Not much new on the Trudeau front on that key question this week except, well except for this bombshell.
It’s quite a nice little hatchet job on the finance minister, and in doing so, it’s also a drive-by shooting on the foreign affairs minister. A twofer as they call them. Not by Pierre Poilievre. Not by Jagmeet Singh. No, not by anyone in the opposition but instead the axe-wielding seems to have come from those in the very office that put both ministers in their jobs.
That’s right, unnamed staffers in the prime minister’s office feeding into what some like to call, the Fifemill. Named for Bob Fife the award-winning, long-time Parliament Hill journalist who always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else on the political beat:
Trudeau says he’s trying to recruit Carney, but declined to say whether he wants Freeland to stay in Finance🔒
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Trudeau danced around questions about the report but did at least admit that for some time he’s been talking with Mark Carney about joining the cabinet. When and for what portfolio he wouldn’t say, but let’s be serious – Mark Carney ain’t coming to a sinking ship to be the crew chief on one of the junior lifeboats. Stay tuned.
So, what’s new on the Joe Biden front?
Did you watch the news conference on Thursday night? Well, he did somehow name Donald Trump as his Vice President, but to be honest he’s made stupid mistakes like that throughout his lengthy political career.
He did handle some delicate and testy foreign issues well and overall didn’t face plant into the stage floor like he did in the debate two weeks ago but, and it’s a big but, it seems pretty clear he’s not out of the woods with his own party yet.
Far from it in fact. Many analysts think this weekend may well be his last as the Democratic nominee in the presidential fight against the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Whether Biden gets dumped by his party or not, there is some incredibly shameful hypocrisy being shown by the other side. I’m not saying Biden shouldn’t be replaced, because he very well may have to face that music. But what I am sick and tired of is listening to Donald Trump sycophants in the Republican describe their leaders as someone who is pure as the driven snow without fault or failing.
First of all, he too is of an advanced age and he too is exhibiting many of the same shortcomings because of age that Biden is, if not more. Just listen to one of his rambling, bumbling, lie-infested speeches where he loses his train of thought and wanders off into a land of sharks and batteries and strange voyages with Hannibal Lecter. And let’s not forget his dozens of fraud convictions, his multiple impeachments, or the fact he’s an adjudicated rapist. And even with all that, you know what? Not a single Republican candidate has called upon him to step down from heading their ticket. Not one. At least the Democrats, always finding a new way to shoot themselves in the foot, have a vigorous debate going on inside their ranks.
And then there’s this. Even with the obvious hypocrisy, none of that stops some Canadian Conservatives, just like their American Republican cousins, from joining in the Biden pile-on. Take former Harper cabinet minister Joe Oliver for example.
Check out this piece that he wrote for the Financial Post:
Joe Oliver: The shameful disinformation campaign behind the Biden debacle
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Well, Joe Oliver may have conveniently forgotten the long list of Donald Trump miscues, illegal acts, and constant lies, but those who Trump is apparently considering for his vice president are being reminded of their own past words.
The Washington Post has compiled a list:
‘Unfit’ to serve, ‘con artist’: How Trump’s VP finalists once bashed him
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Okay, I hear you. You are saying, “Hey Peter give us something substantial about the US election this week.”
So here it is. It comes from numbers guy Nate Silver and this week he’s not writing from New York or Washington. Instead, he’s tapping his computer keyboard in the city of numbers, Las Vegas:
Biden has a weak hand
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Earlier in today’s Buzz I talked about Bob Fife’s piece on the PMO’s attempt to blame things on their most senior cabinet minister.
In that piece, Bob credited the Toronto Star with being the first to mention another PMO leak, this time about Mark Carney possibly joining the cabinet. The reporter there was Althia Raj, who herself has another good piece this week, going where few others tend to go by challenging Green Party leader Elizabeth May to play by the rules she wants set for others:
It’s ‘obvious’ Justin Trudeau should step down, Elizabeth May says — so why won’t she listen to her own critics? 🔒
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Remember the mess created by the last byelection, that one in Toronto-St Paul’s?
Well, there’s another one coming and the stakes may even be higher:
Upcoming Montreal byelection will be ‘a pretty important stay-or-go indicator’ for PM Trudeau, say political insiders and MPs🔒
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About five years ago, I went to a Rolling Stones concert in Toronto with my son, Will.
It was a father-son bonding moment, both of us screaming out the lines to all those songs, some of which I’d been singing (poorly) since the 1960’s.
I thought of that this week while reading this piece about the Stones and some of those lines we all know.
Why? Because Mick and the boys don’t sing the same words they used to. The Washington Post is wondering what’s up with that:
Who killed the Kennedys? The Rolling Stones won’t tell you anymore.
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