{"id":17193,"date":"2017-05-03T15:43:06","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T19:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17193"},"modified":"2017-05-03T15:43:06","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T19:43:06","slug":"politics-as-usual-unforced-errors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-unforced-errors\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Unforced Errors"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have been off sick (and thank you for that random lady on the plane who provided me with a shower of germs as you sneezed in my face) and then away at a conference, so have not had a column for two weeks.
\nMuch has happened and yet, at the same time, nothing new has happened in the world of politics while I took a break from talking about it.
\nLet\u2019s start with the new.
\nFor once, it looks like naked self-interest did not rule the day. Kevin O\u2019Leary withdrew from the leadership race as he just realized that not being able to speak French and thus not being able to win the francophone vote would be detrimental to his chances of beating Trudeau, which one assumes is \u2013 ostensibly \u2013 the rationale for seeking the leadership in the first place.
\nI am not clear why that came as a surprise. Ten minutes of basic research would indicate that the francophone vote is clearly important in a bilingual country, but, regardless, at least it is a \u201csensical\u201d approach.
\nIf he had continued, he could have won the leadership race but lost the election. So, not good for the Conservative party. And yes, not good for Mr. O\u2019Leary either. But none-the-less, at least considerations other than one\u2019s own self-interest factored into a political decision. So score one for something new.
\nAnd then there are the unforced errors manifested by hubris \u2013 or, in the political world, what amounts to more of the same. What else to make of the debacle with our Minister of Defence? Taking credit for something \u2013 in this case being the \u201carchitect\u201d of a military strategy \u2013 for which in reality he had little to do with. Politicians taking credit for things, glomming on to the work of others, is nothing new. Unfortunately, a lack of vision, originality and \u2013 alas \u2013 integrity, seems to plague some folks in higher office.
\nBut speaking to the example of the Minister, let\u2019s not get too high and mighty about it. We all embellish the stories we tell. The bus that \u201cwas speeding down the road and almost flattened me,\u201d was in reality a minivan in a parking lot, a good 50 feet away, going just 5 km an hour. But the truth would make for a boring story, so we embroider it a bit with fanciful details.
\nIn the political world, as with the real world, modest self-aggrandizement is par for the course. I think folks kind of expect it by now. But flat out fabrication? That\u2019s going to get you in trouble. People don\u2019t take too kindly to being played for fools.
\nIn the age of social media, and instantaneous access to information, facts (real and alternative) are accessible to anyone at any time. Taking credit where credit is most decidedly not due is not wise.
\nNo one likes a phony.
\nLet me rephrase that, no one likes an obvious phony. The Minister gets that and has apologized for his little trip into the land of make believe. As long as there isn\u2019t a repeat trip, then I accept him at his word.
\nNow let me tell you about the time I was attacked by a bald eagle, while riding my bike\u2026<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas I have been off sick (and thank you for that random lady on the plane who provided me with a shower of germs as you sneezed in my face) and then away at a conference, so have not had a column for two weeks. Much has happened and yet, at the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4tj","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 16:42:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}