Shifty Steve Harper has been busy lately trying to write off his former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, as a rogue. Harper has accused Wright of deception in the under the table cash scandal with Mike Duffy and Harper has recently tried to amend the record claiming he fired Wright, a shift from his earlier statement that Wright had resigned.
Without directly calling Shifty a liar, a couple of prominent Tories have seemingly defied Harper in coming to the aid of Wright. Jason Kenney was first out the gate, defending Wright's integrity. Peter MacKay has since come out with even less equivocal praise for Wright
“I’ve known Nigel a long time, he’s a very principled individual,
he’s somebody who is honest, he’s worked hard for our party in the
past,” MacKay said.
“That’s my opinion, that’s my view of Nigel.”
Bear in mind that MacKay is giving Wright something of a clean bill of health at the same time as a growing majority of the Canadian public finds Shifty anything but a "very principled individual ...who is honest."
Maybe these guys are truly sensing blood in the water - Stephen Joseph Harper's blood. You think they haven't been waiting for that? I wonder how busy they are chumming the waters at the convention to assess who would support them if Shifty falls?
Would Peter MacKay know integrity if he met it in his porridge?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking this very thing yesterday when Kenny came out in support of Nigel. I was thinking he has started the competition for this weekends greatest Harper replacement.
ReplyDelete& I wasnt surprised by Mr MacKay saying on camara that he is friends with nigel, As MacKay has never been a devoted harper alcoyte.
may the Harper and conservative devouring begin in earnest!
I was thinking along the same lines Karen. If I were Wright I would tell Mackay, if you want to help, please don't say anything at all. Few in Harper's stable can rival Mackay for incompetence as Minister of Defense, and that's saying something given the quality of the Seals.
ReplyDeleteAs for the poor Nigel meme that has bubbled to the top of the cesspool recently, it's enough to make a person vomit.
I see him as the Corporate guy charged with running the show and keeping an eye on their Political branch middle manager, Mr. Harper.
Slick zigged when he should have zagged and I speculate he and Harper were at odds over who would take the fall for Duffygate and the expanding scandal.
Wright's tactical retreat and Harper's subsequent reversal of his stories about Wright on the Duffy cheque don't necessarily mean there has been a significant change of strategy, it only means they are very near the point of running out of 'plausible' stories. Polls say previous fables weren't hitting the mark, even with the sleepy and largely detached Canadian public, so in keeping with their style they decided to double down on the we was wronged by Wright theme. Think Flanagan's remarks on plausible.
Poor Nigel, still on compassionate leave, and quiet as church mouse.
Okie nailed it.
ReplyDeleteDoes Duffy lose his "Parliamentary Privilege" if he is suspended from the Senate?
ReplyDeleteWell, I agree. There's serious stirrings of discontent. I was worried they'd stir harder and faster and we could end up with the convention voting a leadership review.
ReplyDeleteUsed to be Steve was their best asset. Now I'm cheering for him to hang on as leader until the election. Imagine they canned him quick, had a leadership convention, got themselves some new-minted leader who wasn't a total putz (OK, for the Cons that's certainly the rub) or at least, who the public don't yet know is a total putz, and then sent him into election with the honeymoon halo still strong.
Admittedly, that didn't work for Kim Campbell, but that doesn't mean it couldn't work. She was actually popular until a couple of gaffes made her look like a continuation of Mulroney.
So yeah. I'm cheering for the discontent to fester, to make Steve ever more paranoid, to make message control harder, to look ugly and undermine Steve's appearance of strength, but for Steve to hang on grimly like the stubborn, vicious megalomaniac he is, and go into the next election maimed.
I'm with you PLG, I don't want Stevie to go anywhere, unless it is to gaol!
ReplyDeleteMe, three. I too don't want Harper prematurely ousted. His party is in need (and deserving) of a thorough beatdown before the 2015 poll.
ReplyDelete@ Anon 656 - the term "parliamentary privilege" usually refers to an immunity given speech within a legislative chamber. A legislator generally can't be sued for things said within a legislature in session. Step outside the chamber door and that privilege doesn't exist.
ReplyDelete