Quote du Jour: The Infallible Prime Minister

I have never in my life knowingly done anything wrong.

- Brian Mulroney
Oliphant Commission testimony, May 19, 2009

Someone nominate the man for sainthood!
 

Mulroney on the Defensive

Brian Mulroney is a pathetic shell of a man. If you ask him why, he'll say that his biggest mistake was meeting Karlheinz Schreiber - leading, as we all know by now, to his acceptance of envelopes of disputed amounts of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash under the table. He says he's sorry about that. From all appearances, he's more sorry that he has had to admit it publicly.

After 2 days of softball questions from his lawyer Guy Pratte at the Oliphant Commission, the commission's counsel, Richard Wolfson, hammered Mulroney this morning about why he didn't reveal his business relationship with Schreiber when he was under oath in 1996 - stating that he only met with Schreiber for "coffee". Mulroney, claiming his interrogators wanted to "kill" him, repeatedly stated that nobody had asked him. His propensity to answer simple questions with long, unrelated diatribes leading him in whichever direction he chooses to go under oath, then and now, belies the idea that those lawyers at that time had failed (as Mulroney contended). They asked questions. He gave answers that he wanted to give.

Wolfson made the point that, as a former (supposedly honourable) prime minister whose business with Schreiber was legitimate (at least according to Mulroney), he shouldn't have had any qualms back in 1996 about talking about the so-called "retainer" money Schreiber had provided. But they didn't ask about it!, poor Brian insisted.

It's everybody else's fault, you see. If only... If only they had asked about those business arrangements back then (even though they had absolutely no way of knowing about them and Mulroney was quite happy to talk all about Marc Lalonde's business with Schreiber at length but obviously not his own), poor Brian and his family could have been spared this Greek-style tragedy.

The drama continues... as does the testimony. No matter what, however, the time is long past for Mulroney to rehabilitate his very tarnished reputation. They don't call him 'Lyin' Brian' for nothing. He's an arrogant, paranoid, defensive man who wants us to believe that he is entitled, by his very existence, to be redeemed. The reality that he continues to create defies that fantasy.

Related:

Mulroney blames reporters for show of emotion (Have I mentioned how pathetic he is?)

 

Lyin' Brian Under Oath

Brian Mulroney, the former Conservative prime minister whom Harper and his bunch have recently tried so desperately to brand as a non-Conservative - a pre-emptive strike before his appearance at the Oliphant Commission - began his testimony this morning in an emphatic, Nixonian 'I am not a crook' style.

Right out of the gate, Mulroney tried to play the sympathy card:

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney said Tuesday at a federal inquiry he hid his business dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber to avoid the rumours and speculation that fuelled [sic] allegations against him in the Airbus affair.

"The enormity of those events scarred me and my family for life. And it explains my conduct in trying to keep private the private commercial transaction I entered into with Mr. Schreiber after I left office, so as to avoid the same kinds of deceitful and false purveying of information that had led to the original Airbus matter in the first place."

Mulroney received a $2.1-million settlement after he sued for defamation when his name was publicly mentioned in connection with a 1995 investigation into the sale of the Airbus jets to Air Canada.

Poor Brian. So misunderstood.

Canadians will have to choose between live coverage of 2 scandals today as MP Ruby Dhalla testifies before the standing committee on citizenship and immigration in an attempt to fend off the Nannygate allegations.

All in all : drama everywhere you look.

Related:

Watch the happenings live online on CPAC's site.
 

Friday Fun: The Mulroney/Schreiber Affair for Dummies