The Shotgun Blog
« How to lose an election | Main | How Much of a Worry is Global Warming? »
Monday, December 26, 2005
Liberal verbal abuse
The verbal abuse detailed by Stephen Taylor in the previous post is startling in its combination of brutality and infantility. Mike Klander didn't make a single, ad hoc, off-colour joke. His entire political diary is a stream of aggression, sexual and ethnic insults, and outright cruelty. It's shocking and troubling that such a vile mind would have such a high station in the ruling party and therefore the government. There's no comedy here, or irony, or self-awareness; just brutal, violent braggadocio -- like listening to a gangsta rapper.
Klander's blog, which can be seen in cache form here, isn't a secret, ugly thought that everyone in politics has from time to time, and perhaps vents in private. It's how he chose to present himself to the world, what he carefully and methodically wrote over the course of days and days. It is not sufficient -- it is not even coherent -- for him to "apologize" or claim he "didn't mean it". He wasn't accidentally overheard -- like a gangsta rapper, he was tagging his turf.
This all echoes another vulgarian in the Martin inner circle, Scott Reid. As Western Standard readers will remember, Reid told a Calgary reporter that "Alberta can blow me" -- and refused to retract or apologize for it. In that case Martin said the he was certain (perhaps through ESP) that Reid didn't really think that way.
Of course he did -- it's evident in everything the Liberals think and say and do about Alberta. And Klander's vitriol is also evident in every aspect of the Liberals' campaign. Klander's blog, and Reid's "blow me" line -- like Reid's "beer and popcorn" line -- aren't mistakes. They are rare glimpses into how Liberals really feel or think, like a single missing plank in a picket fence that allows a passer-by to glimpse into what normally remains hidden.
Paul Martin became leader of the Liberals by recruiting a team with two criteria: obsequious personal loyalty and brutal political tactics. The two are now in perfect harmony -- Liberal campaign strategists have rebreathed each others' air to the point where they are tone-deaf to how they sound to the outside world (e.g. the Duceppe/Harper Holocaust memorial photo). If the Liberal numbers remain weak and the stress in the war room rises, I don't doubt we'll see and hear more Klanderisms before election day.
UPDATE: Following Mike's comment, I checked the federal lobbyist registry. Here's Klander's entries -- he lobbies for Research In Motion, amongst others.
Posted by Ezra Levant on December 26, 2005 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834515b5d69e200d834254cff53ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Liberal verbal abuse:
» Mike Klander from Creative Conviction
I was not going to post anything today being Boxing Day I was going to spend it quietly with wife and child after having spent Christmas with a lot of people
I was looking forward to a small break from politics and electioneering an... [Read More]
Tracked on 2005-12-27 9:58:07 AM
» Pulling Back The Curtains On Liberal Party Culture from small dead animals
"Alberta can blow me". - communications director Scott Reid Ezra Levant reviews Liberal party "gaffes" of past weeks; Klander's blog, and Reid's "blow me" line -- like Reid's "beer and popcorn" line -- aren't mistakes. They are rare glimpses into... [Read More]
Tracked on 2005-12-27 2:27:28 PM
» Pulling Back The Curtains On Liberal Party Culture from small dead animals
"Alberta can blow me" - Scott Reid, communications director Ezra Levant reviews Liberal campaign gaffes of past weeks; Klander's blog, and Reid's "blow me" line -- like Reid's "beer and popcorn" line -- aren't mistakes. They are rare glimpses into... [Read More]
Tracked on 2005-12-27 2:44:55 PM
Comments
See Ralph's filling of Scott's request to 'blow him'
at Duke's Place.
http://dukemcgoo.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Duke | 2005-12-27 1:02:29 AM
Liberal resigns over vulgar blog
Executive VP of Ontario wing posted racially charged remarks about candidates
By BILL CURRY
Tuesday, December 27, 2005 Posted at 5:07 AM EST
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — A member of the Liberal Party executive resigned yesterday over profane and racially charged critiques on his personal website of NDP candidate Olivia Chow, Conservative Rahim Jaffer and others.
Mike Klander, executive vice-president of the federal Liberals' Ontario wing, ran a website that included a picture of Ms. Chow next to a picture of a chow chow dog under the title "Separated at Birth."
Though the website has been removed, the Google search engine retained a snapshot of the site, which is now being circulated on the Internet.>>>
jay thomas from Toronto, Canada writes:
If Klander was a Conservative party worker Paul would be putting on his puppy dog face and jumping up and down that this is proof of a hoidden agenda.As he's a Liberal party worker the Libs simply say he holds the Liberal values of diversity and tolerance and inclusiveness.-Perhapse he does- the only people Paul seems to have tolerance for is Liberal supporters, as corrupt and intolerent as they are appearing to be.
* Posted Dec. 27, 2005 at 7:44 AM EST
#
Joe Mayo from Ballantrae, Canada writes: Just one more example of disgusting people living in the shell of a disgusting party.
* Posted Dec. 27, 2005 at 7:50 AM EST
#
Edward Vickers from Canada writes:
Hmmm, hidden agenda you say. This latest Liberal gaffe neds cumlutive thinking. Adscam, lying, cheating & stealing, Stupid parents spending childcare money on beer and popcorn, insulting the jewish community and attempting to paint Stephen Harper as conspiring with the BQ to destroy Canada, racist profane comments while describing the offender asd a minotr volunteer when he really is a key member of the Liberal campaign and on and on.
Who has a hidden agenda of entitlement, arrogance, and disrespect for the ordinary Canadian?Bring this Liberal arrogance to an end with a humiliating turf from office. Arrogance needs determination, not just disapproval.>>>
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051227.wxblog1227/BNStory/National/
Posted by: maz2 | 2005-12-27 6:11:55 AM
Librano$ exact revenge? What gives? The underbelly of the Liberal/Librano$ corruption beast is being slowly ripped open. The stench of corruption is heavy, blatant,foul; the Liberal/Librano$ dragon is ready for the slaying. Put the beast to the sword.>>>
Interesting that Kinsella mentioned KKKlander on his blog on December 21, and he is disgraced within the week.
Posted by: OttawaCon at December 27, 2005 08:24 AM
http://angrygwn.mu.nu/archives/146918.php#comments
Posted by: maz2 | 2005-12-27 8:38:43 AM
Hey, zero tolerance from the party of tolerance.
How much more of Liberal apparatchik elitist Freudian slippage do we need to see the toxic hypocrisy in Liberal dual standards.....one standard for the patrician ruling class liberals and a zero tolerance standard for the great unwashed, plebian class.
When liberals talk of "tolerance" they mean tolerance for incivility, crime and corruption within their ranks.
Posted by: WLMackenzie redux | 2005-12-27 8:49:20 AM
The old boy network? Tobin to Klander to Kinsella to Chretien to Martin: The gang of corruption.>>>
Also thanks to Mr. Hudson, Mr. Tobin has scored an organizational
coup by persuading Torontonian Mike Klander to step down as
executive director of the Liberal party's Ontario wing to serve
as a senior Tobin campaign official. Mr. Klander will do this
while working on Bay Street
for Borealis Capital, which is controlled by Mr. Hudson.
John Wright, a very skilled and hard-nosed Port Hope-based
grassroots organizer, is also joining Mr. Tobin.
Enter the Rock: According to the polls, Mr. Tobin stands second
only to Paul Martin, the Finance Minister, in the crowded
succession stakes. But Mr. Tobin, the running, jumping,
never-standing-still man of Canadian politics, has not been
endowed with the patience required to
master the French language.
For this reason Allan Rock, the bilingual Health Minister and
former Bay Street lawyer, who is running third in the polls, is
regarded as the real challenge for Mr. Martin in the final
stretch.
Mr. Rock has recovered from cancer surgery to the point where he
looks 10 years younger. He is also assembling some powerful
supporters, not the least of these is Warren Kinsella, the
McMillan Binch lawyer, self-described loudmouth and troublemaker
and an ardent defender of his mentor, Mr. Chrétien, in his
contributions to op-ed pages.
Although he has never held elective office -- he failed to win a
seat in Vancouver -- Mr. Kinsella is well connected. A recent
launch party in his law offices in the Royal Bank tower for his
book about hate crimes in Canada, Web of Hate, was attended by
Mr. Rock, who is a former justice minister, and officials from a
wide range of community organizations, all of whom can deliver
votes.
Another high-profile and wired Rockite is Penny Collenette,
formerly Mr. Chrétrien's patronage chief and wife of Cabinet
Minister David Collenette, as is the personable pollster Bob
Richardson, who was the effective chief operating officer of
Toronto's dead-on-arrival Olympic bid.
On Bay Street, the Martin camp is led, at least on the ground, by
trust company executive John Webster, a protege of John Turner,
the former Liberal leader. Mr. Turner and David Peterson, the
former Ontario premier, are among the most senior Martin
boosters.
The Finance Minister's new chief of staff, Tim Murphy,
predictably came directly from a Bay Street law office. It is Mr.
Murphy's mission to persuade other Martinites, especially the
ones based in Ottawa lobby houses, to stop their whispering
campaign against Mr. Chrétien, for the
obvious reason the Prime Minister is a street fighter who hangs
in when threatened.
Like Messrs. Rock and Tobin, Mr. Martin is busy winning friends
in Toronto. He was chief meat-carver at a recent Liberal barbecue
thrown by Nick Nicolaides in North York and also attended a
Russell Hill Road reception in Forest Hill hosted by Bay Street
lawyers. Mr. Martin's
brother-in-law, Jeff Cowan, is with the blue-ribbon firm Weir and
Foulds.>>>
http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/Archives/Digests/v04n001-099/v04-n004.txt
Posted by: maz2 | 2005-12-27 9:12:20 AM
Brilliantly stated, Ezra.
Posted by: Anonalogue | 2005-12-27 9:19:17 AM
Geez, the "Canadian values" the Liberals espouse are not exactly what they practice.
By the time the election is held the only supporters the Libs will have left will be those in prisons, the Canadian national mainstream media and their own "athletic supports".
Posted by: Joseph molnar | 2005-12-27 10:45:44 AM
Excellent post Ezra. What bothers me as well and remains understated, is the list of companies for which Klander is/was? a paid lobbist, at the highest levels apparently of the Ontario Liberals and Federal Liberals. Some of his lobby activity was officially reported but for others it apparently was not. This stinks and the companies that hired this weasle stink!
Posted by: Mike W. | 2005-12-27 10:45:57 AM
Martin's most pressing problem is the Liberal Party of Canada, that is the real Liberal Party,
the people who actually run the elections, raise
the money, work with and walk the streets with
Liberal candidates, man the polls, etc. In the
Liberal Party, Klander is a flunkie. Martin is disliked in the Party, and the flunkies are detested; too many of them speak on Policy matters which they are not competent to do. The
voice of the real Liberal Party are the hard pressed MP's who have earned their right to speak
not Martin's flunkies. If Martin forms another Minority, the Party will send him on to a better
life, if he looses to Harper, his departure will
be immediate. If the Martins win a Majority, consider it a miracle; (not too many miracles going on these days). Martin made an enormous error in judgement by placing his flunkies in
positions of trust and decision making, something
that will not be permitted again the the Red Machine's future - MacLeod
Posted by: Jack Macleod | 2005-12-27 11:28:52 AM
This all fits in nicely with the Lieberals Motor Cycle gang image!
Posted by: scarlet | 2005-12-27 11:51:31 AM
I agree that the Liberals don't know what they sound like anymore, hence Martin's comment last week that he is "entitled" to the presumption that he would never support a separatist victory, because HE would "never for a moment" suggest that Harper would endorse a separatist victory. (I believe the Conservative war room immediately released several Martin quotes that suggested the opposite.)
Not only have they seem to have forgotten their prior utterances, if the Libs were on the ball, they would no sooner say the "e" word publicly than they would say the "f" word publicly.
Posted by: Joan Tintor | 2005-12-27 12:09:12 PM
Klander's work for Research in Motion and other major companies is outlined on his business website. Somehow, I doubt he'll be working for them much longer...
http://angrygwn.mu.nu/archives/146974.php
Posted by: Angry in T.O. | 2005-12-27 1:44:59 PM
For those who are wanting to know what Mike Klander said, in his own words:
His December archived pages (from Google's cache), in which he targets Ms. Chow:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:c9UjAVHOcscJ:www.klander.blogspot.com/+%22Mike+Klander%22+archive&hl=en&client=firefox-a
His November archived pages, in which he proves himself to be both a misogynist (quote: the sexy Rona Ambrose) and a bigot ("the ethnic Rahim Jaffer"):
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:cecbhTmHAKgJ:klander.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_klander_archive.html+%22Mike+Klander%22+August&hl=en&client=firefox-a
His July archived pages, where he pokes fun at Chretien's facial features, and has a distinctly anti-gay approach to his humour:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:3jiYKJIy_BsJ:klander.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_klander_archive.html+%22Mike+Klander%22+blog&hl=en&client=firefox-a
His June archived pages, in which he badmouths "Aging Rocker Bob Geldof"
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:RVu-FjegAv8J:klander.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_klander_archive.html+%22Mike+Klander%22+June&hl=en&client=firefox-a
His May archived pages, in which he targets with his "humour" the first quadriplegic MP in the House of Commons:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:sqPECBfd-cwJ:klander.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_klander_archive.html+%22Mike+Klander%22+archive&hl=en&client=firefox-a
His April archived pages, in which he lays out the Liberal strategy for putting off an election, in the hope of getting Canadians bored about Gomery:
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:IuxPj4bxjq0J:klander.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_klander_archive.html+%22Mike+Klander%22+layton&hl=en&client=firefox-a
Posted by: Patrick | 2005-12-27 2:29:22 PM
Here is a list of Klander's clients (from his website http://www.klander.ca/):
Imperial Tobacco Canada
*Research In Motion
*Lakeport Brewing
Inco Ltd.
BFI Canada
Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association
*Air Canada Pilots Association
*International Union of Operating Engineers
Greater Toronto Homebuilders’Association
Those that don't have an asterisk in front of their names are those whom he hasn't registered as a lobbyist with the Government of Canada. (see https://strategis.ic.gc.ca/app/ec/lrrs/search.do;jsessionid=00007jcIsbvK4-6mscdIdF3fHqh:vdd1k0er)
So I guess he's lobbying Queen's Park on behalf of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, right?
And if you're not sure if he's a Liberal heavyweight, note that he is in charge of the Liberal campaign in Ontario, is an executive vice-president of the party for Ontario, and he says this about himself on his own website:
(http://www.mikeklander.com/about.html) As a senior political organizer Mike played a significant role in building Paul Martin’s Leadership organization in Ontario. Prior to joining Martin’s team, Mike helped build a national organization for Brian Tobin and also served as his Campaign Manager in Ontario.
As Executive Director of the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario) Mike was responsible for managing the day to day affairs of the Federal Liberal Party in Ontario. In that capacity he served as Ontario Campaign Director during the 2000 Federal Election Campaign. In his eight years with the organization he held several other positions including Field Organizer, and Director of Field Operations.
Just as a volunteer, mind. Never benefitted from all that work. Other than, of course, his lucrative lobbying business.
Posted by: Patrick | 2005-12-27 2:32:52 PM
The long established organizational structure of the Liberal Party of Canada came from the constituencies throughout the country. There was
a National President, Vice Presidents, a more or
less very straightforward organizational structure. The term "Executive Director blah blah
of whatever" is a recent creation by the Martin
personality crowd, and has caused enormous resentment in the Liberal Party (there is only one Liberal Party)and the reaction is evident, with the Media just beginning to realize what is
going on across the Country - Journalist Douglas
Fisher spotted the situation, so has Don Martin
and Journalist Sheila Copps. The Party which my family help found in Nova Scotia in pre-confederation Canada is opting out; which means to me that many will not work in the badly planned Federal election, and will not vote; for
anybody. I have never heard of a "senior political organizer" except for the guys who post
up placards and sweep out the meeting halls. Flunkies like Klander are bought and considered
expendable, the long established Party does not
need them. Sincerely, Jack MacLeod
Posted by: Jack Macleod | 2005-12-27 5:08:28 PM
Excellent article, and I fully agree. The Liberal non-culture of entitlement and slandering every non-Liberal in sight is what defines this party today. Only a seriously IQ-challenged person would even consider voting for that party again.
Posted by: AlbertaAvenue | 2005-12-27 5:44:38 PM
Imagine what the Fed-Liberals say behind closed doors.Probably much worst.
Posted by: Larry | 2005-12-28 4:09:49 AM
The whole Liberal caucus had a good laugh at the way the Cretchin handled the Judge (Gomery). I forget the words used but it was something along the line of 'slapping down that almighty Judge into his place'. Now Martin is claiming HE is the champion of the Judge (Gomery). The 'entitled' know no shame.
Posted by: jema54j | 2005-12-28 10:18:07 AM
But when Parrish satirically stomps on a George W. doll it's offensive??
You people are such hypocrites you make Paul Martin look honest.
Posted by: justin | 2005-12-28 10:22:34 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.