Jeffrey Simpson writes that Stephen Harper's core of support is six percent:
After all, Conservative bedrock support is reckoned to be about 30 per cent, or maybe a trifle higher. So if only 6 per cent of respondents said the trial improved their opinion of the government, we’re talking about only a fifth of the core. Yikes.
Consider the picture of this government which has emerged in the wake of the evidence:
The Duffy trial turned reality on its head. The trial was supposed to be about him and his behaviour, and from the point of view of justice it so remains. But the media focus was on the Prime Minister’s Office, whose staffers were cross-examined. What that focus revealed was profoundly disquieting and completely unflattering. No wonder by an almost 9-1 margin their evidence at the trial left negative rather than positive impressions of the government.Let’s remember that Mr. Duffy was placed in the Senate by the Conservatives because he would help them raise money and good cheer. Period. He would do their political bidding, happily and helpfully. He would shill. He was not there for policy expertise or sober second thought. He was like many senators: appointed to render faithful service to the party that made him a senator.
You would think that the trial would do Harper in:
The majority of Canadians do not find credible the testimony that the Prime Minister remained completely ignorant of what has happening, when everyone around him knew. His chief of staff, his deputy chief of staff, his issues-management guy were all either involved in the scheme or knew about it.According to sworn testimony, his current chief of staff, Ray Novak, did know about payments to Mr. Duffy, despite various assertions of his ignorance. Indeed, so many contradictions emerged from the evidence that it became almost impossible to know who was telling the truth.
But, if the polls are correct, there are a lot more than 6% of the population that will vote for Mr. Harper. You have to wonder. Are at least 30% of us fools?
10 comments:
I don't really know any of the 6% fools that are among us but I do recognize some of them in my neighbourhood who are quick to expose themselves with blue signs on their lawn.They have to be stupid to stick their necks out that far because proudly showing your colours won't win anybody over. The ones I really fear are the anti Lib anti dippers who actually frequent our space preaching the fringe vote. I myself truly wish that the Greens had the strength to carry the vote but they don't. Until we collectively get together and vote intelligently we will be caught in this quagmire for a very long time
As Rene Descartes said, zoombats, it's not enough to have a good mind. You have to use it.
"You don't have to fool all the people all of the time; you just have to fool enough to get elected." ~ ~ ~ Gerald Barzan
"Get the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything." ~ ~ ~ Frank Dane
"Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power." ~ ~ ~ George Bernard Shaw
The question is does harper have enough fools this time around?
It seems like Mike Duffy is not the most compelling reason to heave steve it makes fortuitous background noise but according to an Insights West poll harper's treatment of vets may be turning up to 1/3 of former con voters away this election, which of course is good news if you are a 'fool' who knows with polls?
http://www.canadianly.ca/2015/08/28/conservative-supporters-reject-harper-government-over-veterans-cuts/
In BC harper has quietly slipped into last place as a choice for PM:
http://www.insightswest.com/news/british-columbians-moving-away-from-conservatives-in-canadian-campaign/
I live in BC and most everyone I talk to does not care for harper's handling of anything he has touched because it seems to BC'ers what he has touched he has maligned.
Perhaps there are fewer fools in B.C. than elsewhere, Mogs.
Owen Gray said...
"Perhaps there are fewer fools in B.C. than elsewhere, Mogs."
Don't bet on it; look who we elected Provincially.
True, Toby. But I speculated that living through the consequences of that decision might have concentrated quite a few minds.
I doubt that Owen Christy got back in after a bungled first unelected term she is the female equivalent of Steve Joe. Shes called "The photo op Queen" as harper is the king...
I have noticed an unflattering tendency among older Canadians (our vintage) that manifests in a fear of change. Sure they think that Harper is dishonest but they've been given the message that he's competent so often that they've come to believe it. The next time you hear that from one of them, ask them a simple question: of the last eight Harper budgets how many of them have produced surpluses, how many deficits? None of them seem to know that we're on our eighth consecutive deficit budget. I've met none that know that, after Chretien/Martin balanced the budget and paid down $90-billion of federal debt, Harper has swelled the national debt by $150-billion. Their perception of the country and their government is just completely buggered. When you've got a segment of the population that confused, inculcate them with a bit of groundless fear and appeal to the basest instincts that lurk within all of us, and they'll dutifully turn out to the polls to vote for you.
Fear obliterates logical analysis, Mound, and turns adults into children seeking a saviour.
Unfortunately, politics has become all about pictures, Mogs. And, as one of my neighbours -- who worked for the National Film Board -- used to tell me, the camera can lie like hell.
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