You have to wonder what planet Stephen Harper lives on. Yesterday, in Laval, he accused the entire NDP caucus of being a bunch of duds:
"That group of NDP MPs in the last four years is the most inefficient, ineffective group we’ve ever seen," he said in French. "There is not one star among those members of the Quebec NDP caucus," he told his audience.
Never mind that the majority of Quebec seats belong to the NDP. Scott Piatkowski, at rabble.ca writes:
By "inefficient and ineffective," he presumably meant that they consistently voted against his government on behalf of their constituents. But, the reality is that almost every one of these incumbents, including the much maligned Ruth Ellen Brosseau, has done great work in Ottawa and in their constituency and therefore stand to be re-elected. They could be joined by at least five new NDP MPs. Clearly, someone thinks that they are efficient and effective, and that someone is the people who elected them (the people for whom Harper has such apparent contempt).
What's more to the point, Harper's eye for duds is pretty obvious:
Harper thinks he knows what a star looks like, but his record suggests otherwise. He's hand-picked Dean Del Mastro, Paul Calandra and Pierre Polievre to be his Parliamentary Secretaries (or professional standins). He appointed Patrick Brazeau, Don Meredith, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy to the Senate. He made Vic Toews a judge and Peter Penashue a cabinet minister. He chose the late Arthur Porter to oversee Canada's spy agencies. With a record of such impeccable judgment, he's obviously well qualified to tell Quebec voters how they should vote.
And, yesterday, he accused Rachel Notley of not being able to present a budget:
“The new NDP government … they can’t present a budget, but what was the first thing they did? They raised taxes and that’s a disaster,” Harper said.
Notley, whose province is dealing with the impact of a steep drop in oil prices, has delayed the release of a provincial budget until this fall. She has also moved to increase income taxes on anyone making more than $125,000 a year effective Oct. 1.
He did not mention that his government delayed its budget. If he had raised taxes, it might have been a balanced budget, instead of the lie he is currently peddling. But Harper got to where he is by throwing stones at his opponents, not by telling the truth.
He obviously believes that, if he keeps throwing stones, he'll win.
18 comments:
A short uppercut to the chin would sever that tongue and end the blather once and for all.
Let's hope he strikes that pose in the debates.
For all his bluster, Ron, I suspect Harper has a glass jaw.
He has not said one consrtuctive or intelligent thing Owen.You're right that all he is doing is throwing rocks. If this is all he has and I think it is, it won't work. Canadians will get tired of hearing him spewing venom and on top of his lying, which seems to have become chronic he is sounding very desperate.
I remember watching the '92 election when Clinton was running against the elder Bush. As the election neared it became clear, for whatever reason, that the electorate had just turned on Bush. The media also turned on him, though I have never been sure if the Media rejection or the people's rejection came first. And as the days counted down Bush looked more and more desperate because everything he said just seemed to fall on deaf ears, an overwhelming number of people had just turned him off and didn't take him seriously anymore. Of course, it helped that Clinton was one of the more charismatic politicians in the modern era, as well as being very good at speaking and focusing his audience. I am certain that if any of Harper's opposition had that kind of charisma he would be going down to a historic defeat. But even without a Clinton-style politician in opposition, I have noticed that Harper looks a little like Bush - as though he is shooting blanks at a moving target. With this long campaign, I really don't know how things will progress, particularly because neither Trudeau nor Mulcair seems to have understood Clinton's central 1992 message, to wit: "It's the Economy, Stupid!" But if history is any indication, the following weeks should see Harper sounding increasingly desperate (until, of course, they pull a terrorist rabbit out of their Conservative, fear-mongering hats)
Keep it simple and keep it repetitive, Owen. That is clearly the Harper strategy. Time for all Canadians to educate themselves in order to pierce his self-serving rhetoric.
It's straight out of Goebbels' playbook, Lorne. Keep repeating the lie and people will eventually come to believe it's true.
Chantal Hebert writes this morning, Kirby, that Harper risks being seen as a "walking, talking attack ad." That won't be enough to give him a majority.
All Harper has left, Pam, is venom. He has a surplus of that. He now stands revealed as a man devoid of ideas, whose motivation consists of hate and paranoia.
Incidentally, your post at Democracy Under Fire is excellent.
"He obviously believes that, if he keeps throwing stones, he'll win."
Because sadly it has worked so well for him over the past decade and three elections. It wasn't his brilliant thoughtful policy declarations that did it, that's for sure!
This approach always ends up having a shelf life, the question is has it been reached, and do the alternatives seem viable to people? There is a reason why Harper and Mulcair both have spent so much of their focus and resources over the past couple of years trying to destroy Trudeau as any possible alternative, because they know he has that Clinton appeal you talk about in your post Owen. So they have to make him unelectable, and since they can't use a sex scandal history as the GOP did in 92 they are going after his relative youth and relative inexperience and his lets face it more open and direct speaking style than either of the other two practice.
I mean even now Trudeau commands fairly large and engaged crowds when he speaks, the polls may not look so good for him, but the reality on the ground may well be a far different story in the end. His party is the strongest it has been since the Chretien days for ground game, has a LOT of good local candidates, and he does seem to inspire a lot of those that hear him directly without the interpretive filter of his foes/opponents/media mockers (and there are more than a few of these last as well).
Also Trudeau has started to put real policy meat on the bone, and because he was smart enough to wait until the election period he is able to tailor his costings to match current economic realities far better than either CPC or NDP can with theirs. Whether they do so, well we will see over the campaign, but they have the ability to do so because they were not pressured into jumping the gun despite all the efforts to make them do so.
Trudeau has an appeal that may well be his strongest or weakest card, his good nature and almost stereotypical Canadian personality. After a decade of Harper and his all attack all the time Mulcair's own control issues and righteous anger may not sell as well as many would expect. I am wondering whether there is an anger fatigue in the wider pubic, and if so Trudeau's more sunny nature which has been a part of what has gotten him so mocked could well in the end be a major positive attribute. Of course it also could be the facet that destroys him, I'm not blind to that side of the coin, but I think people underestimate him and this at their peril.
In any event, I think that last point could well play a major element given Owen's post on the Harper strategy so far and what may end up being the best counter for it. Trudeau has the message and feel of hope, not Mulcair and the NDP, who sold that position for their appearance of centrism. Whether that was the right trade to make for this election only time can tell us, but I think they may well find it was not the smart idea they first thought and it appeared as. Trudeau has the added advantage of feeling realer than the other two, which has been both his strength and main vulnerability for manipulative attack messaging, and again, it will be interesting to see which side of that coin turns out to be face up come electin night.
Trudeau is a better retail politician than either Harper or Mulcair -- just as Jack Layton was a better retail politician than either Harper or Ignatieff the last time around, Scotian.
In the end, this election will be won on the ground, not the airwaves. I don't know who will win. But I'm not prepared to count Trudeau out.
Thanks Owen. Trudeau has the better personality of all 3. Mulcair just doesn't connect and when he tries it comes across as fake. Harper with the scowl and sneer on his face is starting to sound like a bitter old man. Trudeau however, just wades into the crowd, he's very comfortable in own skin. If it's personality alone and for some voters it is Trudeau will win hands down. Having a pathological hatred for Pierre Trudeau, then having his son Justin Trudeau beat Harper in this election, I'm sure is Harpers worst nightmare.
Trudeau's hatred for Trudeau Sr.is pathological, Pam. Richard Nixon -- of all people -- once predicted that Justin would be prime minister. No doubt, Harper has heard about that prediction.
Harper is practicing Republican permanent-campaign tactics, Owen. He'll berate Mulcair as a permanent professional politician, ignoring the fact that Harper has a longer track record on that score. He accuses the opposition of wasting money when he's racked up a third of a billion dollars in blatant political advertising out of the public purse. He counts on enough people being sufficiently gullible to not detect the rank hypocrisy. The man is deviant.
where is the press, the fifth estate to measure the truth and report? All bought and paid for including the star if you ask the ferryman.
We have no Woodwards and Bersteins, Steve, who told us about the inner workings of CREEP -- the Committee To Re-Elect The President.
The man has no conscience, Mound. As you've written several times before, he's a sociopath.
"...he's obviously well qualified to tell Quebec voters how they should vote."
Well qualified and steeped in Alberta 'Bull Shit"...
"Rachel Notley of not being able to present a budget..." Ya gotta love this one how long has Harpo guaranteed 'a balanced budget' and delivered nothing? That being said Harpo delayed the announcement of a federal budget as long as possible. How did we end up with a doofus for PM?
Good question, Mogs. We should have known better. However, let's be honest. He broke the rules to win his elections.
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