December 1st, 2006
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*Ted and others today have been posting about the large group of Ignatieff supporters that greeted Iggy when he arrived at the convention centre this morning, and, more specifically, the CBC’s Susan Bonner calling it “the moment of the convention.” I have to disagree with Susan. All the camps have pre-arranged groups of supporters on hand as their candidates enter the hall. All are loud and boisterous. It makes for great b-roll for Susan and the other broadcast journalists, but it’s just theatre. The air war is over, the delegates are all here now and they’re a little too busy to watch TV. Jeff Jedras, a BCer in Toronto
Right now Jeff’s is my go to blog for convention coverage. Pictures and real live blogging from convention events. And a sense of humour.
Written by jay on December 1st, 2006 with no comments.
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As nearly as I can see from Bob Lefsetz’s post the man walked around the block in downtown Vancouver. Apparentluy no one told him that its a peninsula:
But it turned out not to be the bay. But a river. Off in the distance, high in the sky, I could see the lights of Grouse Mountain, where people were night skiing. But down at my level… There was fog. Across the river were evergreens fading in and out of sight. It was just like “Snow Falling On Cedars”. There wasn’t a single other soul there, but I felt so ALIVE! It was just me and my thoughts. L.A. is fun in the sun, Vancouver is people. Three-dimensional. Not dieted down for photo shoots, but human beings. bob lefsetz
The Ramones; ex-manager gets Vancouver. Delightful.
Written by jay on December 1st, 2006 with no comments.
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During a session in which Rae took questions from delegates, one Liberal member asked if he thought Volpe was getting a tougher time during the race than he deserved.
“I’ve known Joe for a long time, and he’s one of the most practiced, seasoned parliamentarians and politicians in the country,” Rae said. ctv
Somehow, and it could be the spaghetti wine talking, I can’t get some weird variant of the Paul Simon lyric out of my head:
Where have you gone, Joe Volpe?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Ooo ooo ooo).
What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?
“Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away.”
It doesn’t scan but it catches the essence of Rae’s pandering.
Written by jay on December 1st, 2006 with no comments.
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A message from Kofi! How many world leaders would get a message from him? Jason Cherniak
Jason is too bright a guy to have missed the wonderfully ironic fact that the Holy Dumpling is just the sort of chap the corrupt ex Secretary General of the UN would have in his Rolodex (Blackberry….whatever). Says anything, does nothing, has a thousand top priorities that he never quite got around to. (Kinda like that Rwanda thing Kofi was going to deal with when he had time.)
More generally, it is a sign of just how far out of it the Dumpling was and the Liberal Party remains that a message from Kofi is somehow news.
Written by jay on December 1st, 2006 with no comments.
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Over at Stephen Taylor’s site he has a video interview with the ever twitchy Ann McLellan. She has a few harsh things to say about Ted Morton and thinks the Liberal convention is going to more exciting the more ballots there are.
What is interesting is that with not much more than a handheld video camera and You-Tube, Steve is doing pretty much the same thing as CPAC. A bit of image stabilization and someone else to hold the camera and Steve would be his own TV show every bit as well done as the average news cast.
Now, as I watch the CBC and its lamer buddies in MSM-TV ask the CRTC for a subscription fee and more advertising time I can’t help but think that Steve is on to something. Seriously, if all the bloggers at the Liberal convention had video cameras and there were a couple of people willing to edit tape and provide commentary there would be a fascinating bit of coverage at next to no cost. And, I suspect there would be a fair number of people willing to contribute a little money to see such coverage.
The CBC should be very, very worried.
Written by jay on December 1st, 2006 with 2 comments.
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At peak there were several hundred people upstairs, with a lineup going down the stairs, more people on the main level, more people milling around outside. These were people from all camps, Iggy people, Rae people, Dion people, all of who presumably passed up the chance to spend that time at their own candidate’s hospitality suite. I think the momentum is in the air, and i was really glad to see the broad support for my candidate because I believe he is best positioned to heal old wounds and renew this party as leader and Prime Minister. Gavin Magrath
The Tyee’s own Laura Drake (who seems to have made quite a hit in the blogging room) cites Paul Wells’ first law of Canadian politics that the most boring outcome is the likeliest.
While this may be true my own largely infallible and non-partisan rule of thumb is that the candidate with the best parties wins. The old joke that “they don’t call them political parties” for nothing is surprisingly acute.
The party/pretty rule actually makes sense if you look at the nature of political conventions. Essentially, for a week, very powerful people behave as if they are at a pep rally in a particularily enthusiastic highschool. Grown men and women put on silly hats, odd scarves and festoon themselves with buttons. They listen to a lot of policy debate which is about as important as Grade nine social studied because, as one Liberal realist said, “The Leader makes policy.” ( The implications of this application of Führerprinzip to Canadian politics is meat for another day.) They pay homage to the glorious past - “We’ll not see Bill Graham’s like again.” - and ritual deference to the Gods (and their sons on Earth). They cheer for their team during “demonstrations”. They show spirit and pep.
And party!
Now, remember Friday night in high school? Remember when a cool kid and a not so cool kid had a party the same Friday night? Or remember the difference between nightclubs with lineups and those you could just walk into? The biggest difference between a good and a mediocre party is that people want to be at a good party.
As in high school, so in life.
The weird part of the party principle is that it can’t be faked. Either a party rocks or it doesn’t. It is either the place to be or deadsville.
From various blog accounts it sounds like Kennedy won the first round. But he may have peaked too soon. After all, the first night is basically the Grade eight sock hop where everybody comes and nobody is quite sure who’s cool and who’s lame. There are two more party nights to the vote and party mo can spin on a dime.
(On a related note: KMG and I agree that one of the sure signs of a winning campaign is that the women involved are markedly pretty. Which, I suspect, may be the reason parties hosted by candidates who are in contention are rather more fun than some of the others.)
Written by jay on December 1st, 2006 with 1 comment.
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