Saturday, November 02, 2013

When Will He Turn On Them?



Some of Stephen Harper's most perceptive critics are on the right. This week, in the Sun newspapers, John Robson called for the prime minister's resignation:

Unless it is OK for the prime minister to lie repeatedly and openly on an important matter, Stephen Harper must resign or be dismissed.

And this morning, in the Postmedia papers, Andrew Coyne reviews Harper's speech to the assembled throng in Calgary:

And so we get this damp recital of past slogans, this parody of a parody of an empty cliché of a speech, this 4,000 word migraine. A strong, stable national government! Protect our economy amid global uncertainty! For those who work hard, pay their taxes, and play by the rules! For our children! And the generations to come!

If you thought he was going to take the opportunity to level with Canadians about the Senate scandals — to explain what happened, to tell what he knew, to clear up the many contradictions and gaps in his story, even to acknowledge it’s an issue, beyond the sins of a few miscreant senators — you should have known better. If you were one of those who thought he might even, in a bold flourish, call for a national referendum on Senate abolition, well, you must be the kind who still believes in flourishes.

Some men grow in public office. Others calcify once they get there. Stephen Harper is of the latter variety:

It’s possible this refusal to change, to pivot, to reach out, to inspire, to do anything but what he has been doing is simply a display of Harperian sang-froid, the legendary long game — an ability to see past transitory difficulties, without the sort of panicky thrashing about that consigns other party leaders to the deep. But it’s also possible he just doesn’t get it: how deeply his party is loathed, how narrow his base has become, how unnerved his party is by the rolling six-month knife-fight that is the Senate scandal.

And so, Coyne writes, the race to succeed him has begun, Jason Kenny and Peter Mackay have taken to defending Nigel Wright. One wonders when Mr. Harper will turn on them.


8 comments:

bcwaterboy said...

Another "cabinet shuffle" perhaps? We would certainly know he's desperate if Kenney and MacKay go the Wright way eh?

Owen Gray said...

Harper can always find another rear end to fill a chair, waterboy. But the talent pool is growing ever more shallow.

Anonymous said...

There never was that much talent in that wading pool eh

NBJIM

Owen Gray said...

Exactly, Anon. There's more bulk there than brains.

Anonymous said...

Harper is your typical, arrogant sociopath Dictator, he shifts the blame onto everyone, other than himself. All Dictators are control freaks.

Harper's team are, spineless, gutless wonders. They refuse to stand up to Harper. They stand by while, that monster of a Harper, trashes our once decent country.

We will not forget them.

Owen Gray said...

Let's hope we don't forget them, Anon. One of them will probably replace him.

mightymo said...

But Anon, Harper's team? a team suggests that every member has some input to decisions that are made through the team leader. Harpo is a dictator, and dictators do not believe in a team concept. Therefore, you are correct in identifying the spineless, gutless wonders, but not as a team, just a bunch of spineless, gutless wonders following a dictator, who in fact is a monster!

Owen Gray said...

One wonders, mightymo, how the Harper team can look at themselves in the mirror each morning.