I've never been fond of those nature shows that get you to watch the beautiful gazelle going about its business and then pull back to let you see the pride of lions setting off a race that you just know is going to end badly for the gazelle. There's that look of panic in the prey's eyes that can be so uncomfortable to watch.
I felt that same discomfort looking at this image of Senator Pam Wallin with a swarm of journos closing in as though for the kill. She's got that "prey look" in her eyes, across her face.
Duffy, Harb, Wallin and Brazeau - they're like the contestants in The Running Man. They're to be taken down for the entertainment of the crowd.
It's not that they don't deserve what they've got coming. They plainly do. It's just that they're probably being used as a diversion. That much was apparent when the chair of the Senate Committee on Internal Economy announced that, henceforth, there would be periodic "spot audits" of senators' expense claims. It struck me as one way of saying, "okay everybody, the heat's off, you're safe."
For, if what I've been hearing since this fiasco began months ago is true, there probably aren't too many senators who could withstand a forensic audit and that the difference between the Gang of Four and other senators is often a question of degree more than anything else. And there probably aren't many who could show themselves "ordinarily resident" - 183 days a year - in the home provinces they're appointed to represent, Ontario and Quebec excepted.
So it's off to the arena with them. Let's throw these four to the lions and call it 'case closed.'
Mound, you say "Let's throw these four to the lions". I doubt it will happen. There will be some noise and then it will slowly die down. Come 2014 election fever will take over and people have tendency to forget about such events.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see, LD. All four are now in the hands of the RCMP and that may be too many headaches for the Commissioner to bury. Add to that the remaining investigation of the PMO chicanery. Harper and the RCMP have lost a good deal of control over these scandals.
ReplyDeleteThat's the real story here, Mound. The puppet master has lost control of the narrative.
ReplyDeleteThings may finally be unraveling.
Mound and Owen, I hope you're both right. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine the voice of David Attenborough narrating the hunt of the Wallin gazelle....
ReplyDeleteAnon, that gave me a good chuckle. The imagery was priceless.
ReplyDelete@anon Gazelle is too kind. I find goat to be more apropos!
ReplyDeleteYou are right that few senators with good attendance to sessions and committees could meet the 183 criterion. There are , however, a couple of more problems in the process.
ReplyDeleteThe rules changed c. 2011-12, but now , actions that were legal are being condemned retroactively. Hardly common law kosher.
Senators in question asked for advice and were misled by staff and committee heads who now reject personal responsibility. It smells like the fish is rotting from the head down.
There are problems with the fab four. Double dipping while campaigning for CPC candidates is definitely illegal. Being ineligible for the Senate by not fulfilling Provincial residency requirements is definitely illegal. Nominating someone with a checkered past regarding domestic violence is unwise. All these problems come from poor decision making by little Stevie.
In our haste to the witchunt will he fly under the radar and get away with more unsavory moves?
That's precisely what I fear most, Rumley
ReplyDeleteCouldn't happen to a nicer CON.
ReplyDeleteShe and the Duff were to be the clarion call, the flagships, the dollar machines.
As irony would have it, they are the Titanics, the proverbial millstones.
2015 can't come soon enough.