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| Jack got the infamous rubdown here. Too soon to tell if a "happy ending" is in store for the rest of the NDP |
However Layton's reaction to the story, the timing of which is obviously political, that in 1996, police found him naked in a "house of ill-repute," is further demonstration, if any more was needed, that the NDP leader is not fit to be the head of Canada's government.
Aside from the obvious lack of judgement demonstrated by a well-known city councillor, as he was in the 1990's, in receiving services of any kind at a bawdy house, Layton's response to the news of it does not bode well for his ability to react to pressure with grace.
Sex has got a lot of men into trouble over the years and most politicians are men with a lust for power, so the term political sex scandal is almost tautological.
There are ways to handle it and there are ways to deal with it effectively and what one does shows a lot about leadership skills.
Layton went to the book on this scandal by immediately claiming "smear" and having his wife issue a statement of support. If that sounds familiar, it's because Bill Clinton did much the same thing. The difference was that in Clinton's case, his scandals didn't break two days before a general election.
And unlike Layton's, Clinton's excuses also had the advantage of not making him look stupid.
Layton has claimed that he went to the massage parlour, pictured above, to get a "shiatsu."
He said he believed the location was a legitimate massage parlour and that he did not receive any sexual services there. That might be true.
But look at the facade of the massage parlour in question, in a seedy part of Toronto's Chinatown, an area that Layton would have been very familiar with, since he was the municipal representative for that area.
If you told me that place is a "legitimate" massage parlour, I'd laugh at you.
There's also a certain incongruity, which is my polite way of saying hypocrisy, to someone who wanted to ban lap dancing and said, "a strip bar is not a petting zoo" who then goes to the sort of place where the clients are the ones being petted.
Layton's reaction was to be rattled, to decry a basic component of the political process that he voluntarily and heartily pursues, and to look and sound beaten.
Being Prime Minister is about leadership. Layton himself has made leadership a central issue of his campaign. Lame, implausible excuses, self-pity and bad reactions are not the way leadership is best exercised.
Canadians are lucky they found out what Jack Layton's version of "Canadian Leadership" is before it's too late.
UPDATE: In a song-and dance interview with the CBC about his little visit to The Velvet Touch Massage Parlour (now if that name isn't a giveaway!), Layton casts more doubt on the veracity of his story than if he had the good sense to keep his mouth shut.
The NDP leader, responding to reporters' questions, said he went to the clinic around 9 p.m., recalling that it was probably after a workout.
"I went for a massage at a community clinic"You can see the alleged "community clinic" above. Does that look like a community clinic? Have you heard of many legitimate massage clinics that are open at 9 PM?
Harper talked about Layton being all smiles and snake oil. He got the smiles right, but that would be massage oil, Steve.
(h/t to Blazing Cat Fur for the update)
UPDATE 2: It looks like "Velvet Touch" is a popular name for massage parlours. Here's one I found in Edmonton. And here's one in Youngstown, Arizona, and another in Melbourne, Florida. And here's a Miss Velvet Touch in Niagara Falls who offers massages (among other things)! I bet the clients of these other Velvet Touches all mistook them for 'community clinics' too!
27 comments:
Are you saying the dentist ( named on the sign ) isn't legitimate, as well?
Look, go fuck yourself. That's all that I have to say about your attempt to perpetuate the smear job.
As opposed to your leader, you sound like someone who's been rubbed the wrong way.
Looks like Layton supporters are a little touchy, if not touchy-feely!
From a different Anonymous than above:
I wonder what Jack thought the red and green lights inside were for - a traffic light, maybe, but then again, it was missing the amber. C'mon Jack, don't think the Canadian people are that stupid.
Actually, I couldn't care less what Jack did or didn't do in that place. What the story reminds us is that Jack Layton is a hard-left socialist from downtown Toronto. Perhaps not the best "political" background for PM of Canada. At least not for me.
So did Jack get a blow job or a hand job...maybe Lady Olivia had a headache that night.
Jack says he only got a "shiatsu." Only him, his masseuse, and the discarded kleenex know for sure if there was more.
Am I the only one who fell in love watching Krista Erickson talk about a moist kleenex? I've been watching that video for 20 hours straigt now, and I still can't get tired of it.
I went to a shiatsu chiropractor on Bathurst and Eglington in the early 90's but the doctor had a couple degrees on the wall and there were no red or green lights; no tall slim Asian attendant, just a receptionist and only regular office lights. If I'd have known I would have asked Jack. His place sounds like a lot more fun.
Sorry, Skippy. I don't want to think about what could have been in the kleenex! However, I suspected SUN TV would be more entertaining than the "end of Canadian civilization as we know it" doomsayers predicted. So far, it's a fine addition to the cable line up!
Anon at 5:49, I'm in agreement with you, but the real question is, did your shiatsu therapist have you get completely naked?
On a more serious note, it is fitting and proper that the OPP is investiating the Sun's source in this story. Toronto cops have a long and storied history of improperly involving themselves with politicians over the years, most famously when Craig Bromell was running thir union, often in direct violation of the Police Services Act.
Firstly, why was the cop in question illegally keeping a fifteen year old evidence notebook? Secondly, does disclosure of investigative materials absent prosecution violate the federal or provincial Privacy Act or Ontario's Police Services Act?
I'm pretty sure that you'd be asking these questions if anonymous retired police officers were leaking this kind of material about a Conservative candidate two days before an election.
The bonus of an OPP investigation is that it lets us know which party was behind it, because it's almost impossible to believe that there wasn't a rival party involved in getting it to The Sun.
Who wants to take bets that a political hack ultimately gets charged with lying to police over this?
The rub and tug aspect of the story is hilarious, but the probable axis of police, political hacks and media companies is pretty scary. And if they get away with it this time, I'm pretty sure that Dalton McGuinty will taking notes for the fall.
This does sound like some procedures were violated. However, it's coming out that this story has been in circulation for quite some time. It just happened that SUN News, the upstarts that they are, chose to break it while other news media thought it was inappropriate.
They're (almost) all covering it now though!
And the police misconduct is as much, if not more of a story. It's certainly more important. Think Lorrie Goldstein's willing to go to jail to protect his source? I don't.
You can look at this another way too, if it's a better political fit. Layton was on the Budget Committee at the time. Did the cops give Jack a pass for that reason?
If the cop illegally kept his notes for fifteen years, how can anyone say that he or she didn't alter them to protect Layton?
This can be endless fun when you think about it enough, and that's exactly why the cops should stay well clear of politics. They're generally not smart enough to avoid getting burned.
By the way, you think the Sun would be taking the tack they are if the Star were to run a similar story, with anonymoous police sources and legally questionable evidence, on Tim Hudak four and a half months from now?
I know that I'd be taking exactly the same position I am now. I just don't think anybody else would.
And of course the rest of the media is covering it now. It's a fifteen year old trick from the U.S.
You plant a story that nobody else will cover in a questionable publication, then watch everybody cover the coverage. Republicans used British tabloids for Clinton stories, as is fairly well known. In a pinch, they'd go with The American Spectator, which is where the Paula Jones story came from.
But no matter where it breaks, once it does, the rest of the herd can run the details with a clear conscience because they're pretending to cover - and condemn - the outlet that ran the original story. Everybody gets their rocks off that way.
I also doubt that this story was as widely known as people suggest it is, and I've read this morning that it was an open secret for years!
Really? You don't think that Sue-Ann Levy wouldn't have run it to finish Layton off when he was on Council or running for the NDP leadership? Why not run it when he was beating the tits off of Dennis Mills in Toronto-Danforth?
I think a lot of people are spinning this to cover some asses this morning. If politicos or journalists - two groups of folks not celebrated for keeping a secret in very competetive, information-driven industries - knew about this before this week, we already would would have heard about it.
I'm not disagreeing with you, and there are some very interesting possibilities to how this story will turn out.
But for all the bluster from the NDP now, it could open a rabbit hole for Layton he might not want to enter after the election.
Why was he naked for his "shiatsu"? Is that standard for a therapeutic massage??
How is it that he came to this particular place? I know that area of Toronto, now and as it was in the mid 90's and that stretch of Dundas West of Bathurst is not the first place you would think of to go for legitimate massage therapy.
I am not going to make a public pronouncement on whether Layton is telling the truth or not, but a lot of embarrassing questions will be asked if it gets pushed further.
You're right about abuse of process, but it is a separate issue from how Layton is handling the whole thing now that it's out there. I could care less about whether a politician gets a hand job, but how they deal with criticism reflects on leadership and skill or, in this case, lack thereof.
Both Andrew Coyne and Warren K. claim they knew about this one long before it broke on SUN News.
Which is interesting because both have pretty strong Liberal party ties and now that I consider it, your theory of the Liberals being behind this is sounding even more plausible.
I can't see a story this big about a federal leader being held that close for years at a time, as I'm sure the Prime Minister's wife will tell you. These stories tend to circulate to the point that even I, with my magnificent agorophobia, manage to hear about. I didn't hear about this one and neither did anyone else.
Coyne said he only heard about it a couple of months ago, which he may have. In any event, it's too tawdry for Macleans to run absent an arrest. The other one I'll have to discuss with you via e-mail, but I have a theory about that, too. I think he was as surprised as anyone last night.
Also, my belief about the Liberals being behind it is a little more than a theory. All roads lead to it as a conclusion.
If it was the Bloc, it would have run in the Frence language Quebec media, where it would get the most bang for the Bloc's buck. Also, I don't see English Canadian cops cozying up to separatists.
That leaves the Grits and the Tories. Who has more to fear from the NDP right now? Even if Layton costs Harper a majority, the CPC will still exist.
Now, I'm pretty sure that Stephen Harper and his staff think that they'll still have careers on Monday. But they almost certainly won't if this story leads back to them. The party will throw each and every one of them overboard if their involvement ever came to light, which an OPP investigation almost guarantees that it would.
Can the same be said of the team at Stornoway? Do you think that any of them will have jobs after 11:00 Monday night if the Dippers aren't stopped? Think a provincial police report that won't come out for months is a higher priority for them than an absolute rout?
Desperate times are famous for calling for desperate measures. And you never know where that Hail Mary is going to land if you don't throw it.
Having said that, I do think it's a scream that everybody's blaming the Harperites for the one shitty thing that they almost certainly didn't do. The irony in that is beautiful.
I just put this up at your blog too..Jonathan Kay of the Post just tweeted that he was offered the Layton "shiatsu" story 2 years ago by a Liberal fixer. Hmm.. I wonder if it's a Liberal fixer we know?
http://twitter.com/#!/jonkay/status/64427654065033216
http://twitter.com/#!/jonkay/status/64427654065033216
As far as Jack's future is concerned, I think this is a non-issue. If he doesn't impress the hell out of everybody the day after tomorrow, he's gone anyway and everybody gets their scalp.
If he survives because of a great election, I think that the process story takes over outside of the blogosphere, if only because it will have been taken to the public and they clearly will not have cared all that much.
At the end of the day, the process story wins easily. It has way more legs and allows journalists to cover their favorite topic: themselves.
I'm inclined to disagree with you about Jack's future. If he's gone after this election, it'll be for health reasons rather than getting the boot from the party. The NDP aren't like the Liberals. As a party, they expect to lose and will gladly tolerate a leader that gains them any ground, as Layton probably will.
Iggy's future, on the other hand, is a different story.
I don't think that any sane person that has actually thought it through is seriously suggesting that Layton can form a government of any kind. Sure, it makes for a scary Tory talking point, but that's it.
Before last night, I figured that Layton was good for between 60 and 70 seats. If he gets that or better, he's leader for life.
If not, I think he leaves on his own power. He'll have led the party through more elections than anyone since Broadbent and he'll let Muclair have his turn and do the building in Quebec.
I didn't mean to suggest that he'd be taken out in a coup.
According to the CTV National news, there is an investigation underway to determine who leaked the police officer's notes to the media. CTV reports there was nothing illegal going on as stated in the notes, but it is still illegal to obtain and release them. This is nothing but a smear campaign, pure and simple. As for an NDP government, well we've had them in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, and guess what, the sky didn't fall.
None of those governments had stellar incompetents like Libby Davies at the top of them.
And the whole point of this isn't whether anything "illegal" was going on. And by the way, there's a difference between "nothing illegal going on" and not having enough evidence to charge someone.
But the point is this isn't about whether Jack got jacked off in a rub-and-tug anymore. I couldn't care less if he did. I don't think having gone to a place like that and getting a hand job 15 years ago should disqualify someone from being Prime Minister. The point is that this whole controversy shows how Layton handles himself in what should have been a very minor controversy and personal crisis and he's doing a terrible job.
He can't keep his mouth shut and keeps offering dumber, less plausible explanations that make him look like more of a fool than if he said nothing. This episode gives us some insight into what a dolt we would have leading Canada's government if he were to become PM.
Masturgate is like Watergate in one sense - it ain't about the crime, it's about the cover up.
But let's say Layton innocently went to a place that anyone else in downtown Toronto with the slightest savvy would recognize as a rub-and-tug - he's now managed to make it look like a cover up. that's an even more frightening indicator of the kind of buffoon we'd have as PM if the NDP were to get enough seats.
@Skippy - I wan't suggesting those Libs I mentioned in the context as potential leaders (although some of them will vie for it) but to show how they have a roster of strong, competent MPs who will form the core of a post-May 2 party.
In fairness, in the extremely unlikely event that he becomes Prime Minister, and then has a scandal, there's now precedent for him to just prorogue Parliament. No explanation necessary!
Is your supposed photo of the massage operation referred to the the Sun News story a recent one or contemporaneous to the incident? If it's a recent photo (which it almost certainly is, otherwise why take or have that photo?), how do you know the building facade or business signage or any other pertinent details are the same or even similar enough to be revealing of the true nature of the place or otherwise relevant? If it's a photo taken at or near the time of the incident or whatever police operation there was then regarding the massage business, who took the photo, why, and how did you obtain it (is it part of a police file like the improperly divulged officer notes?), considering there's been to my knowledge no mainstream media or the like reporting of any notoriety regarding the business there at the time. How do you know the business currently at the reported location where Jack Layton got the massage in question is even the same business or offers the same services it may or may not have at the time Layton got the massage? Those are just a few questions that would have to be answered before this sorry story could even approach the level of real news. Nice try; pathetic smear.
Time to brand him eJackuLayton!!! Ha ha that prick!
That would be 'rejectuLayton' now....
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