What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Tuesday, November 13, 2007

   DEJA VU

It'd be so much easier on everyone if Brian Mulroney would just keep his trap shut. A good deal of the Canadian public thinks he's as dirty as, well, Jean Cretien but many others are agnostic on the subject. Whatever crimes Mulroney may or may not have committed, they're long in the past and might as well stay buried.

But no -- he's so consumed with his legacy, he keeps coming out of hiding to tell us what we should be writing in the history books. It reminds me of his little tirade two years ago, after Peter C. Newman released his tell-all book. Mulroney fumed:

"By the time history is done looking at this, and you look at my achievements as opposed to others, certainly no one will be in Sir John A.'s league -- but my nose will be a little ahead of most in terms of achievements."

Sure, Brian, but most of us believe it's because your nose keeps growing. Tonight, as the RCMP has announced its reopening another your-tax-dollars-at-work investigation, Mulroney appeared at a speaking engagement in Toronto tonight, met by throngs of reporters eager for scandal.

Watching the video, I'm amused at how son Ben -- who so easily overflows with gush upon meeting any D-list celebrity -- becomes a deer in the headlights when the reporters ask about his dad, then he makes a nervous giggle. Was it too difficult to toss the reporters a "My father is a great man" cliché?

But the speech by Mulroney Sr. is the most telling. I was inclined, mostly out of disinterest, to give him the benefit of the doubt. In a world where Bush and Cheney's lies, larceny and torture are met with shrugs, I can't get too worked up over Mulroney's petty grifting. But then I watched this footage of him announcing:

"I want to tell you here tonight that I, Martin Brian Mulroney, 18th prime minister of Canada, will be there before the royal commission with bells on, because I have done nothing wrong and have absolutely nothing to hide."

And there it was. My doubts vanishing in the rush of déja vu:


Nixon: "I am not a crook"

Uh-oh.

Labels: Canada, media, politics, Trawna