Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Enemies Within



Michael Harris suggests that, despite Stephen Harper's recent attempt to list his enemies, his real foes are inside his own tent. That may be the real story behind the the sound and fury over Mike Duffy:

Could the answer be that the deal was the brainchild of the PMO, and that Senator Duffy was forced to agree to the payback for reasons not yet known? If so, what could those reasons be?

“Maybe someone who didn’t owe anything was forced to go along with this scheme against his will,” says a player with personal knowledge of the events surrounding the Nigel Wright payment to Duffy — not for direct attribution. “Wouldn’t it be interesting if the RCMP were to question people about threats against a sitting legislator to get him to plead guilty to a non-crime for political purposes? Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

It's been obvious for some time now that the Conservatives' dysfunction  has nothing to do with fringe players. The bad guys aren't rogues. They reside in the Prime Minister's Office. Harris suggests that  an audit of Duffy's expenses would ultimately lead back to the 2011 election:

The government also was labouring under the shadow of dirty tricks in the last election, from robocalls that had Elections Canada investigating 56 ridings where voter suppression had been alleged, to the use by the CPC in 14 Conservative campaigns of the U.S. firm Front Porch Strategies, an campaign organizing group with close ties to the Republican Party. The law is murky on whether it is legal for foreigners to campaign on the ground in a Canadian election, as Front Porch did in the campaigns of Julian Fantino and Rick Dykstra.

The Conservatives know exactly how they won the last election. And they are working furiously to make sure that the public never discovers the skeletons they left behind. The real enemies are those within the party who know where the skeletons are buried.

10 comments:

thwap said...

It's possible. But I wouldn't put it past these dorks to bail-out one of their own, just because.

It's also possible that $90,000 was a shit-load of money to Duffy. Maybe he has dirt on harper and he twisted their arm.

On the other hand, in favour of your point, Duffy was campaigning for the harpercons on the tax-payers' dime. An investigation into that could have unearthed all sorts of skullduggery.

I would have thought though, that Duffy is guilty of the crime of fraud?

Anonymous said...

The longer this story goes, the weirder it gets. So Mike Duffy was possibly made a patsy in order to distract from the real scandal which is the Conservative's 2011 election shenanigans?

Will the RCMP conspire with the Conservatives in their efforts to bury the real scandal, or will they serve the Canadian people as they should?

To say that this story has legs is an understatement.

The Mound of Sound said...

I think I recognize the voice of the source Harris is quoting. From what I've been told, there's more than one dissident and they're not exactly in the PMO but not very distant either.

Owen Gray said...

And Duffy may well be guilty, thwap. If he starts to sing, Harper could be in deep trouble.

From the beginning, this affair has not turned out as Harper hoped it would.

Owen Gray said...

As was the case with Watergate, Anon, the crime that has the potential to do Harper in is the cover up.

Owen Gray said...

I know you've written about dissidents before, Mound. It would be interesting to know whether or not they pose a real threat to Harper.

gingersnap said...

Who had access to the PMO, on the Duffy scandal? Who had access to Harper's enemy list? None of the other party's did?

I have detested Harper since, his Northern Foundation days of 1989. Harper being named a control freak, really fits the profile of a Dictator.

Owen Gray said...

Harper is a control freak, gingersnap. But the Duffy scandal may be well beyond his control.

The Mound of Sound said...

Owen, I sent the allegations from Harris' source to a friend at his cottage north of Ottawa. He replied that he found the allegations the source made to be "very disturbing and quite accurate."

I hope to learn a bit more about the substance of these allegations within the coming week. Whatever it is, those on the inside aren't spilling their guts at one sitting. I get the sense that some are deeply torn between taking down Harper and injuring their party.

Owen Gray said...

That's interesting, Mound. Harper has always insisted on the loyalty of his troops.

Apparently, there are those who believe that the general is dangerous.