Pierre Poilievre has always enjoyed being a bully, so it's not surprising that he should enjoy looking like one.
With his cruel eyes staring out from behind his small town bank manager glasses, searching for the man he hates above all things, the decent Justin Trudeau.
For a while the glasses helped make him look like he knew what he was talking about, and he must have thought he could fool enough people to make him Prime Minister.
Until it all fell apart.
The results of the latest round of by-elections were not as good as he had been hoping for, leaving him looking disappointed and sadly diminished.
With Cons like their former campaign manager Fred DeLorey, calling it a red flag.
The by-elections were intended to signal a Conservative resurgence, especially given the recent missteps by the Trudeau Liberals. Instead, they served as a jarring wakeup call, exposing our weaknesses and shattering the illusion of unstoppable momentum. Rather than capitalizing on the Liberals' missteps, we find ourselves in a race to protect our own bastions.
Deeply unsettling are the escalating negatives for Pierre Poilievre. His divisive approach, which used to serve as a battle cry for our base, increasingly feels like a millstone, hampering our progress, pushing away potential supporters and aggravating our party's identity crisis.
And pundits like Chantal Hébert wondering whether Poilievre is becoming a liability.
Despite a first-ballot leadership victory, Poilievre is struggling to unite the conservative movement behind him. If anything, fractures within the party have become deeper over the first months of his tenure.
Unless he veers from his current course — and he still has enough time to do so — Poilievre is on the path to becoming a liability for his party.
And even wondering whether he is working for the Liberals. *Gasp*
The numbers suggest that even as he is alienating some Conservatives, Poilievre is giving progressive voters inside and outside Liberal ranks a stronger rationale to rally behind Justin Trudeau.
Which forget the "powerful paycheques," must have given Poilievre a powerful case of diarrhoea.
So what does the desperate Con do?
Give himself a weird makeover…
By ditching the glasses, and slathering on the make up.
Only to look even weirder, like a scary exhibit in a wax museum.
And even more hypocritical.
Can you believe it? From the kooky leader who has spent almost every day of the last year claiming that "Canada is broken."
No wonder they are laughing at him all over the country.
Especially since his ugly supporters tried to ruin the big Canada Day party in Ottawa.
Of course, if he did go all the way we would have to call him Pollyfeather, and give him a stripper's pole so he could do bumps and grinds in the House of Commons.
Which to be fair, would be a definite improvement on what he is doing now.
But one thing is for sure, his desperation is showing, his campaign is off the rails
He will never fool Canadians.
And he will NEVER be Prime Minister...
Without the glasses, PP looks like a young Preston Manning. Do they have a Reformacon assembly line somewhere in Alberta?
ReplyDelete"But one thing is for sure, his desperation is showing, his campaign is off the rails."
ReplyDeleteThat is the problem with Mr. Poilievre and his whole approach. Since he became leader he has been campaigning instead of opposing. There is a reason why official campaigns only last about 6 weeks. Longer than that and people will tune you out. I would say that most people began tuning him out a long time ago, except for the real RWNJs, who having the emotional maturity of toddlers, need to be constantly given attention.
The results speak for themselves.
I always give credit where it is due and Preston Manning deserves credit for effectively opposing the Chretien government during its first term. It was Mr. Manning and his single minded attack on government deficits who forced the Chretien Liberals to actually try to do something about them. He demonstrated that an effective opposition can even encourage a majority government to do something that it might not want to do.
Of course, it did not help him in the end. Unfortunately for him the Liberals took advantage of very good economic times to convert the deficits to surpluses, which took the wind out the "beat the deficit" sails and they did not have much else to oppose with afterwards. Plus, even then there was a perception that the Reform Party was a too comfortable home for the more radically conservative elements in our society and that the Reform Party did very little to discourage them.
The quality of the Opposition went way down in each succeeding government, including the times the Liberals were the Official Opposition to the Harper government, until we are left with what passes for opposition from Mr. Poilievre.
He could make his life much easier and probably guarantee himself a decisive victory against what will be an old and tired government in 2025 if he would change his approach. Thankfully, at least for now, it would appear he does not have the political smarts or the guts to do so.
Like Preston Manning indeed. Preston thought that if he got prettier people would like him. He got rid of the glasses and had the party buy him a spiffy new suit.It didn't work for him ; people still put paper bags over their heads if they heard he was coming to town. I doubt the Pitiful Pete makeover will be any more successful.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to make a rather attractive Unicorn... perhaps his X chromosome is somewhat jumbled. Still wouldn't vote for him. No amount of make over can hide his ugly persona.
ReplyDeleteRT
Hi anon@8:52 ...Who knows what zombie horrors one can find in Alberta. But here's the thing, I've always portrayed Manning as Dracula, but I think Poilievre would be worse. He's a new kind of monster and very, very, dangerous...
ReplyDeleteHi Ottlib...I agree with most of your comment, though I can't be that generous with Preston Manning. He was more polite than Poilievre, but he brought in the religious right, encouraged the Alberta separatists, and created the conditions that spawned Stephen Harper. But luckily, as you say, I can't see Poilievre changing his approach, so when push comes to shove, the Liberals should prevail. Thank God for small mercies...
ReplyDeleteHi rumleyfips.... I can't remember Preston Manning getting a makeover, but as a Quebecer I did my best to ignore him. Later when he founded the Manning Institute, we found out how much of a far-right would be Messiah he was, and understood how dangerous he would have been Prime Minister. We dodged that bullet, now let's hope we can dodge Poilievre, because he wants to take out the Canada we know and love....
ReplyDeleteHi RT....I feel like you. His quack prescriptions for solving our problems irritate me enormously, but nothing bothers me as much as his vulgar personality. He's a bully who enjoys attacking people and trying to diminish them, but hopefully by the time the next election rolls around he'll be so diminished we'll be able to carry him around in a small paper bag...
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna put my cards on the table and say the only time I have ever voted Conservative was for the Reform Party after ADSCAM. It was a purely emotional response and I shifted back to LPC/NDP immediately after CRAP formed (if you know, you know). Manning had that folksy Eugene Whelan vibe but it wasn't until I read up on him that I was pale as a ghost and repented, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteBut...that's water under the bridge. What I want to talk about is how much of a panic the CPC minders must be now that Project: Makeover has had...zero results. As in...zero traction with women, zero movement in the polls and a near-zero chance of Skippy being the next PM. I do say near-zero because people could just decide to stay home, that's how we got Sutcliffe and Ford.
SO GET OUT AND VOTE YA VARMINTS!
Did anyone read Coyne's latest? It's pretty spicy.
ReplyDeleteBasically, what if the Conservatives had the most seats but...the Liberals and NDP and so on just kept ruling, since it's better for the country?
Sure, CPC would scream blue murder and it would likely cause some form of crisis, but the GG would be loath to admit that Canada isn't in a great place with those two running things.
And if that doesn't spell the death knell of the current CPC, nothing will...some sunny mays for some sunny days... :-)
Pierre D - Over 150 years of Parliamentary convention in this country states that the party that wins the most seats in the House earns first crack at forming a government and seeking the confidence of the House.
ReplyDeleteIf the Conservatives find themselves in that position they will form a government and sell the store to the Bloc to win a confidence motion, assuming the two have a combined majority.
Andrew Coyne is just using the same arguments NDPers used in 2019 and 2021. "You do not need to vote Liberal, you can vote NDP and they can govern with the Liberals even if the Liberals do not win the most seats. As long as the Liberals and the NDP have enough seats for a majority it does not matter if the Conservatives win more seats than the Liberals." It is an argument that goes against how politics has been done in this country for over 150 years, and is therefore wrong, but hey if it can garner the NDP some more votes then it is worth it, I guess.
It looks like some Conservative commentators are going to argue something similar. "Hey if the Conservatives do not win a majority of seats then the Liberals and the NDP will continue governing so it is safe to vote Conservative because you really will not change anything."
It is just another crass and cynical ploy to go along with many of the others they have employed in their efforts to eke out a victory without actually proposing policies that Canadians can agree with.
Remember the leather man Del Mastro, that greasy hair gives it away every time.
ReplyDeleteMacabre is a good description of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. PP. It'd be like Scheer showing off his insurance broker's certificate while denouncing the convoy. Kenney walking in a pride parade while caring for dying gay people. Or the Tool sudenly appearing with a full head of hair and a pilot's license. If PP thinks his sudden makeover will erase over a decade of being a complete asshole then I say good luck with that. His deluded followers may fall for it while the rest of us watch him insult our intelligence on a daily basis. The picture of PP with the caption of us being the greatest nation on earth is quite something when one considers the wee PP has been whining that we're "broken" for what seems like forever.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BgF7Y3q-as&t=3s
JD
ottlib,
ReplyDeleteWHile I do agree with everything you say, I'm unconvinced that CPC will give QC what it really wants which is its own tax return (no more taxes paid to Canada) and/or full control over immigration levels. Oh, and Blanchet might ask for a French language test for all CPC members because, why not, he ha power to do so.
That said, it looks like a very, very close race so...get the vote out? Out country is literally at stake and no, Skippy taking off his glasses won't work. Did it work for Milhouse? No. No it did not.
Unless I've been doing it wrong all these years, Quebec already has its own tax return (TP-1). Quebecers not paying taxes to Canada while the province receives federal equalization payments would be quite a trick if Legault could pull it off!
ReplyDeleteObviously QC would not be getting EQ payments.
ReplyDeleteThe want is a single return, but Legault would have no say as he and Blanchet do not get along at all.
Still, all this is mere poppycock as I doubt we get to that situation with the seat counts increasing and close to 180 seats needed for a majority.
And with Skippy once again showing his rancid homophobia...
Hi JD....I stare at what the Cons have become, and I have trouble believing it. They are so morally corrupted they are more of a cult than a party. And their resistance to fighting change means they will soon be a death cult. What's happening this summer should be the final warning for humanity, but all their little would be Fuhrer can do is shout "Axe the Tax" When will the tarry Cons realize that they are axing their future? Which of course can't come soon enough...
ReplyDelete