Tuesday, April 03, 2012

The Smartest Man in the [Tory Caucus] Room


Like scary stories?   Here's one.  Imagine that Stephen Harper truly is the "Smartest Man In the [Tory Caucus] Room."

Since he came onto the federal scene we've repeatedly heard the Steve sees himself as the smartest man in the room, a claim his underlings seem to take at face value.

But if Steve truly is the smartest man in the Tory caucus room what does that say for the rest of his government?   Let's see just how high - or low - Steve has set the bar.

The smartest Tory in the room thought it a great idea to de-fund the federal government by slashing the GST, leaving the government vulnerable and without the means to serve its people in the inevitable downturn.

The 2008 recession caught Steve completely unaware and unprepared.  He had even just started his own adventures in casino capitalism by introducing reckless 30-year, no-money-down mortgages.

As Canada got sucked into America's fiscal storm sewer Steve dodged responsibility claiming no one had seen it coming.   At least no one he was remotely interested in listening to saw it coming, no one who had the same ideological blinders that Steve wore.   Plenty of others saw it coming - economists like Roubini, Krugman and Stiglitz saw it barreling down on the West and warned anyone who would listen.

Canada took a drubbing but, thanks to prudent restraint of the banking system by previous Liberal governments, we got off far lighter than most other Western countries.   However, had Harper stumbled into power a few years earlier, had he just a little more time to game the Canadian economy, we could have fared far, far worse.

And Harper ran true to form when it came to responding to the Great Recession.   He borrowed tens of billions of dollars to float a stimulus fund and then simply threw the money into the wind, hoping it would land where it might do some good.

The smartest Tory in the room was ideologically blinded to the fundamental point - that government stimulus funding must be invested in projects that will yield a return to the country in future decades to offset the burden the taxpayers will eventually bear in having to pay it back with interest.   And so the money was largely squandered, wasted, and Canada will have plenty of debt to repay and precious little to show for it.

The smartest Tory in the room isn't smart enough to know a bad hand when it's dealt to him.   Steve Harper actually believes the Athabasca Tar Sands are the key to Canada's economic future in the decades ahead.  He simply ignores the warnings of prominent experts from the top tiers of the banking and investment communities that oil, even conventional oil, is a subprime asset existing within a dangerous, fossil fuel bubble.   That doesn't fit the smartest Tory in the room's narrative so  it's heresy.

The smartest Tory in the room cannot distinguish philosophy from shallow ideology, something that allows him to effortlessly replace science with religious superstition, fact with faith-based fantasy.  The smartest Tory in the room persistently subverts knowledge and displaces it with delusion.

On foreign policy, the smartest Tory in the room was known for deriding Jean Chretien for refusing to send Canadian soldiers to Iraq to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with our British, Australian and American brothers.

The smartest Tory in the room manifests delusions of runaway crime waves to justify his prison fetish.   He even tells his caucus to ignore the years of data showing steady declines in crime rates and instead follow his their gut instincts.

This saga could go on and on and on but enough.   In fact this is more than enough to conclusively demonstrate that the Smartest Man In the [Tory Caucus] Room is anything but smart.  He is an intellectually stunted but conniving and manipulative fiend intent on pursuing religions superstition and radical ideological beliefs regardless of outcomes or the consequences to our country and the Canadian people.

Let's stop treating Stephen Harper as anything but a dull-witted, visionless charlatan, utterly unfit to govern, a dark farce that has descended over Canada.   What exactly is Steve Harper except Canada's Boris Yeltsin without a ready bottle?

10 comments:

kootcoot said...

"However, had Harper stumbled into power a few years earlier, had he just a little more time to game the Canadian economy, we could have fared far, far worse."

It amazes me that Steve mentions the word economy, or "our banking system" but I guess people just don't pay attention, or connect the dots.

"The smartest Tory in the room cannot distinguish philosophy from shallow ideology, something that allows him to effortlessly replace science with religious superstition, fact with faith-based fantasy. The smartest Tory in the room persistently subverts knowledge and displaces it with delusion.

Both of the excerpts above HAD to be said again and overall a truly clear sighted post - especially

"Let's stop treating Stephen Harper as anything but a dull-witted, visionless charlatan, utterly unfit to govern, a dark farce that has descended over Canada."

LeDaro said...

Who is smarter?

Dubya or Stevie?

crf said...

Dubya. Unlike Steve, who quit U of T before getting a masters degree at Calgary, he got a post-graduate degree without flunking the first attempt.

I also don't think Dubya ever pretended to be a chess master. Dubya also listened to other people, and we know who those people were. They were smart, but outrageously dangerous ideologues. And Dubya, for all his flaws, was also a victim of circumstances which overwhelmed himself and his party.

Where did the idea of the cut in the GST spring from? It was pretty much panned by every economist quoted in the press. How about his "signed contract" for the f-35? That insignificant lie seems to have sprang from the unbidden depths of his mind. No advisor would counsel telling such an obvious lie.

Who does Stephen Harper listen to? As Harper might say, "obviously" nobody. And it shows in his decisions.

Purple library guy said...

Well, some of this stuff is miscalculation. But I think it's a bad idea to ascribe to incompetence what is actually better explained by malice.
Much of the damage Steve-o does to the economy is deliberate. There's a class war going on, and he's on the side of financiers and oil billionaires. His spoken ideology insists it's about growth, but his real ideology is about a largely zero-sum game, where wealth and control either belong to one group or another--to actual people or to corporations and billionaires. If it takes unsound finances to make the excuse to hack down social safety nets, so be it. If he must eliminate data collection to make it less obvious that he's trashing the rest of us for the benefit of his sponsors, then he will subvert knowledge and aid ignorance. These are not mistakes, a third-world economy with 80% poverty and a thin but oh-so-exclusive upper crust is what he's trying for. So when he gets it, that does not imply stupidity.

Which is not to say he's a genius. He's moderately competent and can pay people to be smart for him. And yes, that does make him the smartest man in the Conservative caucus room.

Beijing York said...

He is more driven than smart. He has a mission and now sadly enough, the means to attain his goals.

Were Franco, Mussolini or Hitler the smartest men in the room? I don't think so but they too were driven to change their respective nations, using whatever means possible.

The Mound of Sound said...

@ Koot - ask yourself this. If what I wrote HAD to be said and it's so obvious, why aren't the NDP and Liberal leadership doing just that? Why have they given this miscreant a pass all these years? Why was Layton so obsessed with bringing the Libs down that he sold his country out for Harper's gain? Why did the Libs keep electing unelectable leaders? The stomach positively churns.

@ Chris - my 'whitebeard' Tory insiders tell me your take is right. Steve listens to no one. He doesn't even consult his cabinet. Instead he pronounces policy and appoints people to implement his wishes.

@ BY, I'm not going to touch that although I haven't hesitated to condemn SH as a tyrant.

kootcoot said...

Mound, I wasn't being facetious, I capitalized HAD because I believe that the sentiments expressed in your post DO need to be said and apparently over and over, because most Canadians are far too complacent and low information actors. That's why I reposted the gems I did.

The only other option is to start blowing up stuff and shooting people, and I'm trying to quit.

The Mound of Sound said...

My point, Koot, is how do we get our opposition politicians driving these points home. They should be relentless in slamming Harper but seem to be milquetoasts instead.

The Mound of Sound said...

By the way Koot, I see you liked the story of Tom McLachlan and Kay Motors. I was involved peripherally in the Kay Motors/CIBC fiasco and was very privileged to meet old Tom. What a guy. You don't find people of his integrity very often today.

kootcoot said...

Perhaps my senile dementia is setting in already, but I'm not remembering what this Tom McLaclan etc. story is that I liked. I googled this and all I found was links to places like Amazon to buy a book about it, but I know I didn't read that story (I generally remember books that I buy, I miss the money), so I'm wondering what story you mean, and how you know I like it?