Some do. Some have.

We give you the Guild of Vampires at Postmedia. More cuts, more amazing journalists out of work.

Meanwhile, up in Ottawa, no one offers up a single word of objection.

He needed to look and sound presidential, and somehow walk back his lies about the election being “rigged.” He didn’t do any of that.

She needed to keep her cool, draw him out, and remind people why he is wholly unsuited for the most powerful office on the planet.  She did all of that.

I live-tweeted it, as before.  This is the one that got the biggest reaction – it’s been retweeted about 700 times, favourited twice as much, and seen by 70,000 people.  It represents what I feel, still.

What an utter disgrace that a qualified, competent, decent woman is obliged to treat this scumbag as somehow equal. #debatenight #uspoli

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

So, here’s the Twitter play-by-play. Comments are welcome.

Before things got going, I did a sketch of the Hateful Human Cheeto.

I did a portrait of @realDonaldTrump. Not bad. pic.twitter.com/XFfZR2RE7g

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 19, 2016

I was nervous. I shouldn’t have been – although he was better in the first 30 minutes than he’s been in the past 13 months.

Being a highly superstitious Irish Catholic, you will forgive me for having a really bad feeling about #debatenight #uspoli

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

When she came out, wow. She looked like a million bucks.

She looks fabulous. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

I immediately got to work with highly-scientific analysis.

It's mean, but @realDonaldTrump's mouth closely resembles a sphincter. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

Fox News? Who would’ve thought it?

Chris Wallace best moderator yet. Surprised. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

At first, Trump was doing better. Hillary wasn’t doing as well as she had done, I felt.

If he keeps this up, he's going to benefit from this debate. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

She's being too lawyerly. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

But then, he started rolling out the “illegal aliens” theme. He started to sound unhinged. I noticed. My readers noticed I noticed.

His theme for the next two weeks is going to be killer illegal aliens. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

@kinsellawarren pic.twitter.com/buFCILcLK1

— Edwin (@edwinmundt) October 20, 2016

Half an hour in, his meds totally wore off. The mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging, sniffling, combed-over, sphincter-mouthed sausage-fingered vulgarian was back, big time. And that’s how he was until the end – his worst performance yet.

Bad Donald is back. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

She really started to lay into him. She used Sugar Ray’s technique against him – float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. It worked. He became more deranged. Sweaty, angry, disjointed.

She's throwing it down and it is glorious #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

She just kicked him in the figurative nuts. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

As someone said, he even lies about his lies. People noticed.

"Nobody has more respect for women than I do." And they laugh at him, as they should. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

I’m a democrat and a Democrat. I opposed Meech Lake because it was undemocratic. I don’t like prorogation, closure and whipped votes because they feel undemocratic. I didn’t like Trudeau’s electoral reform stuff because it was undemocratic (turns out he now feels the same way). I believe the will of the people – not the party leader, not the cabinet ministers’ – always comes first.

So, when he said what he said, my mouth literally dropped open. Other folks did likewise.

"I will look at it at the time." What a piece of garbage this guy is. Jesus. #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

She therefore said the only thing that could be said, at that point:

"You are the most dangerous person to run for president in the modern history of America." CLIP #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

He knows, and knew, he is losing. That’s why he is falsely claiming there’s electoral fraud. That’s why he’s a whining piece of crap. And he slipped, with this:

I think @realDonaldTrump just conceded the election to @HillaryClinton, there. #debatenight #uspoli

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

Always listen to your Mom.

My 84-year-old Mom is watching this, and saying: "What a pathetic little man he is." #debatenight

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

I’m humblebragging, but folks seemed to like my selfless devotion to tweeted truth.

The great war room strategist @kinsellawarren always says politics is about images. Compare/contrast visage of Clinton/Trump in last moment

— Richard McAdam (@TheRealRGM81) October 20, 2016

@kinsellawarren I was sure #WarrenKinsella won the debate.

— Rab Newol (@Rabnew) October 20, 2016

The Debate Twitter award goes to….@kinsellawarren

— Madi Fuller (@madifuller13) October 20, 2016

And who won? My readers, like me, had no doubt:

#debatenight was won by:

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

The election is over, but the ugliness won’t be. Get ready for lots more of it in the dying days.

And may I say that working on her campaign, with Lisa, has been just about the most rewarding experience of political career. Word.

What an utter disgrace that a qualified, competent, decent woman is obliged to treat this scumbag as somehow equal. #debatenight #uspoli

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) October 20, 2016

Trump sure is obsessed by them. Wonder why. 

One year ago today, the Liberal Party won a big, big election victory.

One year later, what do we know?

We know that Justin Trudeau and his party are still popular – very popular. Polls say so. Against his opposition – both leaderless, both (seemingly) directionless – he seems unbeatable.

We know that, when compared to the ugly election taking place to the South, Trudeau’s “sunny ways” still works. When we are obliged to consider the relative merits of the likes of Donald Trump, Trudeau can’t help but look good.

We know that he has done many of the things he said he would do. He said he’d stop bombing ISIS, he said he’d admit thousands of Syrian refugees, he said he’d run deficits. Despite predictions of calamity – despite the numbers, as seen here and here and here – he did all those things, and his popularity soared.

We know that some of the things he said he’d do – like fixing C-51, or restoring home mail delivery, or keeping deficits modest and a middle class tax cut revenue-neutral – he just hasn’t. He has plenty of time left, of course, but some big promises haven’t been kept, and a few have been broken.

We know that he is not perfect, of course. He makes mistakes – sometimes big ones. He seems to have a tin ear about those unkillable Liberal twins, arrogance and entitlement.

We know that he brilliantly campaigned from the Left, as Liberals have been known to do – and he has mainly governed from the Right. As Liberals do. It has enraged his opponents, on Left and Right, but it sure hasn’t hurt him.

That’s what we know.  There’ll be lots of coverage today, as Justin Trudeau makes the rounds of the media, celebrating the first year.

But here’s what I know, this morning, one year later: I don’t give a damn about any of that stuff. I don’t care.

Here’s what I care about: a year ago, Justin Trudeau said that his biggest priority was improving the lives of First Nations in Canada. He said that, over and over. In his Throne Speech, that solemn vow was the centrepiece. He promised First Nations “recognition of rights, respect, co-operation and partnership.”

And, a year later, almost to the day of his big win, a ten-year-old indigenous child committed suicide in Northern Saskatchewan.

The media – preoccupied as we are with Donald Trump and marking anniversaries of elections – barely noticed. Try and find the story about that dead child in Google. It will take you a while. It did me.

Two things.

One, there is nothing Justin Trudeau is doing today – nothing – that should matter as much as a ten-year-old in Deschambault Lake committing suicide, because (to her) life isn’t worth living.  It should get his full attention.

Two, when a ten-year-old girl ends her life – because we haven’t fulfilled our collective promise to that girl – when that happens, there is no anniversary worth celebrating.  None.

Because, when something horrible like that still is happening in Canada, when the duty Justin Trudeau (and all of us) owe that child is unmet – well, it sure isn’t “2016,” is it?  It sure isn’t “sunny ways,” is it?  It’s the bloody dark ages.

And everyone who is decent knows that, too, one year later.

UPDATE: One of my favourite politicians agrees.

UPDATED: A powerful politician also seemingly agrees. Good.  Now do something about it.

 

…but too late. I mean, he’s losing in Arizona and Georgia, for Pete’s sake. 

The Opposition and the media (and me) hammer Trudeau’s government for the electoral reform stuff, and we demand he rethink it.

So Trudeau rethinks it, and the Opposition and the media (but not me) hammer him for breaking a promise.

Sometimes, in this business, you just can’t win.  But I give the guy credit for doing the right thing.