With friends like Gagliano...

Disgraced ex-Liberal Alfonso Gagliano, who was expelled from the party for life, probably thought he was doing his friend Joe Volpe a favour on Monday when he came to Volpe's defence by claiming that those opposed to Volpe's Liberal leadership candidacy were simply anti-Italian. Forget about the fact that Volpe got donations for his campaign from children and is now in the news because someone signed up a couple of dead people to vote for him, whose ghosts showed up to hound him in Ottawa today. Facing some tough contenders who Volpe has not yet managed to equal in the polls, one would think Volpe would drop out. But that's not going to happen any time soon.

So, in rode Gagliano to supposedly help embattled Joe:

In a wide-ranging interview to mark the launch of his book, The Corridors of Power, Mr. Gagliano said he believes Mr. Volpe will come out fighting at his scheduled press conference today to answer the latest allegations of misdeeds by his leadership campaign team.

"History repeats itself. Whenever an Italian-Canadian tries to go up and succeed in politics, somebody tries to do something to bring him down," said Mr. Gagliano, who is fighting his lifetime ban from the Liberal party.

"When I got to the top, that's when my troubles began."
[...]
Mr. Gagliano, who maintains that he did no wrong as minister of public works and was a victim of a smear campaign by former prime minister Paul Martin's camp, writes in his book that ethnic prejudice played a prominent role in his fall from grace.

And after defending Joe from all of those supposed anti-Italian people, Gagliano had this to say when he was asked if he'd support Volpe:

Mr. Gagliano said he has not decided which candidate to support, his comments suggest he is leaning towards his fellow Italian-Canadian.

"Naturally, I know Joe Volpe but again, is the party and the country ready for an Italian to take the lead?" he said.

But if Gagliano actually believes that his troubles all began when he became Public Works minister as an Italian who had reached the top, maybe he just wants to spare Volpe the heartache. Then again, maybe he's still just trying to deny personal responsibilty and just wants to sell more books.