The Secret Mulroney Tapes on CBC: Fascinating

CBC TV - The Secret Mulroney Tapes:
"THE SECRET MULRONEY TAPES reveals the former prime minister's candid thoughts and opinions about issues of state and the individuals with whom he locked horns throughout his tenure."
What struck me was the whole "Irish Eyes are Smiling" story. At the time, the media portrayed Brian Mulroney singing with Ronald Reagan as evidence of Mulroney's sycophancy to the Americans, particularly Reagan. Seeing it here, with the entire episode from the time Maureen Forrester invited Mulroney and Reagan and Mila and Nancy onto the stage to sing with the cast the song When Irish Eyes are Smiling to when they came onto the stage and joined the cast, all the time listening to Mulroney speaking about that episode, made me realise that a Prime Minister that the media hates cannot have a normal human moment.

The real news: two men of Irish extraction, while watching a St. Patrick's Day celebration in a part of Canada that had a large Irish immigration, were asked by the cast to join them in a rendition of When Irish Eyes are Smiling. And being in good humour and not wanting to disappoint the cast and the audience, took their wives and joined in the fun. If you were asked up on stage along with your guests, would you say no?

The media made-up news: Mulroney sucked up to Reagan by getting him up on stage to sing When Irish Eyes are Smiling.

The other thing that struck me is that while I haven't read the book, it's obvious the makers of this documentary decided to show the truth about Mulroney as well as they could and to expose Peter Newman's duplicity when he was interviewing Mulroney.

Note: See also my post Mulroney Laid Bare.

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