Liberal credibility: an oxymoron

Babble on.

Jacques Corriveau is now saying his suspicious invoices for "Olympic Stadium" events in places like Rimouski were simply misprints. He really did do the work he billed for, he claims.

Oh, and on the subject of billing:

Corriveau said Lemay decided the amounts of money he received for services he provided.

"I insist on saying I wasn't the one doing the asking," Corriveau said. "I was billing. There's a nuance between billing and asking. The amounts were dictated by Mr. Lemay."

Ah, 'nuance' raises it's ugly, misshapen head once again. Don't get me started on 'nuance'.

Apart from the nitty-gritty details of who did what for whom in this scandal, this information speaks to a bigger political issue for the federal Grits. Boiled down to the bones, here's the problem with this guy's testimony: nobody believes him. Absent any other information, the average voter doesn't trust anyone who conveniently misprints invoices and with a straight face states he doesn't determine his own rates. It just doesn't pass the smell test.

And while the generalization is undoubtedly unfair, the fact that he's a Quebec Liberal makes anything coming out of his mouth doubly suspect at this point.

Now the final record, when it's formally compiled months or years from now, may well exonerate this fellow. I have no crystal ball. But in the meantime, Paul Martin and his band of loyalists, wearing faces flushed Liberal red these days, are going to have to face the Canadian electorate.

If the gut reaction of Canadians to Liberal pronouncements has shifted from 'the benefit of the doubt' to simply 'doubt', they're in deep trouble.

Babble off.