Tag Archives: bob rae

Funny Story…

green party, liberal party,

When I posted the text and video of Obama’s Iowa victory speech last Friday I gave very little thought as to why I was doing so. It had just resonated with me and inspired me, and I wanted to share it. I also really liked the parallels I saw between his campaign (the message of change and hope, the example that an underdog can surprise you, the way he’s bringing together people from across the old political spectrum) and the campaign we’re running here. To illustrate those parallels, I linked select words and phrases from Obama’s speech to pages on this site.

So I was a little surprised to see that Bob Rae posted the exact same video to his site one day after I did, with the directive to “[reflect] on what it means for Canada.” It’s surprising because I’m not sure why he’d want to draw attention to the fact that new ideas beat out experience, that future thinking beat a politician from the past, that the candidate who everyone was sure was going to win is now, well…

Then again, maybe, like me, he just got inspired and didn’t give it much thought.

Cons Rooting For Bob?

conservative party, green party, liberal party

A commenter just tipped me off about this post on Garth Turner’s blog. (Yes, this is the first time I’ve mentioned his name since our emotional break-up last October. Never mind that.) Garth makes some very interesting–if non-specific–accusations about the Conservative campaign here in Toronto Centre. Namely, that it’s being sabotaged by the PMO:

Unable to hobble the new Liberal leader with its tidal wave of smear and innuendo, the Harper Party strategists are hoping Mr. Ignatieff and especially Mr. Rae still have the scent of power in their nostrils. The plan is to facilitate a Rae victory in Toronto Centre, get Bob Rae into the House and have Stephane Dion sitting smack in the middle of the two guys from whom he snatched victory. Then [Prime Minster Stephen Harper] will start bating them, ask rhetorically who is in charge, and again attack Dion, mocking his consensual style of leadership as being weak.

And it gets even more scandalous:

That explains the on-the-ground strategy in Toronto Centre. It explains what PMO political operations director Doug Finley is doing. It certainly clarifies the media blackout, the hobbling of the local campaign and the complete disregard for the hard work and honest efforts of Conservatives there. Mr. Harper is about to elect Mr. Rae.

Don’t believe me? Ask the poor candidate.

There, in that last line, and again in the intro, Turner twice suggests that our Conservative candidate himself has been complaining of being sabotaged by his own party. He does not, however, offer any specific evidence or examples, nor does he give us any idea what kind of “political operations” and “hobbling of the local campaign” Conservative war room chief Doug Finley might be up to. I’m also left to wonder why the Conservatives would bother, since Rae is all but guaranteed to win anyway. Still, makes for some interesting speculation. Maybe one of our regular commenters can help clear this up.

Nomination Crashers

liberal party, toronto

Claire and I crashed the Toronto Centre Liberal nomination meeting tonight. (How amused was I to see at least four or five other people at the meeting who I know are supporting my campaign? We exchanged knowing glances and Sting-style nose-taps. I guess it was just the place to be.) As of right now neither the blogosphere nor Google News are reporting the results of the vote between Bob Rae and Meredith Cartwright.

In conversation with Rob Oliphant and Mathieu Chantelois (a former nomination contestant and once rumoured nomination contestant, respectively) I heard a funny story. First though, some background.

A few weeks back I was sitting outside of Starbucks on Church Street with some friends, people watching. One man walked by wearing a Michael Ignatieff scarf. “Hey look,” we said. “That guy’s wearing a Michael Ignatieff scarf.” Then, two minutes later, Bob Rae walked by. “Hey look,” we said. “There’s Bob Rae.” So I got up and introduced myself as the Green candidate, we chatted for a bit, and then he continued on his walk.

Now, back to the nomination meeting. When Rob introduced me to Mathieu as the nominated Green candidate, Mathieu said, “oh, so you work at Starbucks.” Not having the above story fresh in my mind, I thought he was making some strange joke. (“Because the Starbucks sign is green?,” I thought.) But yes, as it turns out there’s a story going around in the Rae campaign (Mathieu hadn’t heard this directly from Bob) that Bob met me when I sold him a coffee.

No? Ok, well, it was funny to me.