Kevin Potvin Lashes Out

Holy shit! He's gonna blow!

The nagging Kevin Potvin saga took a turn for the absurd today, as he abruptly added a column to the website for his Republic of East Vancouver website today.

Like any borderline-psychopathic ideologue with wounded pride, Potvin rages against those he deems his oppressors, derides his critics, and repeatedly threatens to sue.

Among his numerous targets are Peter O’Neil, who failed while attempting to interview Potvin for a piece regarding his disqualification as a Green Party candidate when Potvin, according to his own account, attempted to interview him. In his tirade, Potvin recounts, “he grew audibly distressed when I told him I am a journalist too, and I was in fact interviewing him at the same time.” According to Potvin, O’Neil terminated the interview after having been asked “if he is for or against corporatism and militarism. “I’m asking the questions!” he barked, before flatly refusing to answer anything further at all.”

He notes that the Vancouver Sun was “forced to print a correction explaining that the hapless and flustering O’Neil didn’t mean to fabricate the quote he couldn’t get from [Potvin].”

In a story published April 13, O’Neil attributes the comment “go, Osama, go!” to Potvin’s “Revolting Confession” article. In the original article Potvin also wrote (and I know this is merely reiterating on this blog, as I’ve already reproduced these comments once, but they are so astoundingly offensive they are somehow worth repeating once again), “Nor was I alone, I know for a fact, whenever I passed a TV or newspaper with a report on the ensuing US war to capture Osama bin Laden, and I secretly said to myself, "Go, Osama, Go!" I am happy he has eluded capture by the Americans. I am in love with those Afghans who, whenever asked, said, "He went that-a-way," and their fifty hands pointed in fifty different directions.”

Whatever O’Neil’s misquote was, Potvin should be able to forgive him. He was probably just taking Potvin’s advice, and using his emotions as a form of “mental shorthand”, and reconstructing Potvin’s comments as he remembered them.

Potvin also takes aim at Province columnist Michael Smyth. Potvin describes ”Greens Must Dump Pro-Al Qaida Candidate article as “libelous”. Unfortunately for Potvin, all of his comments are on the public record, and verifiable.

He also takes note with Smyth’s description of Potvin’s behaviour as “weird”. Potvin himself describes it as “dignity”. Suddenly, in Potvin’s mind, it’s dignified to accept an interview request from a journalist and insist that he shall be the one doing the interview. Weird, indeed.

Potvin complains that, “In his story, Smyth writes, “Potvin refused to take questions from reporters” to substantiate his claim I was running and hiding. So far, his boss, Roz Guggi, has refused to take questions from me regarding the libel they printed in his article.” Yet, by his own account, Potvin has refused to take any questions from reporters. He has insisted on asking the questions. Apparently, his journalistic instinct tells him that, in a situation wherein a political candidate has made incredibly outrageous – as well as just plain stupid – comments regarding 9/11, the really newsworthy event is that a reporter would as HIM a question. Wow.

Bruce Hutchinson also comes under fire. Or, rather, Brian Hutchinson comes under fire – but it’s OK, mr Potvin, it’s another b-name – whose mention of the behaviour of Potvin’s supporters Potvin dismisses with the following statement: “Could it really be that traumatic to face a couple of questions yourself after so gracelessly hounding me?”

Once again, mr Potvin might do well to remember that Brian Hutchinson isn’t the story – Potvin’s own comments about 9/11 are.

Lastly, Potvin lashes out at National Post columnist Lorne Gunter. Potvin decries Gunter’s “Greens’ answer to John Beck article as a “late hit” . Potvin insists that he is no worse than a “an Earth-abusing, pro-Bush, pro-NAFTA, pro-war type” like Gunter.

Potvin decries it all the entire time. Potvin would surely have everyone believe he is nothing more than a victim, suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Unfortunately for Potvin, he has called this all upon himself – by refusing to adequately address and defend his comments, by refusing to answer questions, and by making boneheaded comments to begin with.

At the end of the day, Potvin is lucky. Opposition research (or “oppo” as experienced political strategists call it for shot) is a common practice in electoral campaigns today, and one can only imagine what the Conservative party or even the NDP would have done with something like this.

While incredibly amusing, Potvin’s latest outburst has probably established a new adage: “when the going gets tough, nearly-psychotic hateful ideologues pout.”