I've been trying very hard to ignore Jody Wilson-Raybould and her best buddy Jane Philpott, because like most Canadians I'm sick to death of the fake scandal.
Which in my opinion has now reached such a level of absurdity, it's starting to resemble an episode of mass psychosis.
I should add that I've also done my best to ignore the persistent rumour that the two women are involved in some kind of bizarre plot to topple Justin Trudeau, and make Wilson-Raybould Prime Minister.
For I thought that was not just absurd, it was laughable.
And then I saw this.
A photo of Wilson-Raybould and Philpott holding court at the Chateau Laurier, and I had to admit, it did look like they just might be plotting something.
So I wasn't really surprised to see this from the old Con fluffer Paul Wells.
This is Philpott’s first interview since she resigned over Trudeau’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin controversy. She believes, as she put it, that “there’s much more to the story that needs to be told” but that it can’t come out because “there’s been an attempt to shut down the story”—an attempt she attributed to the Prime Minister and his close advisors.
Who while conducting the softest interview since he stroked Stephen Harper with a chicken feather, failed to press Philpott on why after four hours of testimony Wilson-Raybould would need even more time to tell "her truth."
Or why she and her darling Jody couldn't just walk into the House of Commons and spill their guts, as the highly respected former Common's Law Clerk Rob Walsh says they are free to do anytime they want:
Former House of Commons law clerk @toccataprima says Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott can speak freely on the SNC-Lavalin affair under parliamentary privilege: "They are totally at liberty to say whatever they want in the House or appearing before a committee." pic.twitter.com/MT5Z1ucgzK— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) March 21, 2019
But whatever, that's not new either, and like the Philpott interview certainly not surprising. Jane will say or do anything to keep her Jody happy.
What is surprising, and deeply disturbing, is this article.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals want the SNC-Lavalin affair to go away. They will not succeed until former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould is satisfied. It’s not clear that she will be satisfied until Trudeau resigns as Liberal leader.
Which suggests that Wilson-Raybould has ulterior motives. And that far from standing up for any principles, is mainly interested in feathering her own nest.
Trudeau has already been badly wounded by this affair, losing both Butts, and top bureaucrat Michael Wernick. But if these wounds become mortal, either before or after the October election, Wilson-Raybould is primed and ready to replace him.
For if that's true, for me it's where this story goes off the rails. Or as in the tale of Thelma and Louise goes off the cliff...
For let's be clear, if Jody Wilson-Raybould truly believes she can manipulate herself into the Prime Minister's Office...
She is frankly deluded, and the fake scandal is more fake than even I thought it was.
Finally, what is also clear to me is that this story is still being driven by the Con media, who seven weeks after it started can't seem to let it go.
So I thought I share this tweet with you, which might offer us all a way out..
I wonder if this Freudian slip by Evan Solomon might actually prove to be helpful. If the Con media can’t get their obsession with the fake scandal out of their systems, could a laxative solve the problem? #cdnpoli https://t.co/r1jwJAboTN— ๐จ๐ฆ Simon ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ๐ (@montrealsimon) March 19, 2019
Yup, the truth is supposed to set us free.
But in this country the elusive search for "her truth" has the country trapped in a whirlpool.
Going around and around in a toilet bowl.
And just about ready to be flushed...
I knew it! I knew it! Brutus and Cassius stabbed the young Caesar! This is Warren's revenge against Justin, and Jody's goal of a self-fulfilling prophecy that her daddy told Pierre 30+ years ago!
ReplyDeleteTHAT MANIPULATIVE BITCH!
I learned a long time ago to ignore anything Mr. Walkom writes. He gave up anything resembling analysis for idle speculation when Jean Chretien was PM.
ReplyDeleteLook past all of the hype. I see a government that is calm and getting on with the job at hand. Budget 2019 demonstrates that very well.
Meanwhile the Official Opposition are absolutely manic. They are flailing around like someone put a frog down the back of their shirt. Just look at the voting marathon. They are voting against everything, including alot of things that Canadians care about and they are giving the Liberals plenty with which crack them over the head come October. The Liberals will not need to "go negative" they will only need to keep repeating the Conservative Party's voting record in 2019. Someone did not think the voting marathon all they way through I believe.
By the way, Mr. Butts is not gone he just changed work locations. I would bet a substantial amount of money that when he left the PMO he walked down to Laurier Avenue and took up his old office at Liberal Party HQ. He was instrumental in the Liberal victory in 2015 and now he is free to take on that task again without having to worry about the governing responsibilities he had as the PM's Principle Secretary.
It seems Trudeau is letting these two bitter hags burn themselves out. He isn't giving them the satisfaction of expelling them. He's letting them enjoy life on the back-benches howling at the moon. It's the Warren Kinsella sour grapes club. Neither JWR or JP will ever be the leader of the LPC. Given the numbers in Quebec it will be extremely difficult for the CPC to form government. Trudeau should say he is happy to let JWR and JP appear before the ethics committee just as long as Scheer produces the transcripts of his three meetings with SNC executives.
ReplyDeleteYou know what? I think maybe Justin should call her bluff. Graciously give her the job in a surprise move over the summer, and then laugh as she fails upwards, like Cameron to May or Mulroney to Campbell. Promoted to her own incompetence. You think you can do better, huh? Have at it!
ReplyDeleteI say, take some time off, mellow out, spend some time with Sophie and the kids, and from the sidelines, partner up with Delacourt, Hebert or Mallick (hey, a female author) to write a book and tell HIS truth -- which is THE truth and nothing but THE truth. Go on a media tour like Hillary did. Boycott the Canadian trash tabloids and head to the USA. Go on 60 Minutes again and tell the story of a palace coup.
Add women, change politics? Yeah... a pox on her big house, because eventually it's going to fall down upon her and her boots curl up under the foundation, while the glass ceiling slices her to shreds. Professionally, of course. Ding-dong, the Wicked Bitch of the West.
Jackie Blue, you're a good writer, but your last para. is beneath you. In the upcoming election every Liberal sitting in Parliament will have to return and that includes JWR and Philpot.
DeleteNot everyone agrees with JWR, but suggesting she be promoted to her own incompetence, is not what, the Liberal Party or Canadians need. It is very much doubted she will have any incompetence, if she is promoted.
Campbell didn't win the election because Canadians were fed up with Mulroney. Ms. Campbell might have also been distracted at the time. As to May, don't like her, but she is anything but incompetent.
JWR has much to offer Canada. Wouldn't be surprised to see her on the Supreme Court of Canada some day. Just because we disagree with some one, doesn't mean they're incompetent or a lousy person. We just disagree and we move forward.
"JWR has much to offer Canada. Wouldn't be surprised to see her on the Supreme Court of Canada some day."
DeleteYou think? JWR has much to offer the Cons and what she's offering will cause further damage to the Liberals, possibly giving the worst possible choice, Scheer, the reins of power. So I think I'll turn that offer down.
As for the Supreme Court, it's reserved for people who are free from and don't let spite and petty vindictiveness light their way.
JD
As for the Supreme Court, it's reserved for people who are free from and don't let spite and petty vindictiveness light their way.
DeleteIt's probably "beneath" JWR anyway. She won't quit until she's toppled the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and the Dalai Lama only to become frustrated that the world doesn't bow down and worship her as God. More like DoG: Delusion of Grandeur. The DSM should classify "Wilson-Raybould's disease" as a synonym for narcissistic personality disorder.
She's got some damn nerve comparing Justin to Richard Nixon. He's more like Jimmy Carter, the unfortunate idealist run out of sleazy politics by "collusion" between the lunatic right and an internal party coup. As for JWR? She makes Donald Trump look humble!
At least that means maybe Justin will go on to build actual big houses (for the disadvantaged) or do some other form of actual, genuine public service well into his 90s. @realJodyTrump will spend the rest of her pathetic life shivving her rivals for yuge ratings and tweeting out "her truth."
How exactly is this scandal fake? Your asserting heavily that jody and jane are terrible people, and yet just give vague reasons about why.
ReplyDeleteThe scandal is fake because no laws were broken otherwise charges would have been recommended/brought against at least one of the alleged offenders. At best the ethics commissioner will find an ethics violation which places them somewhere between lily white and criminal. The scandal only exists in the court of public and the platformless cons are milking it for all its worth.
DeleteRT
Lawyers love irrefutable written documents. JWR is a lawyer who had ample opportunity to build an air tight case against anyone trying to promote illegal interference in the SNC case. It should have started with a meeting with Trudeau and a follow up letter, another "what can we do as a team" if the influence did not stop. Strongly worded letters did not happen, instead we get a trial lawyer skilled in the art of levering small tidbits into a performance worthy of an Oscar. Perhaps it really is just gross incompetence but there is something about a skilled public prosecutor going all golly gee I did my best against all odds but somehow forgot to fight back with a solid incriminating paper trail. Give me a break, it is probable she knew that building an aggressive paper trail to ensure SNC was charged would have tipped her hand so she chose the circumstantial one designed to play out in the court of public opinion. Then again perhaps she is just a delusional incompetent. The choices are not very flattering.
DeleteRT
Hi RT, Those are very good and interesting points and scenarios, however, with your last one, I would substite "perhaps" with, she is a delusional incompetent.
DeleteJD
If JWR thinks she'd have a chance at ever being PM then she certainly has a high opinion of herself and a few loose screws. First, she badly bungled her time at Justice, is rumoured to be a capital B to work for, she's poison in Quebec and would further damage what she's already done to the Liberal party. Why? Payback for being shuffled out of justice. Plain and simple. Petty and vindictive. "I felt pressured, wah! JT sighed at me, wah! JT's eyebrows furrowed and his forehead crinkled at me, wah! JT demoted me, wah, wah! How dare he exercise his right to shuffle his cabinet, wah! I'll get him for this, snarl, hiss, hiss, hiss!"
ReplyDeleteTo see that picture of her and Philpott consorting with the enemy, right after the budget is despicable and as such, I've changed my mind, JT needs to boot these treacherous *#>*< out of the party, now! Cut your losses JT and cut-em loose. Then the destructive duo can collabarate on a tell-all book entitled "Wah!"
JD
It is this type of rhetoric the Cons crave.
DeleteThere is definetly a game of thrones aspect to everything on capital hill.
ReplyDeleteI am finding all of this EXTREMELY entertaining. I wish they'd make a movie about it.
DeleteGyor, you may have something there, a movie. Pop corn and money. it isn't just the Conservatives carrying on, it people who consider themselves either Liberals, Liberal supporters or supporters of Trudeau. With friends like that, running members of the party down, who is going to need the Conservative enemies. those "inside" are doing enough of a job to tear the Liberals apart and not JWR and Jane Philpot.
DeleteSomething REALLY stinks about all of this.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Justin will survive, but I also don't think Canadians will trust the leading female voices given the risk of looking duplicitous.
I have enough catty, backstabbing aunts in my family, been in enough wedding parties, and been at the bullying brunt of enough mean girls for 12 years of primary and secondary education, that I don't even trust "leading female voices." And I say this as a woman. Trudeau should have hired me in 2015, I would have told him that just like you can have too much of another natural thing -- carbon dioxide -- that it becomes toxic, too much estrogen in the room is just as poisonous as too much testosterone. Personally I think he should quit this Real Housewives reality-TV bullshit, as it stopped being about positive politics a long time ago. The only one hurting is him, and for what? Ratings, magazine subscriptions, and egotistical power plays by a bunch of small-minded brats who don't give a damn about peace, order and good governance as long as they can tear a good man down and get whatever goodies they can in the meantime? Justin is too good for that. I say he should piss in their faces and tell them all to fuck off.
DeleteI wish we had great leaders like Tommy Douglas around.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_3PV_vqCIA
Not only do I remember him well. I saw him speaking on Maine Island, in B.C.'s Gulf Islands when I was oh, so much younger. Amazing speaker and politician. Great human being. What always surprised me was how short he was. Always had thought he was very tall.
DeleteMe as well, Tommy Douglas was a political giant.
DeleteI've been telling you this has been a coup d'รฉtat from the word go and its far, far from over. They have already soften up the PM by taking out key people he relies upon. They have so encredibly damaged his brand that he no longer is the one favoured to win the 2019 election. At the very least his majority is toast, which as an NDP voter I believe to be a goid thing as someone needs to hold his to his promises.
ReplyDeleteYou still under estimate Jane and her teams ability to hurt Trudeau. She still has allies in the Liberal cacus, which is why Trudeau can't kick her from cacus.
I wouldn't be surprised if the CEO of SNC-Lavlan made a deal with her to discredit Trudeau jobs defence in exchange for something in the future when she becomes Prime Minister.
She is 10 steps ahead of everyone else, she wants the job of Liberal Leader and Prime Minister of Canada. She is far smarter then Trudeau, by a large margin. She will at some point when the time is ripe offer herself, or get others to do so on her behalf, as leader and cure to their problems. Her rep has been burnished to a sheen by the NDP and Tories, she would be untouchable. And an end to this nightmare and the greater security for their seats will be to tempting for the Liberals to resist. Its just the question of will the Liberals do it before an electoral beating or after one?
"I wouldn't be surprised if the CEO of SNC-Lavlan made a deal with her to discredit Trudeau jobs defence in exchange for something in the future when she becomes Prime Minister."
DeleteLmao! Right Gyor. She's playing 4D underwater chess. That's about as plausible as the Q-Anon conspiracy.
It has always looked like a palace coup because nothing JWR has said makes sense otherwise. We seem to be reliving Clark/Mulroony or Cretien /Martin times . Backroom plotting, untruthful leaks to friendly journalists, A knife in every back.
ReplyDeleteSad to think that the backstabbers here are the diverse, gender balanced people who Trudeau picked to do politics in a different way. Some difference.
While the JWR/JP axis lusts for personal control, their chances of advancement dim with every ill considered media leak. Most of the Cabinet wanted nothing to do with her excuses. Only kindness from the top let her in the room after a two hour wait. In the past couple of days, Philpot has learned she is persona non gratis with her regional caucus. The two are running around with torches vilifying Trudeau while not noticing they are burning bridges back to the party.
Why does that picture make me think of Macbeth ?
How could J W-R ever win a leadership contest? That's pretty much unthinkable. If this is some plot you need to find a better target than becoming prime minister. The Liberals, like the Tories, have an established history of palace intrigue that may provide some clues. What is Lisa Kinsella up to?
ReplyDeleteYes, that is what they said about Paul Martin. then his people waited until Herb Dhaliwal was I do believe other wise engaged with a family emergency and out of the country. Martin's people took over his constituency executive and the rest is history as they say. they were on a role. You pick you times carefully, and start eliminating constituency executives for a start. Its not that hard. You stack the constituency executive with your supporters and it goes from there. Some times you can even get people/organizers from other parties to help. Been there, saw it happen in more than one party.
DeleteAfter Philpot's little teaser and JWR's announcement of her letterwriting skill's, the meeting pictured above takes on new meaning.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/03/22/former-cabinet-ministers-have-justin-trudeau-in-their-sights.html
ReplyDeleteIt's looks like Chantal might be at least starting to see it as well.
Fine. Let him quit in protest and spit on them in his wake. At this point I hope he does. He doesn't deserve this crap from these self-aggrandizing, self-righteous grandstanders. Jody and her gal pal can take this job and shove it where the sunny ways don't shine. I'm so sick of these two shit-disturbing c&%ts and the damage they've done to a good man, his career, and his public reputation. Words cannot begin to express how much I absolutely hate them.
DeleteHate is a wasted emotion.
DeleteWhat JWR and JP have done or not done, is simply politics. And in Canada we do it a bit more nicely than in other countries, but we still do it. Guess you haven't been watching Canadian politics for the past 55 years.
Trudeau will hang in there. He is tough. He has a vision for this country, and he isn't going to be walking away from it. His father was defeated in elections and came back to win! He will do the same. His maternal Grandfather was no slouch either when it came to politics. They named a federal building after him, in Vancouver, its called the Sinclair building.