Saturday, January 23, 2016

Justin Trudeau and the Deathly Gloom of the Con Media



I realize that the Con media in this country is going through some hard times.

One day the sorry slaves who toil in its bowels have a job, the next day they don't.

And of course their bosses are still VERY unhappy that Canadians ignored their advice and elected Justin Trudeau Prime Minister...



And are no doubt taking it out on their terrified employees.

But do those poor scribblers really have to be so relentlessly gloomy?



For only in Canada could a Prime Minister so recently elected, be accused of being too optimistic as Tim Harper does here.

If Justin Trudeau could lift the Canadian economy based on optimism, “positivity,” confidence and smiles, he would be presiding over much more than a country declared hip by some late-to-the party arrivals. He would be presiding over a global juggernaut.

But Trudeau is also risking something else with his relentlessly upbeat sloganeering and celebrity status. He is close to being defined by a self-created optimism gap.


As if being optimistic is a crime, and being gloomy would solve all our problems.

And then there is the old hack Margaret Wente, mocking Trudeau's appearance at the Davos meeting as only she could. 



Somewhere there must be a Trudeau speech generator. It is programmed to ensure that every other word he says is “diversity,” “positivity,” “optimism,” “inclusive,” “confidence,” “resilience,” “innovation” or “clean growth.” This is in contrast with the “negativity” and “division” of the past. The aim is to refresh the Canada brand. Let’s hope it goes better than New Coke.

With one hackneyed word after the other dripping with cynicism, which she mistakes for clever.

But then she is, at least in her own mind, our very own Marie Antoinette...



She would KILL to be at that bourgeois meeting, and like the original Marie Antoinette she must know her days are numbered.

So no wonder she's so gloomy.

But of course it's more than that, and I think this article in the Guardian that was written just a month after Trudeau won the election, still explains it best.

The Cons and their stooges in the MSM just can't stand his charming manner.

It’s not just Kennedy himself,” Guy Banister sneers of JFK in Don DeLillo’s Libra. “It’s the glowing picture we keep getting … mature, energetic, Harvard, world traveler, rich, handsome, lucky, witty. Perfect white teeth.” One might find these qualities attractive in a leader. Banister does not: “It fucking grates on me just to look at him,” he concludes.

Like Guy Banister they can't stand the sight of success.

Conservative voters are irritated, indignant – quite fed up, a month into his tenancy, with all that energy and charisma. With Trudeau they’re like Banister: it grates on them to just to look at him.

Or all that horrible youthfulness...



The trouble seemed more to do with optics: the prospective prime minister looked and sounded like a young person. He boxed and snowboarded. He called himself a proud feminist. He was good-looking and stylish. His arms bore tattoos. A sensible person sees these things and thinks: that sounds like a person I might like to vote for. But among a certain class of old-fashioned conservatives, such foppish trivialities are as transgressive as a heroin addiction. 

Youthfulness isn’t proper. It isn’t any way for a prime minister to be.

They miss their depraved old leader Stephen Harper, his darkness, and his grim mediocrity...



The appeal of Stephen Harper, I think, was founded in his apparent sobriety and stability – in the colorless mediocrity that, if not exactly winsome, could nevertheless be relied upon.

So this must be driving them crazy. 

And this must be driving them into the very pit of despair.

In the 79 days Justin Trudeau has been in office, his government has announced plans to revoke or change many of the policies of his predecessor, Stephen Harper. So far, the Liberals have reversed at least four “Harperisms.” The latest to fall is Canada’s tougher pardons system. On Thursday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced he would reverse changes that made getting a pardon for a criminal offense much more difficult.

For he may be youthful, and he may be charming, but he is slowly but surely destroying Stephen Harper's foul legacy...



So although I must admit that at times the relentless gloom of the Cons and their stooge media does get me down.

When I think how much the Cons must be suffering at seeing everything they built being demolished, I feel so much better.

Or feel like Ibrahim, one of those Syrian refugee kids I told you about the other day.



Ibrahim is the first on board. He’s fearless. As the toboggan gathers speed, he tilts his head back and appears to blow a kiss. Then he closes his eyes for an instant. He looks lost in happiness.

For I'd rather look at life through the eyes of the young, than through the eyes of the living dead.

So the Con media can shove their deathly gloom, appropriately enough, where the sun never shines.

Justin Trudeau is right, hope is everything.

And after ten years of Harper we will not surrender it that easily...

Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.

27 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:40 AM

    Thank you Simon! You really hit the nail on the head. The walking dead cannot push us down and ruin our mood. It really is spectacular after nine years of relentless rape and vandalism of Canada that we have all pushed back! This is why Canada is the best country on the planet!!

    Cheers

    TS

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    1. hi TS...thank you, I'm glad you liked the post. I really can't believe that the Con media would try to drag us back into the darkness from which we so recently emerged. But after all it took to take down the dictator, I'm certainly not going to look on helplessly and let them steal our new found hope. We defeated him, and we will defeat them...

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  2. Simon,

    You should warn us about that Guardian article and its description of Stephen Harper. Luckily, I had just put down my tea.

    Stephen Harper, Canada’s former prime minister, was a vacuous, anodyne nothing,...a kitty-petting photoshoot so unconvincing that you fear for the safety of the cat.

    BTW, kitten looked a bit annoyed and in danger.

    I had not really thought about the Con Base but Justin's style (plus his Cohen the Happy Wrecker approach to Con policy) must be driving them crazy. I do question the brown shoes with a blue suit.

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    1. hi jrkrideau....yes I really should have warned you, or run a picture of one of those cats. Preferably the one carrying Harper around in its mouth. ;)
      But the good news is that the Cons are indeed desperate, and goodness knows what they might do next...

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  3. Anonymous9:54 AM

    Watched him on CPAC answering questions in Davos from a gathering of youth and he was inspiring and brilliant and would surely send home to youth who may be leaders of all kinds of countries a message that will resonate and help them to change for the better. He talked about education, gender equality, peace.

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    1. hi anon...yes, it's ironic, but so tragically Canadian. Gazillions of people all over the world are impressed by our new leader, while here at home some are already trying to bury him, and bury us in hopelessness. The good news is that judging by the latest polls most Canadians are not impressed by those Cons, and Trudeau remains incredibly popular...

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  4. Anonymous10:03 AM

    Easy to understand how the con media would get ya down.Just finished reading Rex Murphy over at National Newswatch site doing his damnest to knock Trudeau down,same old same old, but the award for puff piece (national post)article of the day belongs to Ken Boessenkool and Sean Speer ,two former harper toadies which ends with this paragraph.

    "There will be much talk in the coming years about the path that Canadian conservatives (and Conservatives) ought to follow to return to government. Fortunately we will be guided on this journey by Mr. Harper’s powerful intellectual and political example. His legacy provides us with a map and a compass for the future. Conservatives would be wise to use them."
    Yes Simon they have all lost their minds.
    Do these people not read Michael Harris?


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    1. hi anon...yes, I read Murphy's teabagger rant, and watched him say more or less the same thing on The National. And as for Boessenkool and Speer's ode to Harper, I couldn't get past the first paragraph without bursting into laughter. Although I hope that the Cons do follow Harper's "powerful intellectual and political example," and that they do use his legacy as a "map and a compass for the future." For it will lead them into the The Abyss, and ensure they have no future. And yes I do believe that desperation has made them delusional....

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    2. e.a.f.1:39 AM

      Ah, old ken B. the guy who got the boot from B.C. after some "misunderstandings". Worked for Christy Clark and the B.C. Lieberals (Cons in makeup) Yes, of course Ken would lament the leaving of Harper. He worked for the Chrsity Clark who is still peddling LNG, giving $600 Million to the film industry last year, while 4 children died in care and the Minister responsible says, they're doing the best they can with what they have. Oh and a child in care, living at Tent City in Victoria. Then $100 Million for the tech crowd to come and party with Christy this year. Yes, they are doing the best they can, Ken's old friends in B.C.

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  5. Anonymous11:35 AM

    "The appeal of stephen harper, I think, was founded in his apparent sobriety and stability – in the colorless mediocrity that, if not exactly winsome, could nevertheless be relied upon".... to do the most destructive and vicious thing he could possibly conceive of for the continuing aggrandizement of himself to the detriment and dismantling of the country of Canada which he hates with a sociopathic ferocity.

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    1. hi anon...yes I think that Guardian line needed the helpful addition you provided. For that is the only thing he could be relied upon to do. And it does explain why he's now running all over the U..S. with a baseball cap pulled down over his nose. He know what he did, and that if there was any justice he would be in jail....

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  6. Anonymous11:56 AM

    Gloom and doom was always a big seller for news outlets. Unfortunately most world politicians have embraced it as a means of perpetuating their power. It works for a while but eventually voters get fed up and want change at which time there is opportunity for power seekers to turn bad news into either horrible news or more optimistic news. The status quo 'bad news ' gang are no longer an option.
    On the surface the bad/horrible news gang seem to be gaining in many of the allied countries but below the surface the general population are starting to realize that they have reached a cross roads and can either travel further down the gloom and doom path or embrace a more enlightened one. The gloomers will try and paint a bright shinny Camelot at the end of the long dark tunnel but when you are standing at the cross roads only the brain dead would choose the dark path with conjured up rewards in the distant future. There are a fair number of zombies around but it seems unlikely they have reached the 40 to 50% level. To make matters worse for the gloomers, Canada broke ranks and choose the 'sunny ways' path which could become an example for other countries. As a consequence we should expect gloomers everywhere to cast as many shadows on that path as they can. As in the past we need to resolve to be up to the challenge and prove them wrong again.
    RT

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    1. hi RT...I think the Cons and their stooges in the MSM are making a fundamental mistake. People don't want more gloom and doom, they get enough of that 24/7 on every news channel. They do want hope and optimism, and in my opinion that explains why Justin is still so popular. People don't want to let go of those feelings after having had to live in despair for so long while Harper and his goons wrecked their country. But then as I said in my post, the situation in the newsrooms of the nation is truly desperate, so the Con stooges have good reason to be gloomy, and are only trying to spread their own misery. Good luck, remind me not to take any flowers to their funeral....

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  7. Anonymous12:00 PM

    "it grates on them just to look at him" says it all. Their jealous rage at JT's popularity, their inability to blame Harper for their election loss and the state of our economy, and their inability to quit wallowing in their own self pity proves that these Con clowns will never be fit to govern this country. Until they are either "de-Harperized", or until they grow up and become a viable alternative by showing us how and what they would do for this country as opposed to smearing JT at every chance they get.
    JD

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    1. hi JD...yes, doesn't that grating line sum the situation up so well? To try to destroy Justin Trudeau they tried to turn him into the anti-christ, and now that he is Prime Minister they just can't stand it. They created their own boogy man, and now he's driving them crazy or making them look even more stupid, if that's possible. I honestly don't know what's going to happen to those Cons. But from what I see now I don't see them going anywhere...

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    2. e.a.f.1:42 AM

      well its hard to be on the loosing side after all the doom and gloom Harper peddled and people didn't buy it. Worst of all for the Cons, after Trudeau was elected we weren't invaded by ISIS, the economy had already started tanking with Harper, but people felt good about Trudeau. Then to top it off, he looks young, with a young wife and children and they all look happy. Must grate the hell out of the Cons. Me I love it. Its good for this country to look young again, because that is what we are, a young country.

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  8. Anonymous12:08 PM

    It is refreshing to see our new PM meeting with the media. Actually working for all Canadian's .

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    1. hi anon...yes it is good to see a Prime Minister answering questions from the media, instead of running from them like Harper did. So you might expect that the media would at least be grateful, but alas they are not. They stroked Stephen Harper like a pussy for almost ten years, but seem determined to destroy Justin Trudeau after just a few months. And then they wonder why they're in trouble. As the doctor in The Bridge on the River Kwai said after the bridge was blown up, madness, madness...

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  9. Anonymous7:04 PM

    "As if being optimistic is a crime, and being gloomy would solve all our problems."
    These words should be immortalized.

    Yesterday I was shocked and then horribly disappointed to find that the haters had got to even someone I had considered to be one of our best people here out west. Upon my mention of the pure delight on the face of Ibrahim and where to find the video, I got a snarl that we have always brought refugees in, so what's so special about these?
    It's getting to be only the poor who are capable of taking pleasure in the beautiful things we see developing in Canada.

    So much re-education needed. Thank you again, Simon, for hitting it dead on.

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    1. hi anon...thank you, I don't think that line deserves to be immortalized, but it does sum up how I feel about the situation. Everybody knows that we face great challenges, but how is being gloomy going to help us defeat them? It just doesn't make sense, it's practically madness. And I really despise those who would try to blot out the sun and have us all live in their filthy darkness. Celebrate what we have achieved, and then fight them, fight them, fight them....

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  10. Anonymous7:53 PM

    Well I live in Alberta and JT aint working for us so no not all Canadians. Bring on the regional hate. I do think sometimes the country is huge and this puts us at odds sometimes not really understanding each other. Alberta needs to do what Quebec did and get a country in a country or maybe get the 50% plus one. Ive have not seen the west so angry in 35 years and the separatist forces here having a field day. I have to repost this blog so we can all see how you really feel about us thanks. Very biased blog hater.

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    1. Hi anon...I had to read this post again to see what I have might have done to make you so angry. And I couldn't find anything. I realize the situation in Alberta is very bad these days, and I am sorry for the people who are suffering. But why are you blaming Justin Trudeau when he has only been in office for three months? I realize the West is angry , but why does so much hate spew out of Alberta in good times and bad times? Don't you think there's something bad about that? The fact is that Alberta mismanaged itself into the ground long before either Rachel Notley or Justin Trudeau came along. Neither they or any of us in the rest of the country had anything to do with the low price of oil. So hatred will not get you anywhere, and can only hurt you, or get you into trouble . So try to get beyond it, and let's see what we can all do to try to build up our economy again, and prepare ourselves for the challenges of the future. And if you are suffering stay strong, and as bad as things look now, they will get better...

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    2. Anonymous10:48 AM

      Thank you Simon for your reply to this anger from the West. Also for your stick handling of nonsense that you mention in your reply to Pam that follows. Your blog allows reasonable people to communicate without the hounding from hater cons. I know that your blog has allowed me to become engaged in politics again after disengaging out of frustration for last nine years.

      Both of my parents are Alberta bred and couldn't get out of there fast enough in the 50's and never looked back.

      Cheers to you Simon!

      TS

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  11. A GOOD DAY FOR RACHEL NOTLEY – BUT YOU’D NEVER KNOW IT WITH MEDIA AND OPPOSITION IN FULL-SCALE, UNRESTRAINED MELTDOWN
    http://albertapolitics.ca/2016/01/a-good-day-for-rachel-notley-but-youd-never-know-it-with-media-and-opposition-in-full-scale-unrestrained-meltdown/

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  12. Anonymous11:29 PM

    Hi Simon, last night when we heard about the shooting in La Loche, I saw so many horrible comments on line, one person even said ISIS had claimed responsibility and of course it's Justin Trudeau's fault for letting in the Muslims. Sadly Simon I think that's what they are hoping for, so they can say I told you so. These are vile dangerous people and the RCMP better do something soon. At least the Grandfather of the boys was thankful that the Prime Minister called him to offer his condolences , not like the husband of the lady killed in Africa. Apparently he wasn't sympathetic enough ? I mean who hangs up on the Prime Minister and goes to the media bragging about it Or blames Rachel Notley' for decades of mismanagement by the conservatives. I'm very afraid Simon, like their leader they have no moral compass and clearly are unable to think for themselves. Yes we criticized Harper harshly because he deserved it that's why he's gone. I never ever saw a death threat. They won't even give Justin a chance and now spend their days whipping up the mob of " gloomers " (love that) on Facebook and Twitter .
    Of course they're mad, Justin Trudeau is Brilliant and Harper ...... Is not. His only legacy after 9 years is the destruction that Justin is now repairing. No wonder he's hiding like a coward with a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes. His followers should do the same. Thanks for keeping me laughing Simon. You are the highlight of my day. Pam

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    1. hi Pam...thank you, we all do need to keep smiling, and never let those ghastly Cons depress us or drag us down into their own misery. Their reaction to Justin Trudeau's victory has been simply appalling. Talk about bad losers. And yes, like you I am worried that their deranged ravings could poison the well, and lead to some kind of tragedy. For they are deranged, they are howling at the moon, and it is creating climate of violence. You wouldn't believe some of the comments I'm getting, and promptly deleting. They leave me staring at the screen or at the black hole where their comments disappeared, shaking my head, and wondering from what kind of brutish Con beast did that spring from? Does it walk on all fours or live in the trees, or fly around at night? But although I am thinking of installing iron bars in my bedroom window, one can't be too careful eh? And I've never been able to master the old duck trick of sleeping with one eye open. All that madness is just desperation. They didn't see it coming, and they don't know what they're doing...

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  13. e.a.f.1:34 AM

    What I like about Trudeau and his Cabinet Ministers at the conference is they held over 70 meetings while there. Trudeau met with the head of NATO and the a couple of other heads of whatever. They were working on behalf of Canada.

    people ought to be happy we have a young P.M.. At least he is still in touch with the world.

    Poor old Wente. Frequently when we see Trudeau speaking he doesn't have notes. Gee, we may have a crop of politicians in Ottawa who can think and speak all at the same time as smiling. Nice change.

    At 66 it is nice to see a P.M. who is creating some smilies and optimism. Its about time. The new government can't control the world economy, but it will be nice if we have some one leading the country helping people believe there are better days ahead. Oh, right there was an American President who was keen on that sort of stuff, name started with an R.

    some times to get the ball rolling all you need is people to believe in themselves and their country. Yes, its going to be tough, but if there are social programs to help people things will get better.

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