That's right. We Liberals are laughing at the flip-flopping Tories. All the while they are, once again, saying and doing the things Canadians want to see and hear in a government. At first light, these crazy, ridiculous statements over the past couple of weeks by the Conservatives give rise to the belief that the Cons are dead in the water. But are they?
The Canadian voter has proven over the past two general elections that they like the "window dressing" style of politics. So one has to sit back and ask - whilst scratching the ole noggin - what the hell are they up to.
Let's start from the beginning. Was it merely a coincidence that the House of Commons wasn't sitting for President Obama's visit? I think not. I think the Cons were quite content to have the Prez share as few photo ops with opposition parties in plain sight as was humanly possible. An address to the House would have included far too much exposure to the opposition parties on TV in through camera lenses. Who knows, Jack and Gilles might have snuck into a frame or two.
Next up, the PM flies down to New York for some meaningless United Nations meeting. The grin touting Harper grinned his way to interviews with Fox and CNN exclaiming the greatness of the Canadian banking system. Smooth. Very smooth. What better than to have foreigners telling Canadians how lucky they are?
Then we have Top Gun Peter MacKay waving his iron fist at the Russians. Thank God he saved Barack Obama's life by stopping those bombers. But now the Cons get to say how tough they are and how they support the military and our arctic sovereignty. (Not to mention certain defense contracts that will be inked over the next few months).
In the same breath, the Justice Minister announces new get tough on gangs legislation. A clear shot designed for winning all the BC seats. Wile he was at it he threw in a dash of get tough on drugs too.
Next up they send Lawrence Cannon over to Israel on a mission. Canada had already committed humanitarian aid to Gaza and Cannon wasn't attending the donors' meeting, so what is the real purpose of the visit? I leave that answer up to you dear readers.
Simultaneously, we have Jim Prentice over in Washington talking about - you guessed it - the environment. The Cons are now the party of the environment. Imagine that. Don't laugh now, I kid you not.
Throw in the fact that several Con cabinet Ministers are travelling around the country making sure that they are in communities announcing local project funding.
Then, of course, there's the announcement today that Canada is in an unwinnable Afghanistan war. No shit Sherlock? Really? And here's the best. Opposition MPs are attacking the PM for flip-flopping rather than just saying "I told you so" and "it's about time you f#ckin' li*r". In the meantime, most Canadians are saying "Finally", and "thank God".
All this in order to hide the finance minister away for a while. Oh, and who cares about a silly nuclear leak or two. Oh, and the inevitable sell off of Canada's nuclear plants to private interest - a Jim Flaherty trademark. Smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors.
What's up next do you think? Me? I think a trip to China is in order. I'm not laughing at it either.
UPDATE: Travers somewhat agrees with the old What Do I Know, version 2.0.
2 comments:
Great post James & exactly what I've been thinking about all of this. It looks good to the eyes of the public - the public that doesn't look beyond the headlines & the talking points, which is most of them.
"Then, of course, there's the announcement today that Canada is in an unwinnable Afghanistan war. No shit Sherlock? Really? And here's the best. Opposition MPs are attacking the PM for flip-flopping rather than just saying "I told you so" and "it's about time you f#ckin' li*r". In the meantime, most Canadians are saying "Finally", and "thank God"."
The Libs are just losing every opportunity they get for good comebacks. They use the same old, same old which goes nowhere. I'm puzzled by it. Haven't they learned ANYTHING in the last 3 plus years?
Hate to say it but I can see Harper getting his majority in the next election - no matter what I read on liberal blogs. Such rosy predictions from so many bloggers but I don't see it the same way at all. You can't keep doing/saying the same stuff (the Lib Party) & expect different results. They've propped up this Con govt. again, just like during Dion's term, & now Harper feels emboldened to start all his aggressive, nasty tactics again. He's now safe & he knows it.
I knew that as soon as the budget was passed, with Ignatieff's blessing & only one lousy amendment, that Harper would stop pretending with his non-partisanship game.
It's over - for the Libs.
The power of "BEING THE PARTY IN POWER".
You can prorogue Parliament for almost 2 months to save your skin, and most definitely you can control the media focus on almost any particular day.
Harper has blundered in the recent past - lost his much sought after majority during the election because of inconsequential Arts funding cuts, almost lost power because of an eagerness to cut the opposition parties at their knees by eliminating their source of funding - but he (and those around him) are still light years ahead of the Liberals in strategic planning (sorry WK) and delivery. I guess if we keep hearing often enough the new Liberal mantra that we will hit back twice as hard, we may eventually believe it, even though the words are not followed up by any real actions.
The $3B slush fund is brilliant. And you know what, it may be what the Conservatives need for that supposed June election. Not only do the Conservatives have an overflowing war chest, not only are they again using 10 percenters that are free, they also want an additional $3B worth of ribbon-cutting ceremonies on top of all the ribbon-cutting ceremonies the supposed Liberal budget allows them to cut.
Post a Comment