New Senator Larry Smith Needs Your Help

[The_Squid]

Will Senator Smith be able to afford Xmas gifts for his children? Can he even afford to heat his home on his base salary of $132,000???

Please find it in your heart to make a donation to save Larry Smith from poverty and from becoming destitute. Forget the African AIDS children... don't worry about coats for the homeless in Canada... don't bother giving those canned goods to the food bank. Senator Smith needs your help. He is sacrificing so much for you....

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/12/22/larry-smith-senator.html

http://savelarrysmith.tumblr.com/

[Jack Weber]

Smith should'nt have pi$$ed off Bob Wettenall...

He might still have a job with the Als...

[Topaz]

I still like to know what Harper offered for him to take a pay cut?

[Shakeyhands]

I still like to know what Harper offered for him to take a pay cut?

He'll be an MP after the next election, win or lose, just like Fortier.

[Moonlight Graham]

He's absolutely insane to remove himself from the senate job. It's easily one of the best jobs in Canada.

[Shady]

Please find it in your heart to make a donation to save Larry Smith

I didn't hear him ask for anything.

[The_Squid]

I didn't hear him ask for anything.

He's too proud to beg....

"taking a dramatic, catastrophic paycut to serve public"

but these words and his pitiful 6 figure salary speak volumes....

[bloodyminded]

"Catastrophic"?

Wow.

[Argus]

He's too proud to beg....

"taking a dramatic, catastrophic paycut to serve public"

but these words and his pitiful 6 figure salary speak volumes....

Yes, it says he was highly successful and got a lot of money for it. Six figures is not all that impressive these days. Tons of people make six figures. Even me. It doesn't make you rich. Well, unless the first number begins with a higher number than '1'. He was probably making five times as much in his previous gig.

[Argus]

"Catastrophic"?

Wow.

Cut your salary by 80%. What would you call that?

[bloodyminded]

Cut your salary by 80%. What would you call that?

I would use his first adjective: "dramatic."

Not "Catastrophic."

But then, unlike the the good senator, I like the English language, and am aware that words have meanings, as well as connotative properties.

Anyway, I have to go clean up the disaster, the tragedy of the water spill that my cat made on the kitchen floor.

[Argus]

He's absolutely insane to remove himself from the senate job. It's easily one of the best jobs in Canada.

A man like that probably doesn't consider sitting around doing little for a $132k salary to be a big deal. He was a football player, a newspaper publisher, then CEO of the Allouettes. The money is not impressive to a guy with his history, and he sounds like someone who is still alive and wants to be active. I do think trying to get elected in Quebec is a risky proposition for him, though, being English.

I think I've said it before, Francophones don't like Anglos and won't generally vote for them if given a choice. Or as Paul Wells said in McLeans

I took a moment to mourn the spectacle of a Conservative party so unmoored from modern-day Quebec that its next star candidate would be named “Smith.” Don’t get me wrong: A guy named Smith or Wells is always greeted with a smile in Chicoutimi or Quebec City, but he is unlikely to pick up a lot of votes from a Ouimet or a Côté. Smith is a well-regarded professional-sports executive with solid French, but that’ll get an anglo the same sort of cool respect a James Moore or a Jack Layton gets among francophone voters.

Edited December 25, 2010 by Argus

[CrazeeEddie]

Tons of people make six figures. Even me. It doesn't make you rich.

Yep, about 5% of all Canadians!! So it makes you significantly wealthier than the average Canadian. And to call a $132000 a year salary catastrophic? Really?

But Liberals are the elitists, right....

[CrazeeEddie]

A man like that probably doesn't consider sitting around doing little for a $132k salary to be a big deal. He was a football player, a newspaper publisher, then CEO of the Allouettes. The money is not impressive to a guy with his history, and he sounds like someone who is still alive and wants to be active. I do think trying to get elected in Quebec is a risky proposition for him, though, being English.

I think I've said it before, Francophones don't like Anglos and won't generally vote for them if given a choice. Or as Paul Wells said in McLeans

I took a moment to mourn the spectacle of a Conservative party so unmoored from modern-day Quebec that its next star candidate would be named “Smith.” Don’t get me wrong: A guy named Smith or Wells is always greeted with a smile in Chicoutimi or Quebec City, but he is unlikely to pick up a lot of votes from a Ouimet or a Côté. Smith is a well-regarded professional-sports executive with solid French, but that’ll get an anglo the same sort of cool respect a James Moore or a Jack Layton gets among francophone voters.

I would say the 'catastrophic' $132000 comment may put him significantly more out of touch than the name Smith.

[Smallc]

Yes, it says he was highly successful and got a lot of money for it. Six figures is not all that impressive these days.

Yes it is. If you make over 80K per year, you're in the top 5%. You'd probably be in the top 2 -3% at 6 figures. I don't know what you do for the government, but I'm about to buy into a business that has between 2 and 3 million dollars in revenue. I'll probably never make as much money as you.

[Bonam]

Of course for someone with his history being a senator will be a giant pay cut. He could have chosen his words more carefully I suppose but the real problem is the rabid hordes which detest the rich to whom this is for some reason an issue. So the guy earned lots of money. Big freaking deal.

[bloodyminded]

I would say the 'catastrophic' $132000 comment may put him significantly more out of touch than the name Smith.

[Scotty]

Of course for someone with his history being a senator will be a giant pay cut. He could have chosen his words more carefully I suppose but the real problem is the rabid hordes which detest the rich to whom this is for some reason an issue. So the guy earned lots of money. Big freaking deal.

The political arena is a new one for him, where every stray word can be picked out and used as ammunition. Maybe that's why he's having a try at it as Senator before he runs for Parliament - where they're even nastier.