Sunday, February 28, 2010

"I Believe In The Power Of" Ego

I'm sorry, but this is simply to perfect to let pass. You're glued to the television, the magical moment arrives, Canada wins! Caught up in the genuine organic outflow of emotion, what's your first instinct? Sheesh, get out of the way woman, Jack needs face time:


Jack Layton Wants To Make Sure You See Him Celebrating That Goal! from Torontoist on Vimeo.


Sometimes one moment perfectly embodies so much about a person. Forever "on", the life of Jack Layton.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess I'm blind, I can't find him. But seeing Stevie way up on the crystal podium wasn't worth finding?
wTF?

Gayle said...

He's right at the front. It is hard to see him because just in front of him is a woman's arm - so he makes sure he grabs her arm and moves it down so his face is not obscured for the camera.

And here I was just saying it was smart of him to go to the bar to watch the game...

weeble said...

every event I have watched for the past few days has seen Stevie sitting alongside some medalist. At the speed skating, curling and I am sure at the hockey game.
ok...back to work like the rest of us

Gayle said...

He was sitting next to Gretzky at the hockey game, but I noticed him hanging around medallists too.

Thing is, watching the game at the bar is far more "ordinary Canadian" than watching the game at the arena with the Great One.

Jack wins this one.

Anonymous said...

Fer fuck sake, so Jack is at a bar in Toronto, OMG, what a desperate attempt at Nothingness.
Stevie the medal whore gets a pass? WTF.

HippyTreeMan said...

He was just trying to see the screen in front of him,give it a break,if you don't like him find a real issue to debate,you sound like a Harpercon not a progressive!No more Mouseland!!

Steve V said...

The worker bees are touchy.

RuralSandi said...

I'm willing to give Layton some slack here. We all know he loves a camera, but really, I'd rather watch the folks celebrating in a pub/bar that Harper sitting up there like a big toad.

Harper having a wonderful vacationk while Obama and other leaders dealing with Chile.

Steve V said...

It's more funny than anything.

Anonymous said...

Thing is, watching the game at the bar is far more "ordinary Canadian" than watching the game at the arena with the Great One.

He was actually at the bar owned by the Great One, which, last time I was there, was a little pricey. No "ordinary Canadians" in Toronto go there, it's a tourist trap or a place to bring your Dad on his birthday.

Jack, next time hit up a local Firkin bar (or the Royal Oak in Ottawa) if you want to be a 'man of he people.'

Gayle said...

Oh come on.

Harper was at a game where tickets were selling for 15 thousand dollars. Layton was at a pricey bar.

Which one is more "ordinary Canadian"?

Tof KW said...

For the record, Chrétien took in plenty of hockey games during his tenure, including lots of un-newsworthy regular season Sens-Habs match-ups. Certainly some of it was for political capital and to reinforce the ‘little guy from Shawinigan’ image, but a lot of it was just because he genuinely loves the game.

I am not disagreeing about Harper attempting to use the two hockey golds to help boost him image, but just the same he’s a fan of the game and, really, how unsightly would it be to NOT have our sitting PM attend a gold-medal final on home soil? If Ignatieff becomes PM he’d better damn well attend any potential hockey finals too.

As for Layton, I agree with Steve on this. Jack was there in the camera’s eye on purpose. And being the leader of the #4 party in a four party parliament, there really is no reason for us to see him ...accept that he wanted us to.

DL said...

...and where was Count Ignatieff?? let me guess, he didn't watch the game at all because he was at Cabernet-Sauvignon tasing party?

Tof KW said...

oops, my last line should be except he wanted us to.

Well he come the dippers to defend their camera whore. DL, where Iggy or Duceppe were yesterday afternoon is irrelevant, just as where your precious leader was should also have been.

Tof KW said...

I give up on spelling today :(

DL said...

Layton has a right to watch the game in a bar with hundreds of ordinary people - just like anyone else. Its news to me that just because you're a politician, you have no right to go to a sports bar and enjoy a hockey game just like any other person. No one would even have been aware that he was even there were it not for a few Liberal hacks with nothing substantive to to say and who are so obsessed with partisan "gotcha" tactics that they can't even enjoy the moment of Canada winning the gold medal without taking a time out to go through a grainy tape as if they were JFK assassination conspiracy theoriests studying the Zapruder film. Now thanks to the Liberals - more Canadians know that Layton likes to watch a hockey game in a bar surrounded by ordinary people. On behalf of the New Democratic Party - I offer my gratitude to Liberal hacks everywhere for helping to give Jack Layton so much more publicity than he would otherwise have had. Now more people will think he's a "HOAG" (helluva guy) - something Count Ignatieff will NEVER be able to be.

Steve V said...

People miss the point, which is minor in the grand scheme. What does it say about someone's mental state, that rather then enjoying a moment, they think of moving people away so they can be seen. Layton managed to turn a seemingly geniune expression into a calculation. Nothing more, nothing less, no matter what useless hacks try to present otherwise.

Anyways, just a side issue, nothing to lose a spleen over ;)

DL said...

The only calculation is from Liberal hacks trying to beta up a story. I watched the "Zapruder tape" video and honestly all I saw was Layton gently moving someone's arm so that he could see the giant screen in front of him - which is exactly what I would do if I was trying to see something and a random arm went flying into my face.

The fact the some Liberals hacks would rather go on about this than just take a breather and enjoy Canada winning the gold medal speaks volumes about where their priorities are at. I think its all a Liberal case of "penis envy", the NDP has a personally popular leader who is a man of the people who Canadians have great affection more - while the Liberals stuck with their second elitist dud of a leader in a row.

Meanwhile, today Layton is proposing a motion to limit the ability of the PM to prorogue parliament. Will the Liberals get behind it or will they do their usual "Layton says white, there we must say black" routine?

Tof KW said...

Layton has a right to watch the game in a bar with hundreds of ordinary people - just like anyone else.

Sure he does, I don’t disagree. But Gretzky’s bar is hardly ‘ordinary’. I don’t know about you but any pub or sports bar I go to the draft is only around the $5-6 mark. And I’m pretty sure he knew a CTV camera was there as all though the broadcast …no Layton …until Crosby scored that overtime goal of course. And he had to shove a woman’s arm out of the way just to make sure.

… a few Liberal hacks with nothing substantive to to say and who are so obsessed with partisan "gotcha" tactics that they can't even enjoy the moment of Canada winning the gold medal without taking a time out to go through a grainy tape as if they were JFK assassination conspiracy theoriests studying…

Mon Dieu. Do you listen to yourself DL? In case you never got it before, for the record I am not a Liberal – never donated let alone held any membership. I’m a former PCer who thinks the Libs are less-worse than the current Reformatory government we have in place. If the CPC ever elected a true Tory as their leader and dumped the neo-liberal economics and US-Republican so-con populism BS, I’d be voting blue again in a heartbeat. Even so I consider myself an independent voter because I have cast ballots for four different political parties in various federal and provincial elections. In all that time, the NDP was never one of those choices. And your rants here pretty much sum up what keeps me from voting that way. I admit there are some really good people in the NDP who are a credit to the party and really deserve better …and then there is the rest of the sanctimonious, ‘holy-that-thou’ bunch who have the party they deserve.

Steve V said...

Uber hacks calling anyone else a hack is very amusing.

Yawn.

DL said...

"And I’m pretty sure he knew a CTV camera was there as all though the broadcast …no Layton …until Crosby scored that overtime goal of course."

I guess the Liberals were asleep at the switch and neglected to hire a private detective to follow him yesterday. That way you could see if he was actually at the bar for the whole game or if he only showed up at the end when there was likely to be news coverage

...you may think I'm joking, but did you know that to this day - every two weeks without fail when its garbage day in Toronto - apparently the garbage bin outside Layton's house is invariably emptied before the garbage trucks arrive - by some poor sod getting paid the minimum wage by Toronto Sun who has to painstakingly go through all the garbage and try to see if the Layton/Chow household has put anything recyclable in their garbage!...maybe they have a deal where the Sun goes through the regular garbage and some flunky from Liberal HQ has to go through the green bin of organic waste to see if they can find anything incriminating!

Tof KW said...

DL, you're just digging yourself deeper you know.

DL said...

Gee, I thought it was poor sods from the Sun who are digging deeper through Layton's garbage...and after all these years still not finding any recyclables.

Apparently they also have someone whose job it is to grab the garbage at Naomi Klein's house and go through it to see if she ever buys anything that has a logo on it.

Steve V said...

Man, you sound like a kook.

RuralSandi said...

Geez, DL is sounding more and more like those paranoid Con trolls.

Face it DL, Layton likes a camera, he likes to be seen. That's just the way he is.

I don't know how attacking Iggy changes Layton's personality?

Layton and Chow - the two salaries and perks and living in mother-in-law's house - ya, he can afford a Gretzky beer or two.

DL said...

I'm glad if Layton likes a camera and likes to be seen. Those are essentially parts of the job description of any successful political leader. If you are some recluse who doesn't like being in the public eye - then you have no business being a politician.