Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Libranos

I think the Star lead to this story says it all:

Toronto MP Joe Volpe's rocky campaign for the Liberal leadership just keeps getting more bizarre.

posted by calgarygrit at 12:51 p.m.

18 Comments:

  • This is such an embarassment for the party at a time when we don't need such negative coverage of the Leadership race.

    People will get mad at me for saying this, but Volpe should drop out of the race. He is bringing down the quality of news coverage, when we should be focussing on positive aspects of the excitement and ideas the race is creating, rather then hearing about these silly squabbles and children donating.

    Carolyn Bennet was right when she wrote her article to Globe and Mail: There is an Elephant in the Room.

    By Blogger Joshua Fraser, at 1:15 p.m.  

  • Ah, yes. What matters is how long one has been in the party, not the quality of their politics.

    I sure wish that Trudeau and King had put in 15 years of playing ethnic politics before they decided to run for the leadership; that would have equipped them much better.

    By Blogger Peter Loewen, at 2:20 p.m.  

  • The Elections Act is very clear about who is and is not allowed to commit leadership campaign funds for expenses such as a lease. See, for example, S.435.22(3) and (4) of the Act.

    This would tend to dispute the suggestion that JK had his name on the lease.

    By Blogger Paul, at 2:34 p.m.  

  • Thank you Scott.

    I like #4:

    4. “As a proud Volpe fan I will admit that he does not have a lot of strength in the rural, backwards part of the country.”

    So proud in fact that he remains anonymous!

    By Blogger Ted Betts, at 4:48 p.m.  

  • it sickens me to see people like bart and toronto liberal in my party. stop talking poorly about other candidates as the two of you have done for the last few weeks, and talk about your candidate. negative campaigning is not going to win it for anyone, including your candidate bart.
    clearly, our party just like other parties has many people playing dirty politics, just like Ignatief's team did when they feared Volpe's strength, and leaked a story on him about the child donations. It would be nice to see all candidates in this race (and the conservative party too) declare what donations they have accepted from those under 18.

    By Blogger kenlister1, at 5:00 p.m.  

  • Hey don't bash Bart.
    He may be suppoting Kennedy and be promoting his candidate a bit but he is one of the most fair bloggers out there. When he critisises it is fairly done. He has gone after my candidate but never been unfair.

    KTR, nice smear of iggy by accusing him of releasing the kiddie donation story, of course you realize Volpe himself put it out on the web, you do not deserve to lick the screen that Bart's writing appears on.
    Josh Fraser: right on Volpe has no chance of winning and if he really cared about the party he would quit before he hurts us more.

    By Blogger Aristo, at 5:26 p.m.  

  • Whoa now - Bart doesn't deserve that kind of treatment. He never has, and doesn't today. He's made very gentle fun with Volpe, and Volpe's missteps have earned him that gentle fun. John Stewart doesn't have the restaint that Bart does - I don't see people "sickened" at Stewart.

    Bart, in the style of Stewart, has never said anything malicious or cruel or ignorant about Joe Volpe. As a blogger and not a professional comedian, Bart's known his place isn't jokes, and has stuck to a very, er, "measured" tone of gentle fun.

    He's a good guy who is balanced and cool, and no one should talk like that to or about him.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 5:43 p.m.  

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 5:44 p.m.  

  • ok fine, he has been fair and wonderful. everyone else who has a blog should stop writing about candidates they dont like, and start talking about the issues, and what they like in their candidate. Personal attacks will get us nowhere.
    I am not supporting Iggy, but i will not bring up arguments why people should not support him. the comment about his camp leaking the story was factual though. that is what we dont need in our party.
    FYI: Volpe submitted the names and amounts to elections canada, as did all other candidates. age and parent occupation was not released by any campaign our required by elections canada. that was leaked in order to smear.

    By Blogger kenlister1, at 6:11 p.m.  

  • ktr: what proof do you have about that leak.
    None?
    I thought so.
    You are the one who should stop posting since you are the liar and smearer

    By Blogger Aristo, at 6:15 p.m.  

  • I agree with "no personal attacks", but here's the thing: Bart hasn't really made any of what I would call "personal attacks". He's kidded.

    A personal attack is rooted in anger, not in jest.


    *IF* that donation info really was leaked to the press - thank fucking god for it. That was dishonest and disgusting. I wouldn't accuse Volpe of personally being aware of it - it's very possible he wasn't. But big business cheating on campaign donations isn't what Canadians want, and if it's around, it should be outed.

    Whoever leaked it - good on them. And if anyone else in the campaign is doing the same or a similar thing - they should be outed, too.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 6:35 p.m.  

  • I personally have no problem with people bringing up reasons why we shouldnt choose a particular leader (ie Volpe is sleazy, Ignatieff spent too long as an ex-pat and supported the Iraq war, Rae cant win Ontario). If we dont do it now, THEY (the other parties) will do it later.

    By Blogger KC, at 7:08 p.m.  

  • I think there are a lot of fair criticisms people can make about candidates and it doesn't hurt to say them now. If you think Dion's female representation policy is bad, say so. If you think Kennedy's french is bad, say so. If you think Ignatieff's foreign policy views are bad, say so.

    And the Volpe stuff...well...I think he kind of brings it upon himself.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 9:08 p.m.  

  • ktr:

    It's not mean if its true.

    Manitoba,

    Jimmy K is not on the Dryden team, that was a joke post on Fuddle Duddle written by Alex, who works for Iggy in Montreal.

    By Blogger S.K., at 9:36 p.m.  

  • Go Hey!!!!


    GO Joe!!!~!!\

    Sytncro

    By Blogger syncrodox, at 2:21 a.m.  

  • Man Lib et al: Not that I'm defending Volpe or the Apotex scandal, but personally, I'm far more concerned about Ignatieff's cryptic support of torture and the justification for the efficacy of war as a means of democratization than anything Volpe's done.

    In the end, all this stuff is relatively minor. Bad blood between Jimmy K and Volpe? Minor. Karygiannis misrepresented Volpe's foreign policy views, caused a minor firestorm over it, and was relieved. All the story Bart links to was showing is that there's fallout from that; it's no different than when Joe Trippi and Howard Dean parted ways.

    That said, let's be honest here; a LOT of the calls for Volpe to drop out of the race are coming from loud supporters of other candidates that Joe is unlikely to hand off his candidates to. Thanks to that delegated convention the Liberals are using, Ignatieff's supporters have every reason in the world to yell for Volpe to quit; it could well be that Volpe's support ends up putting someone else "over the top". With it becoming increasingly unlikely that Ignatieff is going to be anybody's second choice, this matters a great deal.

    (As for the Kennedy supporters...damned if I know. Maybe they want to scoop up Volpe's immigrant support.)

    By Blogger Demosthenes, at 10:09 a.m.  

  • And Well, Kyles' post makes it offical the Kennedy Camp is on the attack.

    I dont speak for the Kennedy campaign. I speak for myself, and I think that if there are liabilities for the various candidates they should be aired now so we consider them when we choose our next leader. We can either air our concerns now, or the other parties will later. Its not like the baggage carried by the various candidates are secrets that, if we are quiet enough, the other parties wont know.

    By Blogger KC, at 3:45 p.m.  

  • Too many options... all of the tory moles are now conflicted. Volpe, Hedy, or Jimmy the K? Decisions, decisions, decisions!

    Have fun all, please keep up the circular firing squad!

    By Blogger Hey, at 4:11 p.m.  

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