Thursday, March 06, 2008

Fire Brodie Now

This is the first time in living memory I have ever agreed with NDP leader Jack Layton.

Like Layton, I too believe Prime Minister Harper must fire his Chief of Staff, Ian Brodie, for the role he played in leaking confidential diplomatic information.

Mind you, I believe Harper should have fired Brodie a long time ago.

An academic by training, Brodie is simply out of his league, an amateur in a game for political professionals.

Perhaps if Brodie is gone the "Harper cult" mentality which dominates the Prime Minister's Office will disappear; perhaps the Prime Minister might even recall that he is actually a conservative; and who knows perhaps, just perhaps the vindictiveness emanating from Ottawa will abate.

In other words, by heeding Layton's advice, Harper might actually improve his government.

How is that for irony?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, come on, just for leaking!! No, just buy him a diaper to wrap around his mouth when in the vicinity of a reporter.

hunter said...

So, in your eyes, Brodie is guilty, before the investigation is complete? Isn't that Liberal of you! I prefer to wait and see.

Anonymous said...

Way to go Gerry, fire first then investigate second.

Anonymous said...

Ineresting how it is being reported that he answered a question in the budget lock up regarding the clinton campaign calling him and then CTV reports it was OBAMA - gee Gerry, someone is not being truthful here.

I wouldn't be so quick to judge who the WRONG party is here.

Anonymous said...

I thought Mr. Brodie announced his return to the hallowed halls of academia last year??

Am I wrong?

Anonymous said...

Gerry,

From the CBC National At Issue panel tonight, here are the facts as relayed by the panel:

- someone released the NAFTA memo to CTV (list of 180 odd suspects)
- CTV asked Ian Brodie to comment about the memo in lock-up
- Brodie mused that Hillary's campaign, NOT Obama's, relayed the NAFTA stance in OHIO was all puff
- CTV then went and reached for perhaps the lowest fruit in targeting Obama, when in fact BOTH campaigns were taking the same fake stance

Is this really a Brodie issue or a CTV abuse of journalistic discretion issue?

They had dirt on both dem candidates, Brodie confirmed that the Hillary camp was blowing smoke, why did CTV target only Obama (refered to as Osama for a moment by Don Martin) and not Hillary.

If Brodie goes for referencing the OTHER candidate, so too shouldn't CTV News honcho Robert Hurst for the biggest political blunder in Canadian reporting history on US elections?

Or are all Canadian newsies saints that walk over scandalous waters by pointing blame at the much demonized PMO?

Anonymous said...

Sorry Gerry, Hurst doesn't discuss how CTV gathers news:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/us/politics/07nafta.html?ref=world

Guess that ends it.

Anonymous said...

I think CTV knows the real story... whether they have been reporting it, that's another story.

Anonymous said...

Assumed guilty because he works for Mr. Harper?
Gotta agree Gerry...
mighty 'progressive' of you!

Anonymous said...

Finally, a blog where partisanship comes second to rational thought.
Gerry, I don't think it's a big secret that you are more Conservative than anything else and yet, you still manage to have your own opinion. This seems to be an anomaly in recent years. The partisan bloggers from all sides of the political spectrum should learn a lesson from you.

I am so sick of the partisan crap out there on Cadman-gate, NAFTA-gate, Adscam and any other scam, gate or scandal that has hit Canadian politics. It misses the point and clouds the real issues with rhetoric.

The problem with partisanship is that people view everything through their own spectrum exclusively. When you do that, democracy is weakened. If ANY party can make the justification that it's OK for us to do it, but not ok for the guy on the other side of the house, then you've really lost accountability.

When the answer to a real issue is to refer back to what the other guy did when he was in power and why it was worse, you're in trouble.

Jumping blindly to the defence of anyone because they happen to be in the party you support is not loyalty, it's stupidity. If all the Liberal supporters did that following Adscam, you would have had a perpetual, impenetrable Liberal government and I think most of your visitors here would agree, that would have been stupidity too. Voters, Liberal supporters included, said no way, we will not condone our money being played with for political purposes and gains and to line the pockets of a few.
Of course, there are some sheep who chose partisanship over rational thought too.

Now, I'm not suggesting that people don't take a wait and see approach on the scandals that are plaguing the government. That is fair play. But, to turn around and dismiss any of these current issues as Liberal conspiracy or to blame the media as being biased for actually reporting them is ludicrous. Those uber-partisans need to remember that it was the media (the so-called pro-Liberal Globe and Mail that hammered away at Adscam until it became a national scandal that changed the direction of politics in this country). The Opposition parties are actually relatively inept at reacting to these latest scandals for political gain.

Gerry, I applaud you for cutting through the partisan crap. Mr. Brodie should not wait to be fired, he should be resigning.

Just to make my point, I'm willing to bet when Prime Minister Harper either fires or accepts Brodie's resignation, all the sheep who are criticizing you as "liberal" or "not waiting for an investigation" will be lined up to write how Harper is a "real leader who demands accountability". Long forgotten will be the fact that he publicly stated that the leak did not come from Brodie. That is the way of the partisan sheep. Selective memory, rewriting history, regurgitating the spin. It doesn't matter whether it comes from a Tory, a Liberal, an NDP, a Green or a Bloc Quebecois. It's all distasteful. Congratulations Gerry, for recognizing that you have a brain and using it.

I hope it's catching, so a real dialogue on these issues is the result, instead of the partisan mud-slinging between Conservatives and Liberals that would make Republicans and Democrats blush.

Unknown said...

>>Blogger hunter said...

So, in your eyes, Brodie is guilty, before the investigation is complete? Isn't that Liberal of you! I prefer to wait and see.<<

It's not Conservative or Liberal - the Tories weren't exactly falling all over themselves to "wait and see" what the Adscam/Technoscam/HRDC boondoggle/etc. investigations said before they started calling for people to step down.

Monkey Loves to Fight said...

I think Brodie should be fired too. Even if it was by accident, that doesn't matter. Professions such as doctors, lawyers, and bankers all require dealing with confidential information and if leaked even by accident, you get fired.

Besides Ian Brodie seems like more of a social conservative than fiscal conservative and I get the impression Gerry, even if an ideological conservative like Brodie, you are more on the fiscal rather than social