Friday, June 03, 2005
Why is it that only Chantal Hebert is asking Liberals?
MEDIA WATCH
Over the course of the past week we have witnessed numerous stories in the press about how Conservatives feel about their own role in the Grewal tapes. Yet no one seems to be asking or listening to Liberals on the question of how they feel about a sitting prime minister of theirs caught on tape being involved in a sordid MP payoff scheme. No one until now, that is. Chantal Hebert writes a must-read piece on the growing unease among pro-Martin cabinet ministers, no less, surrounding the prime minister's ability to run a clean ship. Conservatives being upset about one of their own taping conversations is one thing. Senior Liberals questioning the leadership of their prime minister over the affair is quite another. Media: wake up. You have a huge story on your hands, and it's not what some Tory MPs think about Gurmant Grewal. It's a lot bigger than that.
UPDATE (1:15pm): Well, looks like the Globe and Mail is starting to get in on the act too. Although not a cabinet minister, Liberal MP Roger Gallaway is disgusted by his own party's conduct in the affair and thinks both Tim Murphy and Ujjal Dosanjh should step down.
Is this a blip on the radar screen, or just a tip of the iceberg?
According to Hebert, it's the latter.
And, unlike Lorne Gunter of the National Post, my gut tells me there is too much for the Liberals to answer for in order for this to go away. For one thing, the media coverage of Grewal has already made him out to be the bad guy in all of this. If it's too late to pardon his actions it's too late to pardon the actions of Murphy, Dosanjh, and even the prime minister.
