Jason Fekete reports in this morning's Ottawa Citizen that the Harper government is stepping up its war on the Parliamentary Press Gallery:
The federal Conservative party continues to fire off fundraising emails to its donors attacking the “Ottawa media elite,” as it looks to snare donations from its members.
The latest missive came Tuesday in an email from Jaime Girard, the director of fundraising and membership for the Conservative Party of Canada, which asked members for $25 donations to help fight Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, who are relying on their “big donors.”
The Liberals are looking to “undo everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve,” the email says, arguing Trudeau is getting help from the parliamentary press gallery in Ottawa.
These are the same reporters Stephen Harper used to go to behind Preston Manning's back to voice his dissatisfaction with Mr. Manning. Now those reporters are -- according to the Harperites -- working undercover for Justin Trudeau:
“The Liberals and their allies in the Ottawa media are trying to build a grand story around Justin Trudeau. They want Canadians to believe he has all the momentum. And they hope that if they repeat it often enough, people will believe it.”
It's all of a piece. So many of Mr. Harper's former allies are now his enemies. You have to wonder just how many friends he has left.
16 comments:
Lets hope Canadians far and wide dismiss this as but the latest paranoid and hysterical ranting of a regime desperate to cling to power, Owen.
All of this is so transparent, Lorne, that you would hope we, the people, now have this guy's number.
I am increasingly reluctant to make specific political predictions. In a world where a man like Harper (with the charisma of a wet sock) can be elected to a majority (even given our bizarre FPTP system), then most bets are off.
However, one thing that seems to remain constant is that people seem to be significantly turned off by desperation in their politicians, and when someone is sinking, the speed of their decline seems to increase the more desperate they are perceived to be by the public. I suppose it is attributable to the fact that a when someone is down and flailing around seemingly in every direction they exude the smell of political death and there is some kind of subconscious feeling of repellant that rises even in former allies.
Nothing made Nixon look more like a crook than saying "I'm not a crook." And few things will make Harper look more like a PM on his way out than blaming a media machine that has, up until recently, been shockingly on his side.
Ah, channeling the ghostly spirit of Richard Nixon. How appropriate.
Or perhaps it's Spiro Agnew, Mound -- "nattering nabobs of negativism?"
Provincially, it's been remarkable how quickly some leaders have disappeared, Kirby -- Jean Charest, Dalton McGunity, Cathy Dunderdale, Alison Redford.
It will be interesting to see if the same pattern holds for Mr. Harper.
I find it incredible that Harper blames the press for what he himself chose.Namely to not talk to them. He won't sit for an interview, nor attend press conferences to answer questions.
Ultimately he doesn't want to talk to the Canadian people. He literally does not govern (rule) Canada. He only communicates with his base, which I find Bizarre.He hides from the rest of Canada. There's an arrogance he has around this. I don't know why he thinks he can get away with this, but he's living in a bubble. He is completely out of touch and wears his desperation like a new pair of shoes, shiny and for all to see. My guess is that he is completely unaware of himself and the effect he has on people.He's sinking and no one is throwing him a rope.
When he goes down, Pam, he'll blame someone else. The smartest guy in the room really isn't that smart.
This would be the same "Media Elite" that almost universally endorsed him last time, right? This is one hell of a grand conspiracy. For a government of pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps advocates, they sure have a victim complex a mile wide...
They have always seen themselves as victims, Brian -- even with a majority of seats in the House.
All dictators are arrogant and think themselves untouchable. Hark back to the dictators of the 30's and 40's. Harper will not speak to we peasants, he just dictates. Harper does sometimes, permit the media five questions. I don't recall the last time though?
Harper is our embarrassing joke to the world. I'm sure the world saw through Harper, trying to drive a wedge between Russia and Europe. After all, Harper has a lot of Bitumen and NG to sell to Europe.
Strangely, Harper still sells arms to Russia.
I suspect that the international community has had Harper's number for a long time, Anon.
Many of us have been waiting for the main stream media to retaliate against Harper. I'm still waiting. Sure there is a trickle here, a leak there but no real opposition. Until that happens it is still likely that the Conservatives will get re-elected.
The scare techniques work with the older crowd and his base. These are the people who vote. We can expect lots of fear mongering, dirty tricks and cheating.
Don't write off, Charest, Owen. I hear he's the only possible Harper succesor who currently has an organization and that he is raising a good bit of money.
I've heard that rumour, too, Mound. And he is a rarity among Conservatives. As was the case with Mulroney, he is one of Quebec's native sons -- and just as fluently bilingual.
However, he has a problem. When Preston Manning sat in the cat bird's seat, signs appeared in my riding loudly proclaiming, "No More Prime Ministers from Quebec."
Given Harper's record, Toby, I'm sure there's lots of fear mongering on the way.
But who knows? Perhaps Harper has cried wolf too often.
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