'Bad information is an occupational hazard'

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 10:50 AM - 36 Comments

The CEO of Sun Media says—and the Conservative campaign confirms—that a Conservative strategist forwarded a dubious photo of Michael Ignatieff.

Three weeks ago, our vice-president for Sun News, Kory Teneycke, was contacted by the former deputy chief of staff to Prime Minister Harper, Patrick Muttart. He claimed to be in possession of a report prepared by a “U.S. source”, outlining the activities and whereabouts of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff in the weeks and months leading to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The report suggested that rather than being an observer from the sidelines, as he wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece after he entered Canadian politics, Ignatieff was in fact on the front lines and on the ground at a forward operating base in Kuwait, assisting U.S. State Department and American military officials in their strategy sessions. Muttart also provided a compelling electronic image of a man very closely resembling Michael Ignatieff in American military fatigues, brandishing a rifle in a picture purported to have been taken in Kuwait in December 2002.

What Mr. Muttart provided was apparently enough for the Sun papers to run a story that claimed Mr. Ignatieff was “was on the front lines of pre-invasion planning when he worked in the U.S.” Still, Mr. Peladeau believes this was part of an effort to discredit both Mr. Ignatieff and Sun media and that this episode should debunk any notion that the Sun is a tool of the Conservative party of Canada.

Don't drink the water

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 4:03 PM - 4 Comments

In light of tonight’s debates, it is probably worth revisiting the advice Patrick Muttart, a top advisor to Stephen Harper, once provided to British Tory leader David Cameron.

In the documents, Mr Muttart says Mr Cameron should ‘practise staring down Brown while the camera is focused on the moderators, other leaders. Makes your opponent feel uncomfortable’. But he adds that when Mr Cameron is ‘attacking/rebutting’ he should ‘look at his opponent’s shoulder and not his face. Facial reactions can be distracting/destabilising’.

Personal attacks, meanwhile, should be ‘well-timed and well-constructed’ but used infrequently ‘for the biggest impact’. Most of Mr Muttart’s advice is listed under a section entitled ‘key presentation points’. It states: ‘Ensure Cameron has room-temperature water. Cold water (with ice) tightens the throat. You should control his water – not the TV studio. ’When Brown/Clegg is addressing Cameron he should not write notes. To viewers it looks rude.’

He also urges Mr Cameron to ‘use viable, easy-to-understand solutions versus abstract ideological musings’.

How to respond to Don Cherry

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 3:11 PM - 45 Comments

Brian Topp notes both Don Cherry’s latest ranting and Patrick Muttart’s recent observations and casts forward to a progressive response.

A good place to start is to stop building up our opponents by mocking or demonizing them, as so many progressive people did, self-defeatingly, in the case of both Prime Minister Harper and Mayor Ford. Next, we need to find some clear words to point out the fundamental contradiction in the conservative message – a populist message designed to beggar the populi. And third, we need to scrub off thirty years of impenetrable, internally-focussed, liberal, academic, bureaucratic, entitlement-driven, self-absorbed “progressive” language.

Wooing the working class

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, November 3, 2010 at 11:30 AM - 0 Comments

Patrick Muttart, one of those often credited with bringing Stephen Harper to power, turns up in a bit of American election analysis, hailed in this case as “perhaps the world’s leading expert on working-class voters in English-speaking countries.”

He has found that in each country, working-class voters may form the base for successful center-left governments but are crucially responsible for the rise of center-right leaders like Harper, Australia’s John Howard, and Margaret Thatcher … He emphasized that working-class voters do not fit neatly on the traditional left-right continuum. They are fiscally conservative, wanting low rates of taxation and wanting government to live within its means, but economically populist, suspicious of trade, outsourcing, and high finance. They are culturally orthodox but morally moderate, in the sense that they don’t feel their lives will change much because of how social issues play out. They are patriotic and supportive of the military, but suspicious of foreign adventures.

Most importantly, they are modest in their aspirations for themselves. They do not aspire to be “type A business owners”; they want to go to work, do what’s asked of them, not have too much stress in their lives, and spend time with their families. They want structure and stability in their lives so that things are taken care of and they don’t have to worry.

Stephen Harper's dulcet tones, explained

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 2:24 PM - 6 Comments

Conservative guru Patrick Muttart sends British Tory leader David Cameron unsolicited, and perhaps ultimately dismissed, advice.

In the documents, Mr Muttart says Mr Cameron should ‘practise staring down Brown while the camera is focused on the moderators, other leaders. Makes your opponent feel uncomfortable’. But he adds that when Mr Cameron is ‘attacking/rebutting’ he should ‘look at his opponent’s shoulder and not his face. Facial reactions can be distracting/destabilising’.

Personal attacks, meanwhile, should be ‘well-timed and well-constructed’ but used infrequently ‘for the biggest impact’. Most of Mr Muttart’s advice is listed under a section entitled ‘key presentation points’. It states: ‘Ensure Cameron has room-temperature water. Cold water (with ice) tightens the throat. You should control his water – not the TV studio.’

'Let's change the system'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 10, 2009 at 12:31 PM - 8 Comments

Recently, in the process of researching for a magazine piece on Chuck Strahl (on newsstands now!), I stumbled across the University of Calgary’s online database of political papers and documents—a treasure trove of, among other things, old Reform party campaign pamphlets.

My favourite find so far might be this, “So You Don’t Trust Politicians. Neither Do We.” In fact, I’ve since printed it off and hung it on my office wall, right beside Stephane Dion’s first, last and only Christmas card as Liberal leader.

Elsewhere, on page 3 of this flyer, you’ll find a short write-up on an eager young Reformer named Patrick Muttart, who seems quite taken with the promise of free votes, voter recalls and referendums. Pity young Patrick never rose into a position of sufficient power to implement such changes.

At last report, obviously disillusioned with the political process in Canada, he was living in exile in Washington, D.C.

Middle-brow

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 8:26 PM - 41 Comments

From the Canadian Press assessment of Patrick Muttart’s departure.

Muttart also overhauled the party’s election ads. He pushed for extremely bland ads of Harper being asked questions by a fictional TV newscaster.

“The ads were artfully middle-brow,” Flanagan wrote in his book, Harper’s Team.

“Although many observers said they were hokey, they were well-conceived for the job they had to do — to communicate the essence of our policy to middle-aged or older, family-oriented, middle-income people without high levels of formal education.”

The Commons: 'Sir, did you make a mistake?'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 28, 2008 at 6:34 PM - 63 Comments

The Prime Minister gave himself a half-hour window to appear in the foyer. Somehow still he managed to arrive eight minutes late. Not that one should read into that any indication of his office’s relative state at this point. If anything was to blame it was probably a malfunctioning teleprompter which had various techies sweating and muttering in the moments before Mr. Harper arrived.

While they fiddled, an official from the PMO handed out a piece of paper filled with months-old quotes of Stephane Dion’s, each seeming to dismiss the idea of a coalition with the NDP. The title at the top of the page—”Just the Facts”—mirrored the heading of each missive sent out by the Tory war room during the last election.

Mr. Harper emerged from the House of Commons, the grand theatre of our democracy lit for the occasion, and gazed, for a moment, up at the second floor balcony above. Looking down from just outside his office were Jay Hill, John Baird and Patrick Muttart. None of whom, one hopes, having told the Prime Minister this vote subsidy thing was a great idea.

Once at the podium, Mr. Harper spoke as if a military coup were imminent. The opposition, he said, sought to “overturn” the results of October’s election. They would, he warned, “install” Stephane Dion as prime minister. Continue…

BTC: He talks in maths

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 9:35 PM - 38 Comments

When—let’s assume it’s inevitable—you pick up the election edition of Maclean’s, you’ll find, among other tales of adventure and woe, a fine accounting of the Conservative party’s electoral prowess. Political “genius” is fleeting and often nothing more than a figment of the imagination, but there is probably something—either horrifying or commendable—to be said for what the Harper Conservatives have done here. Which is to say, there is something to be said for reducing all of this nonsense to a series of geographic and demographic equations. Politics as a mathematical exercise. Nothing worth doing if it doesn’t equal votes.

In that regard, a few numbers to consider. Continue…

The Sparrow may be gone, but his legend lives on …

By kadyomalley - Monday, September 15, 2008 at 11:21 AM - 30 Comments

Including in the riding of London-North Fanshawe Centre … where, coincidentally, the PM will be heading off later today. Local columnist Chip Martin remembers all too well Ryan Sparow’s antics during the ill-fated 2007 2006 byelection, when he turned up “driving a gus-guzzling SUV with Alberta plates” to tank local Tory hopeful Diane Haskett’s campaign with his big-city brand of politicking:

Sparrow was picked to oversee Haskett and ensure the former mayor, who made a hasty return from Washington to contest the race, didn’t get out of line.

This was a tall order because Haskett, a bright and rather spontaneous individual, had been known to speak her mind, a trait that endeared her to supporters but could enrage her opponents.

Sparrow arrived to ensure the orderly transition of London-North-Centre from the Liberal camp to the Conservatives.

Driving a gus-guzzling SUV with Alberta plates, Sparrow went about his London assignment with vigour. He inserted himself between Haskett and reporters with whom she’d had an easy rapport during her time as mayor. He wanted to vet questions, brief the candidate and help craft her answers.

It was obvious Haskett chafed at the level of control that was placed on her. And it’s doubtful she ever knew of Sparrow’s highly partisan e-mails that went out to reporters behind the scenes slagging her rivals and their campaign teams. Haskett would never have approved of Sparrow’s bag of dirty tricks and smear tactics.

Despite prime conditions for vote-splitting – Elizabeth May ran for the Greens and came in second after picking up an additional 20% share of the vote – Haskett placed third. Afterwards, Martin reports:

Sparrow packed up and headed back to Ottawa to take on any assignment that might come his way. The loyal Tory attack dog just kept climbing up the party ladder. The incident last week tells much about Ryan Sparrow. But also about the people who gave him increasingly important responsibilities.

Which is something that seems to have been largely overlooked during the pundit post-mortem of the PM’s swift response to last week’s transgression. A Globe and Mail profile that ran last spring following the now infamous secret Sunday briefing, calls Sparrow the party’s “most frequent communicator-in-chief” on the election financing controversy willing to “literally … take a bullet” for the Prime Minister, according to an unnamed senior Tory:

Tories privately say Mr. Sparrow should not be held responsible for communications strategies at party headquarters, saying the Prime Minister’s Office is calling the shots for this hardball approach to the media.

“If they told him [instead] to go out and buy [reporters] beers every night, he’d do that,” a second senior Tory said.

The Harper government appears happy with Mr. Sparrow, with the first senior Tory describing him as a jovial personality who is not obsessed with status and title like many political staffers in Ottawa.

“This level of media relations in the private sector would be conducted by someone who was much older, so it’s been trial by fire for him and … a good learning experience.” [...]

A third Tory said Mr. Sparrow’s stock isn’t hurt if journalists grow
frustrated with communications at Conservative Party headquarters.

“There is a sense in certain quarters … of the leadership of the party
that you earn your stripes when you [tick] off the media, when you hold
the line and you go to the wall for the party.”

Given the maniacal message micromanagement that has become the signature style of the Conservative Party, it’s hard to envision any scenario in which Sparrow wasn’t simply carrying out orders from above – in London last year, and – up until last week – out on Lancaster Road. Rapid-fire response to reporters was his standard operating procedure.

Continue…

Patrick Muttart speaks!

By kadyomalley - Friday, August 15, 2008 at 8:45 AM - 0 Comments

Well, not directly, but still. Sadly for the Sparrow – and more sadly still, I’m sure, for Patrick Muttart and the Conservative Party – as of this morning, not a word of this statement appears to have found its way into the post-hearing coverage, which really isn’t all that surprising, considering how late it went out:

From: “Ryan Sparrow”
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:41:57 -0400
To: undisclosed-recipients

Subject: Statement from the Conservative Party


Media reports today suggest that Patrick Muttart organized and administered regional media buys for the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2006 federal election. This is false.
Continue…

GiornoWatch Extra: "… that hath such people in it." (Part 2)

By kadyomalley - Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 4:42 PM - 0 Comments

The first part of this special supersized edition of GiornoWatch: Now With Actual Confirmation can be found here. Hit the jump for Part 2.

Continue…

GiornoWatch Extra: O, brave new world … (Part One)

By kadyomalley - Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 12:44 PM - 0 Comments

As pointed out by Anon in one of yesterday’s liveblogging threads, the GEDS online directory has been updated with the almost-very-latest details of the new Giornoganizational structure at PMO.

Like a true obsessive, ITQ has spent the last few hours going over every detail — comparing new staff lists to archived versions, cross-referencing names, checking for new titles and generally trying to figure out what it all means – which, as it turns out, is taking considerably longer than expected. After the jump, then: the story so far. (Part two should be up sometime this afternoon.)

Continue…

Giornolism 101

By Paul Wells - Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 12:50 PM - 0 Comments

From the print edition, my 2700-word attempt to explain the turmoil at the PMO this summer:

Twice before, Stephen Harper overhauled the team around him as he prepared to meet a new challenge. In November 2001, as a candidate for the Canadian Alliance leadership, he fired the high-priced professional campaigners he had put on the payroll only three months earlier and turned the campaign over to his inexperienced but highly motivated friends. In July of 2005, as an Opposition leader who had failed to bring down Paul Martin’s minority government, he replaced his chief of staff and fired much of his organization. The first overhaul, according to the Harper camp’s household mythology, made him a party leader. The second made him prime minister.

And now he is doing it again.

The rest after the jump…

Continue…

The news, when we get around to it

By Paul Wells - Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 2:48 PM - 0 Comments

I’m still digesting this extraordinary piece by New Yorker writer George Packer about what he believes is the terminal crumbling of the conservative coalition that has dominated U.S. politics for most of my lifetime. As prognosis it’s arguable but at least plausible. As diagnosis it’s fantastic — the first third of the piece, on what Pat Buchanan and Dick Nixon were up to, is a tale told a thousand times but still full of lessons for students of politics. And as a metaphor for what Patrick Muttart, Stephen Harper and a few others have been up to, it is invaluable, and helps explain why events like this one deserve more attention than they sometimes get. I’ll share a few more thoughts after the jump, but first I want to complain about why you almost certainly haven’t had a chance to read Packer’s article in print yet. Continue…

Hey, everyone – let's go hang out at Wells' place!

By kadyomalley - Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 1:05 PM - 0 Comments

More specifically, the comment thread for this post, which is full of Senate reform debate-y goodness, and features ITQ as a Muttart-inspired archetype supporter of the status quo. What can I say, when it comes to the actual machinery of our democracy – the parliamentary system, in all its quirky, Rube Goldberg glory – I’m a bit of a radical.