The Empire Strikes Back

The Raven

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven, of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door.
Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door,
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly, grim, and ancient raven, wandering from the nightly shore.
Tell me what the lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore."
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! -- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted---nevermore!

The other day my partner said something I found very worriesome. Something that had been tapping at the back of my mind like Poe's Raven.

We were watching Question Period and she said, the unspeakable, the thought that dare not speak it's name.....she said " I think Paul Martin is planning a comeback".

I of course dismissed this out of hand, despite that damned tap, tap, tapping of the Raven in my mind.

I dismissed it with a shudder. Because I knew that the optics of his stepping down but remaining party leader were Deja Vu.

"Trudeau did it" she said. That did it. Now a ghostly shudder ran up my spine, that spectral dread when you know those dangerous thoughts are forming a solidity in reality.

"So maybe thats what Martin is going to do." she insisted on reveling in her Ravenesque toying with me.

I dismissed it. I dismissed it as too horrible to face. Like a picture of Dorian Grey.

"Nah he's too tired,to worn out, besides Shelia won't let him", I said with just a hint of shudder and falseto in my voice. Dismissed. Done. That horrible thought locked away.

I thought I had gotten the damned thing safely locked away in the basement with my Cask of Amontillado.

When what should appear in my email but a column by my Left Coast pal Bill Tielman. He writes a column in 24 hours The Sun's Vancouver daily free paper on the Left Coast.

Quickly I ran downstairs and found the door ajar the damned Raven perched on the top of door mantle and the cask well drained.

So here is his column because tommorow it will probably be gone off the 24 hours website.

At least he could have left me some of the Amontillado, rather than the damned bird.

Hi all - here is today's 24 hours newspaper column - my look at whether Liberal Leader Paul Martin might replace Paul Martin, as all the leading contenders for the Liberal leadership find other things to do.

Given the shocking move by former federal Liberal cabinet minister David Emerson to switch parties yesterday and join the Conservative cabinet, the opening quote in today's column is even more appropriate, as is the idea of replacing yourself!

Regards,

Bill Tieleman West Star Communications

February 7, 2006

Will Martin replace Martin?

By BILL TIELEMAN

Ambition never comes to an end.

- Kenneth Kaunda, former president of Zambia

A Liberal prime minister from Quebec is defeated by a new western-based Conservative leader, who wins a narrow minority government.

The outgoing prime minister resigns as Liberal leader and the party plans a leadership convention. But the new Conservative government is soon in deep trouble with its controversial policies.

The opposition parties combine forces to defeat the suddenly unpopular Tories but the Liberals are still leaderless going into an unexpected election.

Lacking a dynamic new leader, the Liberals beg the former prime minister to lead them into the election. Still sitting as a Montreal MP, he accepts their draft.

It's the story of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Joe Clark in 1979-1980.

But is it also the story of Paul Martin and Stephen Harper in 2005-2006?

As the top Liberal leadership candidates drop out, the odds of Martin replacing himself as leader increase.

And Liberal dissidents note that Paul Martin did not resign as Liberal leader, instead merely giving former Defence Minister Bill Graham his parliamentary but not party duties.

They also see that the Martin forces which pushed Prime Minister Jean Chretien out of power still control the party machinery. Martin's chief of staff Tim Murphy was reportedly slated to be Graham's top aide - until some party officials strongly objected.

Even non-Liberals like ex-Reform Party strategist Rick Anderson think Martin may return.

"There may be some pressure for him to come back," Anderson told CBC TV after the election. "The result wasn't quite as negative as seemed to be likely, and maybe he moved a little bit hastily."

The party has a problem after Liberal frontrunner Frank McKenna, the former New Brunswick premier and ambassador to the U.S., and ex-cabinet ministers Brian Tobin, John Manley and Allan Rock all declined to run. Did they sense a fix?

Other leadership candidates are flawed. Belinda Stronach, a former Conservative Party leadership challenger, is little more than the Paris Hilton of Canadian politics, minus the video.

Scott Brison, another turncoat Tory, also ran for the Conservative leadership before jumping to the Liberals.

MP Ken Dryden, the former Montreal Canadien goalie, is well-known but a wooden speaker lacking leadership potential. New MP Michael Ignatieff is a Harvard professor who supports the war in Iraq and lived in the U.S. the last 30 years.

Some mischievous Liberals even suggest Bob Rae, the former Ontario NDP premier who is still despised in that province.

And none of them is a Quebec francophone, which many Liberals say is a requirement, since the party has alternated anglophone and francophone leaders.

That leaves names like Martin Cauchon and Stephane Dion - former cabinet ministers with less public recognition than losing Canadian Idol contestants.

It's Paul Martin time again - he's retired, he's rested and he's ready!

Bill Tieleman is president of West Star Communications.

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