I read all the papers this morning so you wouldn’t have to.
1. The National Post of all places, provides a pretty good rebuttal to all those right wing commentators eager to dismiss the tragedy in Norway as the random acts of a madman:
His target was also carefully chosen, selecting the Labour Party because he saw it as the progenitor of the looming “cultural genocide” that came from the “Marxist/Islamic tyranny” and “Islamic demographic warfare.”
Further, by targeting both the current party’s leadership and its next generation of leaders, he sought impact beyond the immediate. The idea of killing the young could deal a blow to the party’s recruitment. What parent would want their child to attend similar events?
That hardly suggests a non-functioning mind.
Hard to argue with that.
2. Meanwhile, the Toronto Star profiles Jack Layton’s coterie of advisers in this Joanna Smith piece. Two things about the article are striking:
First, I can’t help but think that any similar Star item about any other political leader or political party would be littered with pejoratives like “backroom” and “insider” – lexicon which is notably absent.
And speaking of notably absent, there’s no mention whatsoever of caucus members amongst the “team that Jack built”, aside from the reference to Ms. Turmel’s ascension to interim leader of the NDP. This isn’t unusual – when you think about, the two most successful political parties in the recent election were those with the most centralized command structures. And you don’t see the Tories or the Dippers constantly whining in the papers about it. There’s a lesson there for someone, I’m sure.
3. The Vancouver Sun and the Globe and Mail have well-reasoned columns on the public’s right to know more about the nature and severity of Mr. Layton’s illness vs. the prominent political patient’s right to privacy. Hard to argue with their shared conclusion, but I do wonder if they’d reach the same one if it were a sitting Prime Minister.
It’s not an easy public debate to have when someone’s health hangs in the balance, but there are many pitfalls about succession in a Parliamentary system that is essentially viewed through an ever-more-presidential lens. In a hypothetical situation in which a minority (or heaven forbid coalition) government led by an ill or absent Prime Minister, what happens? Who decides?
4. CBC radio’s The House has a few good features this week also including Allan Rock’s reflections on his own battle with prostrate cancer while in office, my old boss Paul Martin on the budget impasse in Washington and the politics of debt and deficit reduction, and an endearing introductory interview with Nycole Turmel.
5. Finally, check out Calgary Grit’s first glance synopsis of the upcoming LPC presidential race. It’s early days yet, but I imagine it will generate a little more chatter once the summer is over and the spate of provincial elections is over in the fall.
