A Week Really IS A Long Time in Politics ...

Quick thoughts for now, because I'm stuck doing some last-minute projects at work.

* It seems like only yesterday that Belinda thought that Paul Martin's did not deserve the confidence of the House. Well, it wasn't yesterday ... but it was a week ago. Talk about "time flies" ...

* First, David Peterson screws up badly enough to put Bob Rae and his crew in charge of Ontario for 5 long years. Now he acts as midwife to Belinda's Liberal ministerial career. For God's sake, David, enough already!

* Fellow blogging tory Stephen Taylor is your one-stop shop for reminders of all sorts of things that Belinda probably wishes she never said (although I expect that her "shame quotient" will probably drop to Brison-esque levels soon enough).

* Just in case you thought all the class acts were on the Liberal side of the House, NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis proves that we won't have to worry about Ed Broadbent-style decency amongst the Dippers once he retires. From the end of this story on the Globe's website:

Some MPs couldn't resist a giggle at Mr. MacKay's expense. Ms. Stronach's departure is a blow to him personally and to the Conservatives as they strive to appear election-ready.

The spurned MP appears to be “unlucky at love and unlucky at politics,” said New Democrat Judy Wasylycia-Leis.

Nice, Judy. I guess any divorces, separations, and the like amongst your fellow New Democrats are now fair game, eh? (Of course they are not "fair game", so don't go posting any rumours of marital/relationship difficulties amongst the NDP set, but it is too bad that Judy doesn't see things that way.)

* And speaking of the NDP, the one thing that will (hopefully) brighten up this rather gloomy day in politics is a good old fashioned trouncing of the heirs of Glen Clark in BC. I went to law school in BC from '94 to '97, in the NDP's "prime", including their winning-a-majority-despite-getting-fewer-votes performance in the '96 election. I'm sure that the NDP will do better than the 2 lousy seats they won in '01, but it's wonderful to see a situation where the NDP winning > 20 seats out of the 79 in play would be seen as a comeback, and not a disaster.

(Of course, given how today is going, I fully expect to have to get used to saying "Premier Carol" tomorrow morning.)

More Later.