Shifty has proven to be a master at spinning lies just long enough that the public loses interest and his troubles fall away. This is different. This is sticking and, for Beelzebub, it stinks.
It allows us to revisit such terrific moments as when Shifty reared up on his hind legs and bitterly denounced Nigel Wright for going rogue, hatching schemes behind Harper's back. Why, Mr. Wright betrayed Harper, don't you know. And the prime minister felt so abused that he fired Wright on the spot... apparently retroactively at that.
So the sacking of Wright narrative kind of bolstered Harper's laughably implausible claim that he knew nothing about the deal, the alleged bribe. What else have we got to back that up? I know, Ray Novak, Harper's two-legged lap dog.
As Justin Trudeau pointed out today, how did Harper punish Novak for his participation in the Wright/Duffy gunpowder plot? We know from the emails that Novak was in this as an active participant. Harper even said that Wright kept subordinates like Novak in the dark too. Except he didn't, just thge opposite. Which means that Novak also betrayed Harper for which he was severely punished by being promoted to Chief of Staff.
Justin has demanded that Harper immediately sack Novak just as he did Wright and for the very same reasons. Hard to argue with that one.
What it comes down to is that Harper can no longer pretend that he didn't know. Novak puts an end to that bullshit.
The best part is that the Canadian public get a jolly summer indulging in the pleb's favourite and time honoured passtime - watching the proud and mighty fall.
17 comments:
Oh, I hope so -- because of course Harper knew about it, just like he knew about the Chuck Cadman offer 10 years ago. In neither case did he understand or appreciate the ethical boundaries.
I suspect, Cathie that Harper sees no utility in the realm of ethics.
We know Harper's lack of ethics have no boundaries.
His mouth is open, he's lying.
What continues to astound me is that roughly 25-30% of this country still stands for this crap.
what surprises me is that neither of the opposition parties have made an ad using the various clips in the Commons in which Harper lauds Wright, lauds Wallen, lauds Penashue etc. etc., I seem to recall there was even an occasion in which Harper says great things about Duffy. They need to take these clips and run them over and over and over and over, and end it with the question "why won't Harper fire people at the heart of a cover-up who are still working for him?"
I hope you are right and I am Wrong about Wright...
.... I did not believe the NDP could win in Alberta - till the polls closed - and I still had to pinch myself then. ;-) ....
As to Duffygate shaking Harper's base:
The CON base has tuned-out on this scandal: "its only $90,000 - adscam was billions and the NDP stole $3M for their offices.. etc"
As Stevie said the other day* "They have to catch me in bed with a dead girl - or a live boy - otherwise I'm a shoe-in" (*OK it was really Huey Long, Gov. Louisiana)
And don't forget:
~500k votes suppressed via "Fair Elections Act"
Long campaign - lots of time for terror incidents
Four parties splitting the ABC vote.
They probably have a "massage parlour" story (or two) to tell
Kirby
The ads you suggest will not loosen Harper's grip on his enthralled minions - They would just provide entertainment for the folks who already loath the CONs.
We'd have to discover a Harper collection of embarrassing photos.
(Steve and his drummer playing with their fans or Laureen frolicking with her bodyguards?)
NPoV - you raise an interesting point, AdScam. How did that grow, in the public's mind, from M illions of dollars to B illions of dollars?
" ...the [Gomery]commission concluded that $2 million was awarded in contracts without a proper bidding process, $250,000 was added to one contract price for no additional work, and $1.5 million was awarded for work that was never done, of which $1 million had to be repaid." - Wiki
In typical Canadian fashion we spent $14-million on the Commission to find this out. Unfortunately nobody wants to set the record straight. The Libs don't want to raise it for obvious reasons. The NDP and Cons are delighted that the public imagines a couple of billion was pilfered.
Things like that are what make me believe many of us operate at the intellect of a mid-level primate.
And yet Tony Clement lavished $50-million on beautifying his riding for the G8/G20 summit in places where most of the visitors never visited.
$50-million
In the 2013 election the BC Liberals survived, though. People actually believed their story of exporting LNG from BC making us all incredibly rich.
RE
In the 2013 election the BC Liberals survived, though. People actually believed their story of exporting LNG from BC making us all incredibly rich.
Many still do.
Fortunatley its too late for Harper to use energy production as an election tool.
I still don'e trust Harper; he's too smug.
Must have something up his sleeve.
What lies in the past of Mulcair and Trudeau that could be embarrasing?
Fortunately, Hugh, we don't have an Adrian Dix leading the opposition in this election. From what I've been told Bayne is just getting started. Apparently Perrin, Novak, LeBreton, Gerstein and Arthur Hamilton are all in for a thrashing.
August rolls into September then October...
Not to mention the RCMP intervention yet to come. Or CSIS. Or DND.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit to see the RCMP/CSIS hauling off a few LPC/NDP/Green candidates suspected of terra activities. In handcuffs and on every networks evening news of course, with CTV and Global doing prime time "news" specials.
I can come up with no reasons to have any faith in either our national police force, our courts, our national news media, the national political parties not headed by Harper or the intelligence of the Canadian people themselves.
I have complete faith in Harper. I know absolutely that he will continue to dismantle my country.
I would not yet count Harper out. We must do all we can to get him out, the other parties must not let him off the hook for any of his crap. And one thing I worry about is that sure, this trial is damning, but it's still summer and quite likely nobody's paying attention.
On the other hand, I think many in the media smell blood and are eager to take revenge for how he's been treating them all this time. Their bosses, not so much, but even at the top there may be less commitment to the Cons than in previous outings. The Harper campaign seems tired, and each new policy announcement intended to blow the fear whistle just seems to draw his authoritarian cynicism in sharper relief.
If the system were as perfectly in thrall to Harper as Dana seems to imagine, there wouldn't be a Duffy trial in the first place, and indeed the whole scandal would never have gotten out, while various Harper laws wouldn't have gotten struck down by the courts. So while it's worth being wary, I don't think it's worth giving in, rolling over and dying just when we're at one of those rare-ish points when the bad guys look vulnerable.
Purple L G
Re: "If the system were as perfectly in thrall to Harper as Dana seems to imagine, there wouldn't be a Duffy trial in the first place, and indeed the whole scandal would never have gotten out, while various Harper laws wouldn't have gotten struck down by the courts"
The courts are pretty much all thats is left of our democracy. And it is just the senior court levels. Read Sean Fine in the G&M - Harper has stacked the lower courts with his cronies - and he appointed an Alberta blogger to a senior post directly then leap-frogged him to the Supremes - during an election no less.
If we don't stop Harper now it really will be over.
Vote strategically ABC.
Right on N PoV...
Vote for the strongest candidate from ABC pool.
"PR" vaut bein une messe...
A..non
Dana, I too have no faith in the state police and security agencies. They've been in the bag for the Tories even well before Zaccardelli pulled the Ralph Goodale mid-election scandal scam to maliciously damage Paul Martin.
You have no reason, however, to lose faith in our courts. They alone have managed to restrain Harper's excesses and curb his darkest instincts over the past decade.
I just watched a CTV report about a Harper campaign appearance. The reporter mentioned that Marjory LeBreton was in attendance, a senator she said was always happy to be interviewed. This time there were people who ushered Madge out of the hall before reporters could get to her.
The Tories know what Bayne has on her although they haven't heard the tape yet.
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