Years later, 'he bugs us still'

[CHIMO]

He believes he will go down in Canadian history as the best prime minister since Sir John A. Macdonald.

He most certainly will go down as the most profane.

And perhaps even, much to Brian Mulroney's regret, as the least believable of the 17 prime ministers who came before his arrival in 1984 and the three since he left in 1993 -- a master and victim of hyperbole who is described by one premier who consistently stood by him as "a pathological liar" who didn't know he was lying and who simply could not be trusted.

"Throughout the whole goddam thing," he tells Mr. Newman during the 1993 summer campaign, "she's been screwing around with this Russian guy. The guy was sneaking into hotel rooms and the campaign bus. If I'm in an election and you bring Marilyn Monroe and 15 others into my hotel room, I'd throw them out. You have no time for that stuff. If you have 15 minutes, you phone some of your candidates."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050912.wxmacgregor12/BNStory/National/?pageRequested=2



And some still think that sh*t doesn't flow uphill.

[AX10]

1. Mulroney also left his party with just...

a handful of seats in the 1993 election. What kind of leader takes a national party and decimates it (his own party, that is)?

[Maple]

2. Mulroney was never defeated

Kim Campbell was.

[Lautremont]

3. And you suppose the blame for that spectacular defeat rests

entirely with Campbell? The power of Mulroney's face and voice to trigger gag reflexes across the country might have had something to do with it.

[Maple]

4. Yes

She was the most popular PM in history going into the election.

But a female PM...egad

Just because you don't like Mulroney, don't assume others feel the same way. He had two back to back majorities.

And he would have torn Chretien apart. He was very good at what he did.

[AX10]

5. But Mulroney's policies were not popular.

How could he have taken on the Liberals? Liberals seem to be the choice of the Canadian people in the post war era.

[Maple]

6. 2 back to back majorities

and he was good at politics.

Lots of people liked his policies you know. And he was very good at selling them.

Some people have a knack for politics, others don't.

On edit: I should add that his only real enemies were within his own party...Bouchard in Quebec and the Reform crowd in Alberta.

And Reform...or whatever they're called this week...is the reason we've been Liberal ever since.

[V. Kid]

7. But have you read that article?

It's very intresting, and I think it's clear Canadians were getting tired of him. His act worked well, for a while. And he was the first (Progressive) Conservative to win back to back majorities since John A., but as his friends in the article said, he's a pathological liar who is totally full of himself. He may have won a few more seats than Kim Campbell, who knows (but would 8 have been much better than 2?), one thing is true, he would've been crushed like a bug in the 1993 election.

[Bassic]

10. He probably was a liar and full of himself

But then he was a politician, so that's no big surprise. You want to talk about a politician that was full of himself? Just take a look at Trudeau.

[V. Kid]

11. I think he's in a league of his own, re. being full of himself.

[Bassic]

12. Maybe but I don't know

Trudeau was one pompous ass if you ask me. But I do agree Mulroney is hard to beat, no argument there.

[AX10]

13. I agree that Mulroney was popular for a time.

Remember, the Libs were in for 16 years. People wanted change. In 93' Mulroney got on Canada's nerves so the PC was defeated. I believe that Mulroney knew that he was 'caught' and allowed a woman to take the fall for him. If he was so popular, why did he back out of a third term? Simple, because he was not that popular after a decade of power and lies.

[Bassic]

9. He was indeed.

I also think he would have done a lot better than Campbell. Sadly Canada qwas just not ready to vote for a woman PM back then.

[glarius]

14. Mulroney's policies were responsible for Canadians decimating the

Progressive Conservative Party in the first election possible after he left....They never did recover and thus we are left with this right wing version run by Harper and his nutty cohorts.

[IntravenousDemilo]

8. If only Jon Dore's father had been prime Minister. n/m