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Don’t worry, folks, Tom Mulcair is going to coach these new kids on the block.
Mulcair, who is also the deputy NDP leader, said the House of Commons will provide training on procedures and the duties of Members of Parliament, and he will coach the new MPs on their work within the NDP caucus.
“I will help,” Mulcair told reporters, presenting a selection of winning NDP candidates on Tuesday.
That’s nice.
However, today, the coach became the flake.
Thomas Mulcair, who stands in for NDP Leader Jack Layton in the House of Commons when he is away, told CBC’s Power & Politics with Evan Solomon that he doesn’t believe photos exist of bin Laden following his killing by U.S. forces on Sunday in Pakistan.
“I don’t think, from what I’ve heard, that those pictures exist and if they do I’ll leave that up to the American military,” he told host Evan Solomon.
“If they’ve got pictures of a cadaver then there’s probably more going on than we suspect in what happened there,” Mulcair said.
Oops! I would expect this from a Harpercon or one of the Blogging SupposiTories, but from Tom Mulcair? I may never have been wild about the man, but one thing I always thought was that Mulcair was smart. Oh boy, this is not prime minister in waiting material.
Why in hell would we want to see photos of the cadaver who masterminded the crime of the millenium? Didn’t think you were that ghoulish, Mr. Mulcair.
Oh, looky here, seems that even the NDP is still showing some division within it’s own caucus.
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said the party does not doubt the U.S. government has photos.
“We have no reason to doubt the veracity of President Obama’s statement,” Dewar wrote in an emailed statement.
“I understand that the U.S. government has photos, but decided not to release them as they do not want them used as trophies. This is a legitimate concern. We agree these types of photos shouldn’t be used as propaganda tools.
I always knew Paul Dewar was the sane one of the NDP. He would make a great party leader if he learned French; much better than Mulcair.
One thing about those ghoulish fools demanding those macabre photos. Why in hell would Barak Obama lie about something as big as killing Osama BinLaden? In publicly admitting such a thing, he has put the American citizens at further risk for retribution. With all the head-aches Barak Obama must contend with, why add another by making such a huge claim if it were false? Obama has nothing to gain here. Yikes!
As for those new kids on parliament hill, don’t listen to your coach when he makes silly statements like that. Mulcair’s reputation is already built and as such, he’ll come out of that unscathed, however, kids, you’re just starting. Many folks, including your’s truly, have strong reservations about you. Making statements like won’t get you very far.
Only the first day and being in charge of the daycare is getting to him,
I ‘believe’ he is using the term ‘I don’t believe’ in the sense of ‘I don’t think’ rather than to imply that Obama isn’t telling the truth that they have photos and don’t want to release them. By the sound of it, Mulcair maybe hadn’t heard anything about the photos prior to the interview. He should have had the sense to avoid that line of questioning but it was a little below the belt on Solomon’s part and then gets nonsensical, each person apparently thinking they are having a different conversation. Although, Mulcair says to Solomon something like, “it sounds like you’re saying you know they have the photos” – and Solomon doesn’t get any more forthcoming, looks dumbfounded in fact, apparently not comprehending that Mulcair hasn’t been sitting around watching Newsworld all day long.
Or maybe I’m misreading the whole thing.
I would hate to think this was a deliberate hatchet job by the CBC, but they certainly have chosen to run with it that way…
Bizarroland!
ck Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 7:39 AM
Mulcair is deputy leader of the official opposition now. I realize they’re more impotent than ever given STevie Spiteful’s my way or the highway tactics and his “now I got the votes so fuck you!” kinda mentality. Still, the party should be putting on their big kid pants now. And there was no evidence of this. Yanno, Solomon and all those media hacks all formed many folks’ opinions of Iggy and the Liberals and made the Bloc Quebecois sound like the anti-christ over the years; all free publicity for Harper. Now that they’re gone, and NDP in opposition, and STeve with a majority, thus, controlling media more than ever. NDP got off with a free ride with Harper’s media over the years. No more they won’t. They’ll begin to understand what Iggy and Gilles Duceppe had to live through.
Point is, in demanding photos of cadavers, he sounds as ghoulish as American tea-baggers.
I, for one, don’t want to see such photos.
CWTF Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 10:05 AM
Mulcair has explained himself on his comments.
He’s taken the blame for not being clear enough but points out that because of the ever changing American story on the murder of bin Laden, he does not think that photographic evidence exist that he was reaching for a weapon. If such evidence existed, it would have been released. That is his “doubt” on the pictures. He’s never questioned that bin Laden has been killed.
I find the NDP to be vermin for various reasons related to giving Harper a majority, but I’m not ready to blindly vilify someone for quotes taken out of context and legit questions.
Don’t you find it odd that the Whitehouse has changed the official story so many times? So are we at war with Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia, my brainwashing and diet of fear is running low…
ck Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 1:52 PM
CWTF, I don’t care how Bin Laden was killed. This is the American culture of trashiness at its’ worst. I don’t want to see pictures. Somebody had even posted videos on my FB page, which took me awhile to figure out how to remove it and the guy who posted it is a retired clergyman, no less. As Scott pointed out, as well as Delmar, to lie about Osama Bin Laden’s death significantly puts Americans at further risk. Truth is risky enough to their citizens and not just the obvious neither. It makes them more paranoid.
I don’t believe in capital punishment, but in the case of Bin Laden, look at the damage he did. And not just what happened in New York, Pensylvania and Washington. I’m talking about the long term effects. Made for angrier society; a further right wingnut society; a more heartless society. Including here in Canada. I mean, if not for 9/11, would it have been that easy for Harper to have gotten into office, let alone a majority in parliament??
So no, I’m not mourning his death.
After watching some of those videos that were released to Al-Jezeera, all one had to do was look at him–the man is pure evil. Sociopathic. No redeeming qualities.
You know CK, … I agree with you on a lot of things because you’re a progressive. But i see you’re a sadly limited progressive. And you’re insane fury at the burying of the Liberal Party has nothing to do with sad but touching loyalties, but more of a sadly bent view of the world.
You see, I didn’t come back here and laugh in your face about your pathetic conspiracy theory that every single polling-firm in Canada decided to deep-six the Liberal Party of Canada because, …. oh, I don’t know, the Liberal Party of Canada is the party of the lil’ guy and the big banks and big media can’t hack the Liberal Party’s radical lil’ guy agneda, … or whatever pathetic nonsense you believe.
But here you are, piling on the bandwagon of the stupid. You’re like Ignatieff, … you believe that the USA are the “good guys” and you think that it is beneath Obama to lie about something like … this is just so nuts.
Do you know where they lost me? When the lying assholes said they dumped his body in the water. “Yeah! That’s the ticket! We got him! Us! The USA! Yeah! Nobody likes me because I’ve betrayed them but YEAH! We got him! No. You can’t see him. We dumped his body in the water. What’s that? Yes, I know. People didn’t believe I was born in the USA, and then I showed them my long-form birth-certificate and now they say it’s a fake. I know that. So, yes. We killed the guy and we don’t have his body anymore. We dumped it in the ocean. Somewhere.”
ck Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 7:31 AM
And you’re blindly partisan to the point where reality doesn’t sink in.
Everybody, including your own party thinks Mulcair was batty for making that statement about the photos. Notice how Dewar steps in for damage control. Why would Obama lie about this? I told you, something like this puts American citizens at further risk. Demanding photos? Now if that isn’t similar to American Conservative Ghoulish cultural practises…
And I was right about those polls, pretty much. As that wretched Lorne Gunter was. The numbers were inflated. With the exception of a few TO ridings, Ontario became all blue. If not for those Quebec seats, your party really wouldn’t have had that many more than before–many of those samples really did come from places NDP support was prevalent. And good luck, looks like Timmy Hudak will be your new premier too.
Canada, and in particular, anywhere west of Quebec, is just not progressive. Folks saw or heard about those numbers. The clincher? When Craig Oliver predicts the impossible: An NDP minority. Got to admit it worked. Folks got scared for their RRSPs and their taxes and jumped into the blue column. And yes, those who didn’t vote, did really vote for Harper.
Enjoy being in official opposition, forever, because Harper is never, ever going anywhere. He’s about to shove a law, order and morality bill down our throats any time now as well as a very austere budget. And your guy won’t be able to squat about any of it, nor will the day care.
Your guy owes Harper a steak dinner and he gets to be in impotent opposition forever and ever unless there is a centrist option. Like the Harpercon supporters, your group is also advocating for polarization with no middle ground. you with your all caps “LIberals must die!” And shit like that. Shows your side shares Harper’s goals of having annihilated any competition–Liberals and Bloc Quebecois. Even the talking points are similar.
You people celebrating Layton’s magic tricks–where he gets more seats each subsequent election and far less power. The only thing he can do now is order pizza at Stornoway.
Reality. Canada isn’t a progressive country. Only thing progressive about it is French Quebec. In fact, the only thing that distinguishes Canada from the US, culturally, is French Quebec. The last election and where the votes were distributed have reminded me as much.
Your side claims Canadians want choices in the parties they vote for. Couldn’t be further from the truth. Your side only wanted the orange door and the blue door. with no Liberals or Bloc. Greens aren’t even competitive.
sharonapple88 Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 8:22 AM
One of the reasons they didn’t bring the body back was because according to Islamic tradition calls for burial after 24 hours. (They did other Islamic work.) I’m sure dragging the corpse back to America and displaying it wouldn’t spark a set of riots in the Middle East.
sharonapple88 Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 8:23 AM
Sorry, not Islamic work, but apparently conducted the burial under Islamic tradition.
Mulcair back-pedaled big time this morning. He has reeled this puppy in. Good point, ck, that Obama has much more to risk by lying (and creating a conspiracy of Navy SEALS, CIA agents and others who would scarcely be trustworthy to keep up their end of the lie), than by laying it out truthfully. Anyway, the new Dippers will certainly have some growing pains, and the caucus in general will be learning a whole new role (Layton included). They had better be prepared to face the same dirty BS onslaught from the Harperites that they dodged while the Liberals remained in those sights. I predict a very rocky ride while they figure all this out. And disillusioned Québec voters will not be amused. ADQ all over again, I predict.
Because really, outside Quebec, the NDP made only marginal gains.
CWTF Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 9:25 PM
Mulcair back-pedaled? Hardly, he explained his comments.
As for Obama, I’m sure that Osama is dead, but the narrative from the WhiteHouse defies logic. They should get one story straight on hold onto it.
They lost me years ago when I saw a BBC interview with David Frost asking Benazir Bhutto (before she was assassinated) about bin Laden and she said point-blank that he died years ago.
It was when the BBC pulled that interview from the archive I knew that her story was more than likely true.
While the American gov’t thinks the popularion is too genteel to view the pictures … could they not show them to some select hard-bitten journalists to remove the mystery?
ck Reply:
May 5th, 2011 at 5:35 PM
Again with the ghoulishness. My suggestion to folks who really want to see pictures of cadavers, go watch horror movies or watch autopsy scenes in shows like CSI. Yes, I’m too “gentile” to look at pics of cadavers of terrorists or anyone else, for that matter. Forgive me, but it’s not very dignified. It’s as bad as pics in the National Enquirer of Wacko Jacko in his coffin.
The Liberal Party of Canada was rejected Canadians, get over it. Outside of pockets of Montreal, it stands as much chance of appealing to the Quebecois as the Parti Rhinoceros. The NDP aren’t the reason Harper got a majority, the right wing Grits who enthusiastically voted Conservative this election are.
And something tells me for the next four years we are going to get Liberal partisans more interested in discrediting the NDP because of the Liberal sense of entitlement that centre-left voters must vote for them by default without earning their trust.
Now sing along like they did in 1958:
“We are a national party,
Newfoundland and the rest.
Our old men in the Senate,
they are the very best.
We are in search of new ideas,
so few ideas,
but new ideas.
We are the Lib’ral Party:
we’re sitting on the fence.”
ck Reply:
May 6th, 2011 at 11:13 AM
You still don ‘t get it, like the rest of your group, do you? Your team has even less power than it did. They’re proving to be a gang of brats and misfits who never paid their dues in life. The only power Layton will have is to call a pizza at Stornoway, and even then…perhaps Soudas the other con brat, may tell them what kind.
Harper and neo-conservatism was the big winner here. Harper has a huge majority which he will keep until he dies or gets tired of it (the latter, I doubt). Don’t give me this sore loser Liberal partisan crap. You don’t realize you got even less than with the Harper minority, which yielded even less for your side than under Paul Martin.
Harper will cut the per vote subsidy which means, no money even for you to beat the Harperon & their media. And yes, their media is focussing on team orange. With the Liberals and Bloc gone, who else will they have to talk about??
The Montreal Gazette has a partial transcript on the discussion. I don’t think the issue was whether he was shot in self-defense. The issue seems to be the photos themselves. The discussion doesn’t turn to self-defense until later.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Laden+remarks+meandering+Mulcair/4736439/story.html
Now that the NDP has gone from fourth-party status to official opposition, Solomon told Mulcair, his party will be asked to comment on all issues of the day, such as: “Should the U.S. release pictures of Osama bin Laden?”
Mulcair’s reply: “I don’t think, from what I have heard, that those pictures exist. And if they do, I’ll leave it up to the American military.”
A flabbergasted Solomon challenged: “You don’t think those pictures exist?”
“No, I don’t think that. … If they have got pictures of a cadaver then there is probably more going on than we suspect,” Mulcair continued.
“On the other hand, if they do have them and they don’t release them, I think that they are probably doing it in the most decent way,” Mulcair said.
“I think that if there is something that went on there it requires a full analysis and we have to understand whether or not there was an action of self defence or whether there was something that was more in the style of a direct killing and that has to do with American law and with international law as well.”
Solomon then asked: “Was Osama bin Laden reaching for his weapon, or was he just shot?”
“They would require more than a picture in that case, Evan,” Mulcair replied. “You would need a movie of the whole thing. And I don’t think you are going to get that either.”
“Just so I understand that,” Solomon said. “When you say you don’t think the pictures exist. . Explain exactly why you think there might not be pictures of a cadaver and the body of Osama bin Laden.”
Mulcair said: “It’s very difficult to explain a negative proposition. You are affirming that they do exist. If they do exist, if the Americans say that such things do exist, then it will be up to them to release them.”
Solomon: “They have a photo.”
Mulcair: “Possibly. You know, I don’t honestly believe that it’s germane, I think that if the Americans have taken pictures in that circumstance, they won’t be able to prove very much as to whether or not Mr. Obama (sic) was indeed at one point holding a weapon.”