to the Senate. Not bad for a kid from Wadena, Saskatchewan who once was a member of the far left Waffle group faction of the NDP: See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waffle; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Wallin

Just like Bush and Rove, Palin’s Calgary gig will be her Canadian speaking debut. Christian Darbyshire, one of the promoters of the boondoggle believes that Calgary is an ideal spot for Palin’s one and a half hour drivel because Calgary, like Alaska, is into oil and gas. He said, “She’s got some interesting insights and I think people in Calgary will be very interested in hearing what she has to say.” Probably so, given the thousands around town who share her red neck culture and believe that Barack Obama is about to initiate death panels for granny.

Darbyshire’s partner in the project Andy McCreath showed that he too knew his oats saying that the Palin-Calgary match-up was ideal because, “Calgary is a Republican town,” and that “There’s lots of Americans living in Calgary.” Dead on once again. Since the discovery of the Leduc elephant oil field way back in 1947 Calgary has been hands down the most American and Republican – some would say Texas Republican - of Canadian cities.

Indeed the boys do know their stuff when it comes to marketing big names in these parts. Among the has-beens with checkered pasts they have brought to town and whose pockets they have lined with cash from a gullible public are Tony Blair, Alan Greenspan, Rudy Giuliani, and Colin Powell. Although none of those today would likely win a popularity contest, they have also organized gabfests for the likes of Bill Clinton and Lance Armstrong.

No doubt the former governor and vice presidential candidate, Fox News political analyst, author, and university drop-out will toss enough red meat at what will be her largely hard right audience so that at the end of the day they will give her a rousing standing ovation. After which, of course, she’ll chortle all the way back to her bank in Wasila, Alaska to make the hundred thou or so deposit. A sucker born every minute? You betcha. There will be a thousand of them out at Stampede Park to hear the ditz.
* See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There

MURRAY DOBBIN: THANKS TO HARPER, "WE ARE IN GRAVE DANGER"

I have read at least one book by Murray Dobbin namely 'Preston Manning and the Reform Party' and many of his writings. He is one of Canada's great progressive writers and one whose values I respect and share. This piece appeared in his blog yesterday. I thought the substance was so accurate and the emotion so compelling about the dangers posed by the Harper government that it was worth repeating on this blog.


The Republicanization of Canadian political culture
Posted: 25 Nov 2009 09:17 PM PST

Watching the sickening performances of the Harperites in the House of Commons this week – out right lying, bullying, slander, contempt for the public and parliament, and a stunning disregard for the public good – brings home a hard reality: we are witnessing the Republicanization of our political culture.

And it’s not just the torture issue – it’s the Conservative labeling of Liberals as anti-Semitic – a kind of shit-house rat politics virtually unknown in Canadian political history. It wouldn’t surprise me to find that Karl Rove is on the PMO’s payroll; his disciples certainly are.

This is storm trooper politics and the most alarming and depressing part of it is that it actually works. In a poll done by the CBC (though on Afghanistan the CBC and its polls can’t be entirely trusted) only 50% of Canadians believed the testimony of Richard Colvin. The rest, presumably, believed a politician, Peter Mackay, who has repeatedly demonstrated a total lack of character – most notably his self-serving lie to David Orchard about handing the Progressive Conservative Party to the barbarians of the Reform/Alliance.

Colvin – a man of extraordinary courage, knowing that his testimony would effectively end his career – told the truth simply because it was the right thing to do. But in the new Republican world of Canadian politics viciousness can win out – just as it did in the US with the Swift Boat attack ads going after decorated soldier/politician John Kerry. In a political universe where there are no rules of civilized behaviour, the most ruthless can win because the side that plays by the rules just isn’t mean enough.

There is no obvious way to deal with overt and unapologetic political thuggery. Fighting back in the same manner actually plays into the thugs’ hands because part of their broader objective is to poison the well of public discourse. The ferocious partisanship of the Harper Conservatives – who should really be called the Libertarian Party as there is nothing conservative about them – is designed to drive ordinary citizens away from politics. I can barely stand to watch and listen to the vitriol and lies and I have spent my whole life observing and analyzing politics.

I try to imagine what people who have very limited for it must think when they see this performance. But there is no question that it partly explains the fact that 42% of Canadians didn’t vote in 2008 – a huge advantage for the Libertarians.

Part of the explanation for the weakness of Obama’s administration is the simple fact that the Republicans, even though they are out of power, have so damaged the political culture, so scorched the political landscape, that rational discourse is simply no longer possible in the US.

Eight years of George Bush (building on eight years of Ronald Reagan) lives on and will do so for many years to come. Compassion was simply beaten out of US democracy – day after day, week after week, year after year reason was degraded, community destroyed, truth and genuine discourse ridiculed and crushed. It is impossible to predict whether or not these things are actually dead in the US – or whether the hints of fascism will grow into the real thing before reason and compassion can be rebuilt.

The election of Obama suggests that the fight isn’t over – there are millions of progressive Americans who share the best of civic values. But so far they are losing.We are not there yet in Canada but we are naïve if we think the same destruction can’t happen here. After four years of sociopathic governance by a man full of hate and contempt, Canada is already becoming unrecognizable.

We must stop this man before he literally destroys the country – that is, destroys the core of who and what we are and how we see ourselves. The first step is recognizing that we are in grave danger.

BILL CLINTON: TIME TO GIVE IT A REST

The Incredible Shrinking ex-President

The Clinton-Bush Toronto snore fest of a few days ago was as revealing as it was reported to be dull. For one thing, the event proved that Calgary isn’t the only Canadian community to be so crass and insensitive that it would welcome a putative war criminal to speak to its citizens for hundreds of dollars a pop each. Nor was it the only city to reward him with guffaws at his ghost written jokes and a standing ovation after listening to his nonsense.

Predictably, Calgary has been joined by its big bucks, greed is good, sister Canadian community – namely, Bay Street. Hell, the Bay Street pin-striped brigade turned out a crowd of 6000 to hear these two clowns. Calgary couldn’t hold a candle to that. However, the cowtown is still well up there in the crass department. By my last count, it has welcomed no less than three of the Bush outlaws to regale its corporate citizens about shock and awe, the war against terror, and other shibboleths of that sorry administration. Karl Rove, then Bush, and more recently Condi Rice have graced Dallas North – at prices ranging from $400 bucks a head (Bush and Rove) to Condi (the most expensive at $500). Hogtown – a label better applied to Bay Street than the rest of the great city of Toronto – have only had two – Rove and Bush, with Rove generating $700 a head. Bush and Clinton in TO again made Calgary look like pikers, getting up to $2500 a ticket.

Read: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1644965

As might be expected for a man whose classy speeches were a staple of derision on the David Letterman show over the past year, Bush’s repertoire of jokes at the affair included two that dealt with animal fecal matter, and another apparently cribbed from the tired joke file of the disgraced Brian Mulroney. Nonetheless, the crowd chuckled and guffawed and at the end of the day, the two sorry comedians left the city like a couple of absconding pool sharks, a few hundred grand to the good.

Apart from the corporate big wigs and their minions shelling out the big bucks to hear Bush and groveling to him with chuckles and ovations, the big story of the day was that neither Clinton nor Bush knew anything about the new U.S. requirement of Passports for all Canadians going into the States. Well, we shouldn’t be surprised. Bush appointed an Ambassador to Canada whose previous Canadian experience was limited to one previous trip to Niagara Falls and who knew sweet tweet about the country. Clinton’s wife thought that some of the 9/11 terrorists had made their way into the United States from Canada, as did Janet Napolitano, Obama’s new Homeland Security Czar. By the way, Napolitano’s only venture into Canada until now was to see polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba. And people like Jack Granatstein believe that we are anti-American when we get fed up with some of this stuff!

All of which is interesting in a sick sort of way. But what really sticks out in my mind is how far Bill Clinton has fallen. I liked Bill Clinton from the moment he arrived on the political scene. He was thoughtful, smart, and could give a speech like no President before him in my memory. I thought his dalliances were reckless but certainly not impeachable, and the resulting attacks on him were launched largely by right wing Republicans most of which lived in glass houses. I thought he was a good President and was saddened when he stepped down from the Presidency. I even paid to hear him speak once.

But what the hell is he doing traipsing around the world at events such as this where he shares the spotlight with such a twit? With a man who sanctioned torture, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, lied to and divided the American people, pushed the United States into becoming a pariah state, let New Orleans flow into the Gulf of Mexico, did nothing while the economy went to hell, and rewarded greed like no President before him? I guess he does it for the money. And in the process he diminishes himself daily. Indeed, the Toronto Star thought Bush was the more entertaining of the two. See: http://www.thestar.com/news/columnist/article/642978

I think its time Bill Clinton gave it a rest. He had his turn at the plate. If he wants to make some big bread by giving speeches, he hardly needs to do it with riff-raff like George W. Bush at his side. And there is certainly no reason why he should be interested in salvaging Bush’s legacy or reputation. Better he give more help to Barack Obama who is saddled with the responsibility of cleaning up Bush’s mess.
See also:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/29/clinton-bush-conversation-toronto.html

PRESTON MANNING WANTS GEORGE W. BUSH TO MANAGE THE CANADIAN ECONOMY

Fraser Institute political hack, Preston Manning

Canada's George W. Bush (on the left) with the real thing (on the right)

Preston Manning’s column of this today’s Globe and Mail asks the question: Who would be the best person at the helm of the ship of state as Canada heads into stormy economic seas?

After giving short shrift to Elizabeth May ( “ . .weak, terribly weak, on the economy.”), Jack Layton (“ . . . cut from the same cloth” as “economic disasters . . Bob Rae and Dave Barrett”), Stephane Dion (Dion’s degrees from university “are in political science and sociology – adequate preparation for salon politics but not for economic crises.”) - - surprise, surprise, he recommends his fellow arch-conservative and prodigy Stephen Harper.

Manning these days spends much of his time beating the drum for conservative causes. He remains a Fellow of the Fraser Institute.

You know the Fraser Institute, don’t you? It is that political arm of the Conservative Party that masquerades as a think tank. Amongst its former trustees are convicted felons David Radler and Conrad Black, both of whom helped to fund it. A former Fellow is Dr. Owen Lippert, an admitted plagiarist and patsy who fed Stephen Harper his Commons speech urging that Canada join George W. Bush in invading Iraq. Another Fellow of the Institute is that genius that brought Health Care in Alberta to its knees. Yes, Ralph Klein is also a Fellow of the Institute.

It is the same organization that has recently hosted George W. Bush’s political guru Karl Rove in two expensive dinners in Toronto and Calgary so that they could listen intently about what a great success his boss’s Presidency has been.

Yes, Manning actually believes that Stephen Harper is the best man to lead our country as the economy goes into the tank.

But think about this. Harper is an unabashed cheerleader for Bush and has been during all of the dark Bush era. Whether it was supporting the war in Iraq, mindlessly supporting the lost cause in Afghanistan, sticking a finger in the eye of China, supporting a disastrous course in the Middle East, or telling the Canadian people that the fundamentals of the economy are strong as we headed towards the abyss, Harper has been Canada’s George W. Bush.

And now Manning is telling the Canadian people that they should support Canada’s George W. Bush to manage the Canadian economy! That’s like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum.

Preston Manning is a neocon Reform/Alliance hack, and has been since his first foray into the federal arena. His advice is not only worthless, it is downright dangerous!

THE FRASER INSTITUTE INVITES YOU TO AN EVENING WITH 'TURD BLOSSOM'

Turd Blossom

Former Trustee Conrad Black

Former Trustee David Radler

Yesterday I had a big surprise. I received an invitation to a reception and dinner from the far right wing Fraser Institute, the Calgary Herald's think tank of choice. The event will be held on September 24th at a tony downtown Calgary Art Gallery. The guests will be treated to a lecture by Karl Rove.

Rove, you will recall, until last year was the loyal and faithful servant of President George W. Bush. He served as the President's Deputy Chief of Staff, and headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Despite these lofty positions he has been described as 'Bush's Brain,' - not exactly a complement. In fact, Rove is a university dropout. He did attend university for a time - long enough to get draft deferrals until the draft ended in June of 1973.

His boss the President, showing the privileged and Ivy League class for which he is so famous, calls him 'Turd Blossom.' For his part, Rove describes the President as "one of the most intellectually gifted presidents we've had."

Throughout the greater part of Bush II's political career as Governor of Texas and President of the United States, Rove has been his closest political advisor. Thus he has been in on all of the great decisions - like going to war in Iraq and the public misinformation initiative that was its foundation, the woeful lack of preparation for rebuilding Iraq after the invasion, paying little more than lip-service to the war against the Taliban, the feeble response to Hurricane Katrina, public policy that has brought about the near bankruptcy of the United States, the wink-wink approach to torture and rendition, and foreign policy that resulted in the plummeting of American influence throughout the world. And that is only a partial list of the catastrophes of the Bush II years.

Rove's political gifts however, are not something to sneer at. He is an expert in smear tactics and dirty tricks. Rove the draft dodger has been given credit for labelling 1972 Democratic candidate for President George McGovern as a "left-wing peacenik" notwithstanding McGovern's stellar World War II service as a B-24 pilot. Rove has been accused of masterminding a telephone poll to voters in the Texas Gubernatorial contest between Bush II and Democrat Ann Richards, wherein the people being polled were asked if they would be more or less likely to vote for Richards if they knew that her staff was 'dominated by lesbians.'

He has been accused of doing the same thing in the 2000 Republican Primary in South Carolina, a contest between George W. Bush and John McCain. The telephone pollsters asked the question if they were more or less likely to vote for John McCain for president 'if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child."

During his long stint at the President's side, Rove had been up to his neck in other allegations -like being instrumental in the outing of Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative, dismissing U.S. federally appointed attorneys for failing to prosecute democrats, and being involved in the 'swiftboating' of John Kerry's military service during the Viet Nam war.

So Mr. Rove is the guest speaker at the dinner to which I was invited. Oh, yes, I almost forgot. If I were to go it is not for free. Tickets are $500 per individual, $900 per couple and $5000 for a table of ten. Mr. Rove does not come cheap these days. However, probably unbeknownst to the Fraserites in Toronto, he comes cheaper in Calgary. On September 23 in Toronto, the Bay Street Harperite cheerleaders will pay $700 for one ticket, $1300 a couple and $7000 for a table of ten. I guess the recent downturn of oil prices from $150 a barrel to $120 or so prompted the better Calgary deal.

The Fraser Institute is a registered charity with Revenue Canada. It is a rabid proponent of competitive markets, less government spending and regulation, less gun restrictions, more privatisation of government services and more private medicine. It opposes government involvement in global warming. Two of its illustrious former members of its Board of Trustees are Conrad Black and David Radler formerly of Hollinger fame, and presently indisposed. The current Board is comprised primarily of Canadian captains of industry, past and present. Among speakers at Institute functions in the coming months are former Socred Preston Manning, fallen Premier Ralph Klein, failed magazine publisher Ezra Levant, and Harper eminence grise Tom Flanagan. Just so you know.

As for me, I'm skipping the Rove banquet.