CBC last night
Talking a lot about CBC recently.
Last night they had two backgrounders on Martin and Harper. Not very indepth but interesting to say the least. I'll give a brief opinion of the two parts.
Harper
Gotta love an ex-fiance's views on the man. She provided some insight into Harpers first foray's into politics - his making fun of 'future prime minister types' working for the party for example.
They showed him giving an early Reform speech warning the party of being hijacked by radicals and that they must protect themselves from it - interesting as many opponents try to protray Harper as the leader of these radicals - I think they are talking about the pro-life, gun lobby types. Did the CBC make it appear like Harper was trying to keep those groups quiet - and infer a "hidden agenda" - perhaps.
I wish they had of spent more time on Harper's reasons for leaving the Reform party. They explained it as his frustration with Manning's populist approach - taking well thought out and analyzed proposals - work that he had spent years on developing - and presenting them in church basements to people that hadn't spent 5 minutes thinking about. Manning said that he would respond - well it's their money. Good points both.
Manning also said that Harper worried about the majority view that Manning's approach looked for and that it can sometimes be dangerous - a view that Manning said he didn't share due to his optimism. It is ironic that so many people are criticizing Harper for the same thing that he worried about. I (as an optimist myself?) think it shows Harper's understanding about the balance required in such matters.
One last thing - gotta love the long hair shots of him in University - and his ex-fiance talking about the two of them listening to Beatles records.
Martin
I missed a little bit of Martin's segment but it mainly focused on the relationship with his father - showing some pages of his Dad's diary or letters to Paul Jr. that showed the inevitablility of the son following his father's path into politics.
It touched on Martin's rise in Power Corp and his buying of CSL. It made mention that Martin is probably the wealthiest Prime Minister in Canadian history.
Perhaps more interesting was the point where they talked about Kraft Dinner - his 'favourite' food. He doesn't know how to make it. Oh, and his wife never left their kids along with their father? - as it made him nervous? His biographer explained those two items as Martin's inattention to unimportant things.
The other intesting thing that was touched on was with regards to Martin's advisors - the guys who "killed the King" - and that the biggest mistake was leaving them in charge of the election campaign - I don't think many argue that point now.
Of course I'm really biased but I thought the key difference was while the Harper segment talked about his struggles with policy - with his struggles in understanding compromise and balance, the Martin segment was about personal ambition - his goal to do what his father didn't do and the creation of his personal wealth.
Last night they had two backgrounders on Martin and Harper. Not very indepth but interesting to say the least. I'll give a brief opinion of the two parts.
Harper
Gotta love an ex-fiance's views on the man. She provided some insight into Harpers first foray's into politics - his making fun of 'future prime minister types' working for the party for example.
They showed him giving an early Reform speech warning the party of being hijacked by radicals and that they must protect themselves from it - interesting as many opponents try to protray Harper as the leader of these radicals - I think they are talking about the pro-life, gun lobby types. Did the CBC make it appear like Harper was trying to keep those groups quiet - and infer a "hidden agenda" - perhaps.
I wish they had of spent more time on Harper's reasons for leaving the Reform party. They explained it as his frustration with Manning's populist approach - taking well thought out and analyzed proposals - work that he had spent years on developing - and presenting them in church basements to people that hadn't spent 5 minutes thinking about. Manning said that he would respond - well it's their money. Good points both.
Manning also said that Harper worried about the majority view that Manning's approach looked for and that it can sometimes be dangerous - a view that Manning said he didn't share due to his optimism. It is ironic that so many people are criticizing Harper for the same thing that he worried about. I (as an optimist myself?) think it shows Harper's understanding about the balance required in such matters.
One last thing - gotta love the long hair shots of him in University - and his ex-fiance talking about the two of them listening to Beatles records.
Martin
I missed a little bit of Martin's segment but it mainly focused on the relationship with his father - showing some pages of his Dad's diary or letters to Paul Jr. that showed the inevitablility of the son following his father's path into politics.
It touched on Martin's rise in Power Corp and his buying of CSL. It made mention that Martin is probably the wealthiest Prime Minister in Canadian history.
Perhaps more interesting was the point where they talked about Kraft Dinner - his 'favourite' food. He doesn't know how to make it. Oh, and his wife never left their kids along with their father? - as it made him nervous? His biographer explained those two items as Martin's inattention to unimportant things.
The other intesting thing that was touched on was with regards to Martin's advisors - the guys who "killed the King" - and that the biggest mistake was leaving them in charge of the election campaign - I don't think many argue that point now.
Of course I'm really biased but I thought the key difference was while the Harper segment talked about his struggles with policy - with his struggles in understanding compromise and balance, the Martin segment was about personal ambition - his goal to do what his father didn't do and the creation of his personal wealth.
