Thursday, January 11, 2007

I Love LaP


Bloggers everywhere today shed a tear as the man who has done oh so much to inspire us over the years said goodbye to politics. Luckily, Jason Kenney's recent promotion to Cabinet should soon help fill the void.

As a tribute to Lapierre, I have scoured my archives and come up with some of my favourite Jean Lapierre posts from over the years. Ahh...the memories...

1. My third post ever was a lengthy rant about Jean Lapierre after the nomination mess in Quebec and his wish that the RCMP would help the Liberals out by "laying some charges already" in Adscam.


2. This recap of the first time I heard Lapierre speak in person:

As for the speech, it wasn't bad. His English is a lot better than Anne McLellan's French (reason #26 why she'll never be Prime Minister) and he's great at throwing passion into his voice. He had a great line along the lines of: "My wife is confused. She hears on the news that all we talk about in government is sex and then when I come home, I'm too tired out from all the talk about sex to...". He mentioned that Stephen Harper would not be able to break into Quebec (wow! shocker!) [ed note: boy, were we ever both off on that one] and that Gilles Ducceppe will leave to become leader of PQ (I believe Lapierre said "Premier of Quebec" which is not how I'd be wording it if I were a Jean Charest supporter). It sounds to me like the Liberal's Quebec strategy consists of hoping Gilles Ducceppe leaves federal politics and I'm not sure if this is really the best way to win back the province. But, then again, Jean Lapierre is a political genius and I'm not, so maybe it's not such a bad idea.

3. Jean Lapierre moment of biennial convention

During his speech on Friday night he said, and I quote, word for word: “The Bloc won those seats in Quebec by accident”.

4. From April 2005:

"It's a good position to be in, you don't want to peak too soon." Said Jean Lapierre, on the Liberals nose-dive in the polls in Quebec on the National. Lapierre, who took over as Martin's Quebec Lieutenant amid speculation the Bloc was about to go the way of the Socreds, refused to reveal when he hopes the party will "peak" in Quebec. 2008? 2012?


5. On his election strategery:

When asked how he'd defend his Party during the campaign [wrt Adscam], he answered that he'd say he wasn't a Liberal when this happened.


6. In trouble with Elections Canada:

In an article in today's Globe about how Elections Canada deals with those who
accidentally break election rules, they mentioned that Jean Lapierre got in a bit of trouble for
showing his ballot to a TV camera. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the infraction didn't occur on October 30th, 1995.


7. Then there was the time in the last campaign when he compared the BQ to the Nazis (my how his little temporary ad hoc rainbow coalition has grown up into a genocidal force bent on world domination) .



And, above all else, Jean Lapierre has always been an easy punchline. Even Jean Chretien got his jabs in:

When asked about the party banning people for life, Chretien gets off the line of the day: "Well, I never knew the party had that power. If I'd known I had that power...well...I might have used it on several occasions. For example, when Monsieur Lapierre left the party to found the Bloc Quebecois, I would have banned him for life." ZING!



LaP's most lasting contribution to the Canadian politics was, of course, his coining of the term "Temporary ad hoc rainbow coalition" to describe his founding of the Bloc Quebecois. The same way the Daily Show uses "NAMBLA" as their recurring gag, LaP's phrase has been gold for bloggers and a guaranteed cheap laugh. Maybe it's because it sounds like a gay pickup line or maybe it's because it was the most colourful downplaying in the history of politics, but the term had staying power.

So while LaP may be gone, his legacy will live on. We will all miss you Jean.

22 Comments:

  • I hope Paul Martin has enough dignity to retire soon. It's sad watching him with that frozen smile on his face, accepting the polite, patronizing applause from fellow Liberals.

    By Blogger nuna d. above, at 5:50 p.m.  

  • My favorite J-LaP moment was when he joined the Bloc MPs and boo-ed Don Cherry in the House.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:45 p.m.  

  • Will opportunistic Liberals please stop wasting tax-payer dollars when they get bored and decide to do something else, like run for mayor or find some pet project? or stop crossing the floor when the opportunity arises?


    ...

    No?

    Oh ok. Sorry, I forgot, it's the Liberal party we're talking about.

    By Blogger M. Salty, at 8:49 p.m.  

  • Hey! Have you guys heard that David Beckham just signed a 5-year contract with the L.A. Galaxy for somewhere in $200-350 million range?

    Apparantly he's not doing it for the money though. Kind of sad really, I mean, I thought that our Canadian politicians had the corner on assinine floor crossings & about faces, and now we're not even the best in the world at that.

    By Blogger just a guy..., at 9:03 p.m.  

  • This has got to be the cheapest report ever paid for by a federal govt!!

    (found in today's 'Star' at http://www.thestar.com/News/article/170314)
    The government paid $12,764.50 for Khan's 19-day fact-finding mission to the Middle East, including $7,903.91 in air fare, $3,173.20 for hotels and $1,687.19 for meals and incidentals. The mission took Khan to Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and Lebanon last September.

    By Blogger just a guy..., at 9:19 p.m.  

  • "Paul Martin has demonstrated tremondous diginity and class"

    When he was stealing the pension surplus of the Voyageur busline workers when he owned the company? When he abused office to prevent the Voyageur workers from getting their stolen pension money back? When he gave $116 million of taxpayers money to his own company and then called the Gomery inquiry to distract attention from this act?When he was stabbing Jean Chretien and Sheila Copps in the back? When he had his ships worked on in the Phillipines so he wouldn't have to pay Canadian union wages or Canadian taxes?

    By Blogger nuna d. above, at 9:47 p.m.  

  • I'm not sure Paul Martin has displayed very much dignity and class, personally.

    Dan, that is a pretty good ZING - first time I've heard it.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 10:57 p.m.  

  • I thought that our Canadian politicians had the corner on assinine floor crossings & about faces

    Chalk that one up under "Lines I Wish I'd Thought Of"!

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 11:00 p.m.  

  • Thanks J-bo, you're very kind ;)

    By Blogger just a guy..., at 11:13 p.m.  

  • "Bloggers everywhere today shed a tear as the man who has done oh so much to inspire us over the years said goodbye to politics. "


    Oh please.....

    By Blogger Sherlock, at 12:10 a.m.  

  • Jean Lapierre and Wajid Khan.

    Proof that occasionally rats desert rising ships.

    By Blogger Reality Bites, at 3:25 a.m.  

  • RB - I thought Belinda was the one who proved that...

    By Blogger just a guy..., at 8:47 a.m.  

  • Another Martin weasel I won't miss.

    By Blogger Don, at 9:42 a.m.  

  • Here's LaP in today's Star:
    "He (Dion) has to allow the party to re-establish its virginity," Mr. Lapierre said.

    Really, really am going to miss this guy

    By Blogger just a guy..., at 2:42 p.m.  

  • I just hope he aint replaced by Justin Trudeau. The LAST thing this country needs is another Trudeau.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 2:55 p.m.  

  • Hello,
    My name is Cristina Dumitru. We analysed your blogg and we are interested to enter in contact with you and purpose to become an accredited BLOGGER of Publicationweb.com.
    Publicationweb.com will give you a greater visibility . Note that it is completely free service.

    Thank you for your time!

    Cristina.dumitru@publicationweb.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:20 p.m.  

  • Useful informative, I am very happy to read this article..Thanks for giving us this useful info!

    By Anonymous Data recovery software, at 2:19 a.m.  

  • By Blogger raybanoutlet001, at 9:23 p.m.  

  • Call Girls in Karachi
    We give such a young lady. If it's not too much trouble, reach us
    This is another motivation behind why to call young ladies in Karachi is better, not normal for autonomous escorts administration or whores where you will simply have irregular young ladies to choose from, escort young ladies in Pakistan is diverse on the grounds that you are in absolute authority over the individual you will decide to invest your energy with for the afternoon, the evening, the week
    Escorts in Karachi

    By Blogger Saba, at 6:27 a.m.  

  • It's easy to find a good looking girl in Islamabad. The city has a liberal population, but the older generations tend to stay home. There is a lot of male pressure, and girls don't have much choice.

    By Anonymous Call Girls in Islamabad, at 12:44 a.m.  

  • New best Hindi and English Sex Stories for free, sex stories hindi, Indian sexy stories daily, hot girls, bhabhi and aunties. फ्री सेक्स कहानी ka मजा लें.

    By Anonymous Free sexy kahaniya, at 2:17 p.m.  

  • minoxidil hair growth is an antihypertensive vasodilating agent used for resistant hypertension that is symptomatic or has caused organ damage.

    By Blogger Well Shop, at 7:15 a.m.  

Post a Comment

<< Home