Thursday, December 19, 2013

Eminent Victorians



It was a remarkable gaffe -- as defined by Michael Kinsley. Last Friday, James Moore gave us a brief statement of what he really believes, unvarnished by spin. When asked about the problem of child poverty, he answered, "The government says it's my job to feed my neighbour's child? I don't think so."

There could be no clearer statement of modern conservative boilerplate. In Margaret Thatcher's words, "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families." And it is a family's responsibility to feed its children.

Government does not concern itself with people -- only things. Government doesn't invest in people. It invests in things -- fighter jets, prisons, ad campaigns. But people must invest in themselves. And, if they don't, there are prisons and workhouses.

If, at Christmas time, Moore sounded eerily like Scrooge, it was no accident. The Harperites policy playbook comes straight out of the nineteenth century. In the 21st century, their profoundest ambition is to be eminent Victorians.

Moore quickly tried to backtrack. "An apology. The cause of fighting poverty is not helped by comments like those I made last week. I am sorry."

Bah! Humbug!


8 comments:

the salamander said...

.. its all good .. Canada and Canadians need to know what glib entitled political animals like James Moore, Stephen Harper, Rob Anders, Jim Flaherty or Joe Oliver or Peter Kent really and truly think or feel .. (if at all)

'full bellied' .. what the hell does that mean, James?
and where did that bizarre phrase come from or enter your fat vacuous head.. Is that some sort of livestock term? Maybe a derivation from pork belly prices?

Read up on 'nutrition' you overfed asshat piece of Harper beef.. examine the word 'breakfast' .. or 'hunger' .. get a grip on your super glib lexicon .. seek reality and humanity if you dare..

You're an astonishing example of the bankrupt Harper Government DistrAction Fiasco.. and a shrill pedantic embarrassing example of how low a politician can go.. You remind me of Mayor Rob Ford.. How's that ??

Owen Gray said...

You've hit the nail on the head, salamander. There are no better examples of Harperian hypocrisy than the overfed Moore and Ford.

Anonymous said...

The irony is, of course, that the seemingly well-fed Moore probably regularly eats breakfast, lunch and dinner in the taxpayer subsidized parliamentary restaurants and cafeterias.

He must be fed.

Owen Gray said...

It's always easy, Anon, to insist that people pull themselves up by their bootstraps if you yourself have never had to do so.

e.a.f. said...

Moore most likely only apologized because his comments caused an uproar, once people found out what he had said. He is sorry o.k, but only that the comment reflected badly on him.

Whatever happened to the comment about being your brother's keeper, or suffer the little children to come unto me... Oh, and wait, what does Moore and his ilk thing about Food Banks all over this country, the Union Gospel mission, the Salvation Army, the United Church on the DTES or all those individuals who use their private funds to feed children in schools out here in B.C.

Moore is a poor excuse of a human being. He should be dropped off on the DTES with a dollar and see how well he does. O.K. he could live off of the fat for a month.

Owen Gray said...

And these folks claim they are guided by virtue, e.a.f. That makes sense -- if selfishness is a virtue.

thwap said...

I was going to comment that this incident shows Moore to be a coward and a liar for not owning up to his words until he had no way to weasel out of them, on top of being a selfish, entitled prick.

But e.a.f. points out another important revelation. Moore is obviously a bullshit Christian.

A fraud, through-and-through.

Owen Gray said...

Hypocrisy rules supreme in the Harper government, thwap.