Goodbye Mr. Dithers

What a relief. Paul Martin really is gone for good.

I'm with Jonathan Ross on this one. Good riddance indeed.

Just curious

Does anyone know what was going on with blogger yesterday?

The Anti-Trudeau

From Chantal Hebert:

"Beyond the mere politics of the trip, [Harper's] choice of this destination for his first foreign foray as Prime Minister signals a style of leadership that stands in stark contrast with that of Paul Martin. For two years, Martin navigated with his finger stuck on the pulse of public opinion. His boldest gesture — the creation of the Gomery commission — might have gone against the grain of the Liberal establishment but it did go with the flow of Canadian anger at the sponsorship scandal.

Harper has made it abundantly clear this week that he did not become Prime Minister to join a parade but rather to try to lead it."

From David Warren:

"Prime Minister Harper has done what few politicians do (and those only the greatest, or the stupidest) by going to Afghanistan. He has staked his future on changing public opinion on a crucial issue. According to the one poll I’ve seen (Strategic Counsel) he has already galvanized support for our mission in Afghanistan — and at the moment when we were getting our first serious casualty warnings...

...Mr Harper not only went to Kandahar, he said unambiguously that Canada will not cut and run. That was the “line in the sand” for which the public were looking. Bold, clear leadership will get support. Timid, confused leadership will not."

From Andrew Coyne:

"A new world nation such as ours, a nation of immigrants, settled in the recent past, is never going to be defined by ties of blood or culture. That is, it cannot define itself in terms of its identity: the features common to all of its people and unique to them, that mark them apart from other peoples. And yet that is what our nationalists attempted. Stepping into the post-imperial void, they created us in their own self-image, as inveterate statists, diffident, polite, and above all not-American.

This had many weaknesses, and gave rise to all sorts of pathologies, among them an inability to debate policy as policy, rather than what it portended for our identity. But at its root it failed to ask a rather important question: Why? Not who are we, but why are we? Why this set of borders and not others? For all their perpetual alarm at this or that threat to Our Very Existence, Canadian nationalists never seemed to have given much thought to why Canada should exist. And having failed to ask the question ourselves, we found we had little answer when others asked it for us.

Implicit in Mr. Harper’s address is a very different sort of nationalism: a nationalism of moral purpose. Canada exists to do good, for its own people and for the world. It is defined by its beliefs and measured by its acts, not by the virtues of its people, real or imagined. Indeed, it makes no claim to uniqueness in this regard, but rather upholds principles that are timeless and universal. But it aspires to be the best exemplar of these: in Mr. Harper’s words, to “be a leader.”

Looking upon each of these columnists' impressions of the Prime Minister and his daring trip to Afghanistan seems to reveal a common thread: the perception of Harper as a man sure of vision, determined to shape public opinion rather than become shaped by it, to take Canada in another direction.

It is probably still far to early too tell, but signs are beginning to emerge that Stephen Harper is a different kind of Conservative Prime Minister. One endowed with the kind of intellectual prowess, steel will and clarity of vision to match that of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and yet driven by a determination to dismantle his legacy, bit by bit.

The Canadian conservative movement and Canada itself may finally have the kind of leader both have needed for so long. It appears that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may just be, to devise a phrase for it, our anti-Trudeau.

The Prince of Darkness, for Liberal Leader?

Yep, a Draft Kinsella site has emerged.

Seriously though, he'd be far better then any of the current prospective field. But then where would all the Martinistas go, given how much they hate the man and all?

Hat tip to Calgary Grit.

You can get caught having sex with an intern, but...

...whatever you do, just don't get caught having a root beer with lunch!


Unbelievable. You have to know the PM is truly kicking ass when this is the best they can come up with.

I guess this means that neither Reg Alcock nor Mauril Belanger will ever be Prime Minister.

I can't even put into words how stupid I think this nonsense is.

Good Times

The latest from Kinsella:

So here I am, in sunny, hot Sanibel Island, having a great family holiday, and I'm writing for a great newspaper, and I have great friends, and I'm having a great time playing noisy punk rock with three other thugs, and I'm having an equally great time driving my enemies crazy, and I all of a sudden think this great, great thought:

"Hey! Paul Martin got his ass kicked. He's gone, maaaan. He's really, truly gone."

Now THAT, truly, is a great thing.

Indeed.

Well said Prime Minister, well said

Photo credit: AP Photo CP - Tom Hanson

From Prime Minister Harper's speech to the troops in Afghanistan.

"Standing up for core Canadian values, taking on the dangers you're taking on, these things are not easy. It is never easy particularly for the men and women who are on the front lines. And there may be some who want to cut and run.

But cutting and running is not your way, it is not my way and it is not the Canadian way. We don't make a commitment and then run away at the first sign of trouble. We don't and we will not, as long as I am leading this country."

If Jack Layton and his friends on the opposition benches want a debate, they ought to follow the Prime Minister's lead, catch a flight to Kandahar and ask our troops in person how they feel about the idea.

A debate would have been more than called for before the troops were deployed to Afghanistan. Quite clearly, it is too late for that now. The least Layton and Co. could do is now is stand behind them while they remain in harm's way.

I for one find it disgraceful how he is using this issue to score a few cheap political points with his far-left anti-American wacko base.

For shame.

Oh, and I like this guy too

From the Associated Press:

While Cuba played the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, a spectator in the stands raised a sign saying: "Down with Fidel," sparking an international incident that escalated Friday with the velocity of a major league fastball.

The image of the man holding the sign behind home plate was beamed live Thursday night to millions of TV viewers _ including those in Cuba. The top Cuban official at the game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan rushed to confront the man.

Puerto Rican police quickly intervened and took the Cuban official _ Angel Iglesias, vice president of Cuba's National Institute of Sports _ to a nearby police station where they lectured him about free speech.

"We explained to him that here the constitutional right to free expression exists and that it is not a crime," police Col. Adalberto Mercado was quoted as saying in El Nuevo Dia, a San Juan daily.

Hat tip to North American Patriot.

Have I told you that I love this guy?

Can you imagine Chretien, Martin, or any Prime Minister in the last four or five decades having the courage to do this?

Finally, for the first time in my life, a Prime Minister who actually makes me proud to be Canadian.

UPDATE: I should mention that, as a commentor on Waking Up on Planet X pointed out, Chretien made a visit to Kabul in 2003.

My understanding is that the current mission in Kandahar is far more dangerous (making Harper's trip a lot more risky) but as I should, I'll give credit where credit is due.

Looking for a laugh?

Then just head over to Jason Cherniak's blog and check out the posts here and here.

The Liberal Party (or at least the Martin faction within it) is not just a political party for this guy, it's a full blown cult.

Stick a fork in Shapiro, he's done

Just click on the top video link on this page, and you'll see what I mean.

Among the highlights in the clip:

-Shapiro was found in contempt of Parliament for comments regarding Tory MP Deepak Obrai

-Shapiro is accused of seriously mishandling both the Grewal/Dosanjh and Sgro investigations

-Democracy Watch's Duff Conacher: "he has shown that he is both incompetent and biased, and that's cause enough for dismissal."

-Ed Broadbent: "I don't think that he's the right man for the job."

When Conacher and Broadbent are backing the PM on this, you have to know Shapiro's finished.

Harper pulled what I would call a political judo manouvre on this one. He took something that was likely to damage him politically (an investigation on the Emerson appointment) and used it to utterly destroy Shapiro's credibility instead.

In short, Shapiro just received a well deserved Prime Ministerial ass kicking.