My Oscar Wilde Moment
It took thirteen years for Chretien and Martin to take the “Grit” out of “inteGrity”. It only took Stephen Harper one day to put the “Con” back into “Conservative”.
It took thirteen years for Chretien and Martin to take the “Grit” out of “inteGrity”. It only took Stephen Harper one day to put the “Con” back into “Conservative”.
Designed by Gabfire slightly modified by stageleft
I think that sums it up nicely. The most interesting phoenomenum here is reading the justifications for the floor crossing and cronyism by Kate and Candace. Pure denial and hypocrisy at its finest from two who previously towered with moral indignation when the Liberals did it.
Sadly, it is a good day to be a cynic.
Kate and Candace, if they had any of my respect before, are now no better than Harper, Martin or Chretien.
On the flip side, it was nice to see so many Conservative bloggers like Andrew and Babbling Brooks not follow this with absolute blind partisanmanship.
Wells has the quote of the week on all of this:
“On a not-unrelated note, this corner is now accepting nominations for the first SDA Award, for the most comically abject refusal to criticize Harper for behaviour that was so recently held up as proof of Martin’s moral vacuity. The SDA Award applauds blind partisanship at its most absurd.”
Kate? No surprise there. If she could, she’d be bottling Harper’s farts and selling them as Chanel #24.
Well if Kate was bottling it, Candace is wearing it.
“Well if Kate was bottling it, Candace is wearing it.”
Yes I’m afraid it’s true.
I thought when nonsense like this happened, I, as a Harper-opposed voter, would feel some kind of perverse vindication. I wish I did, but I don’t. I just feel dejectedly indifferent. Is that cynicism? Must be. It sucks.
I’m working on malicious glee, but I’m having a hard time keeping it because of people like Andrew.
I think I am still stuck on “I told you so” smug.
With me, it’s reverting back to my resolute dislike of Stephen Harper. He really and truly does not have much respect for most Canadians.
>With me, it’s reverting back to my resolute dislike of Stephen Harper. He really and truly does not have much respect for most Canadians.
Good point. If he isn’t Saint Harper, we should immediately turn him out into the wilderness and elect someone dependable like Paul Martin.
Works for me. Well not the Paul Martin thing, but sending Harper to the knacker’s yard, definitely.
We’re all agreed, then.
>>”We’re all agreed, then.”
I think we can agree that you weren’t, and aren’t, very happy with the outcome of the election, Balb. I count six separate posts from yourself and SL in relation to the Harper cabinet appointments. Seems like a bit much, considering neither of you apparently wanted the Liberals re-elected, and also considering how mightily peeved you were at the very mention of the Sponsorship scandal as an election issue by conservatives here and elsewhere, during the actual campaign.
The CPoC may, as you pointed out in another thread, pile up transgression after transgression as their tenure unfolds. With that in mind, I don’t see the need for such overkill on Day One.
““Well if Kate was bottling it, Candace is wearing it.—
And Anonalogue is drinking it.
“I think I am still stuck on “I told you so†smug.”
And of course, I’ll be stuck on that election after election, regardless who wins :)
Not accepting the rules of this political game, I get to complain. Those who participate, don’t get to.
You can do both.
“With that in mind, I don’t see the need for such overkill on Day One.”
Let’s see: complete abandonment of the much-vaunted principles they pummeled the electorate with for years on their first 10 minutes in power? Yeah, merits a bit of overkill, I’d say.
After this, it will be just routine.
Gad, when the Liberals get back in, you guys will have them beaten senseless and lining up to resign within minutes. I’ll have to look away.
“I think we can agree that you weren’t, and aren’t, very happy with the outcome of the election, Balb. I count six separate posts from yourself and SL in relation to the Harper cabinet appointments. Seems like a bit much… With that in mind, I don’t see the need for such overkill on Day One.”
Well, Mike H, it’s called the law of supply and demand. You’ll note that each of the threads has generated a healthy amount of discussion, much of it interesting. Obviously folks are interested in talking about this. I sure am. And we’re just warming up.
To be honest, I’m not particularly unhappy with the election results. My prediction - Liberal minority - was also my personal worst case scenario in terms of progress in some of the social development areas I care about. As I noted elsewhere, each different configuration of government provides new levers. Bev Oda’s appointment to Heritage is a very good one, from my perspective, and there are a few combo plays in other areas that seem very promising.
Just as a favour, let me remind you that you can save yourself time by simply typing BUD M-5.
>>”Well, Mike H, it’s called the law of supply and demand. You’ll note that each of the threads has generated a healthy amount of discussion, much of it interesting. Obviously folks are interested in talking about this. I sure am. And we’re just warming up.”
Yes, but you were tinkering with the law of supply and demand during the campaign, when you petulantly gave me one stinkin’ ” Liberals BAAAADDDD……” thread, you miserly SOB.
>>”Just as a favour, let me remind you that you can save yourself time by simply typing BUD M-5.”
I dispute your finding, and demand an arbitration hearing. As a bonus, I’ll get to oggle Lily while she transcribes the proceedings.
>>”Let’s see: complete abandonment of the much-vaunted principles they pummeled the electorate with for years on their first 10 minutes in power? Yeah, merits a bit of overkill, I’d say.”
Timmy, why don’t we give the conservatives a chance to park their bums in the House of Commons for a session, before we proclaim they’ve ” completely abandoned their much-vaunted principles.”
lrC:
That was rather funny, you droll little troll……
:>)
Mike H: And you don’t think any of my posts were warranted? Or have any merit?
Harper brought any criticism of his actions on himself by taking them, supposedly he’s a big boy and can deal with it, and if he’s anywhere near the deep thinker his followers say he is, he knew it was coming.
Next up is the cancelling Federal/Provincial agreements inked before he took office…. if nothing else he’s giving the other parties lots and lots of ammunition for the next election cycle.
Why is suddenly “Well the Liberals did it and you didn’t seem to mind” suddenly an acceptable rebuttal to the sleaze of a Harper government? I was under this impression somehow that the CPC was going to be different, that it would apply different standards to politics than the much hated Liberals. Yet on the very first day of the very first CPC government in the history of this country the CPC does things exactly in the worst traditions of the Liberal party they had decried for so many years, and justify it by pointing to prior cases where a Liberal PM had done so.
Yet they fail to see the blatant hypocrisy in such an act and bitterly attack anyone pointing them out as not minding when it was the Liberals so who are they to talk? The point is not what the Liberals had done makes what the CPC just did ok, it is that the CPC and Harper ran on a platform of not doing things the old Liberal way, and does so on the first day and defends it using Liberal examples in the past. To not see the hypocrisy in this takes real effort.
>>”Mike H: And you don’t think any of my posts were warranted? Or have any merit?”
Not at all. I agree wholeheartedly with the criticism itself. It’s the number of posts on the subject that I find to be out of proportion, especially given the fact that the Harper government has not done any …., well…, governing yet.
>>”Why is suddenly “Well the Liberals did it and you didn’t seem to mind†suddenly an acceptable rebuttal to the sleaze of a Harper government?’
Easy. You apparently didn’t ” seem to mind ” when the Liberals did it, Scotian. But now that Harper has engaged in the same practice, it’s ” sleaze.”
>>”Yet on the very first day of the very first CPC government in the history of this country the CPC does things exactly in the worst traditions of the Liberal party they had decried for so many years, and justify it by pointing to prior cases where a Liberal PM had done so.”
I would hardly call luring Belinda away as somehow consistent with ” the worst traditions of the Liberal Party.”
>>”Yet they fail to see the blatant hypocrisy in such an act and bitterly attack anyone pointing them out as not minding when it was the Liberals so who are they to talk?”
Well I’ve seen precious little of this ” bitter attack ” you refer to. No, I’ve seen the exact opposite from most conservative bloggers, and from leading conservative newspapers. There will always be fanatics who seek to rationalize and favourably spin everything their party does. But these folks are in the minority on the question of Harper’s cabinet appointments, so I’d suggest you research your generalizations a little more carefully.
Mike H:
I assume you can prove that I didn’t mind it when the Liberals did it I trust? Otherwise one can fairly say you are making assumptions without evidence to support them. I trust you will now prove the assertion you have just made, assuming of course you are an intellectually honest person. Perhaps as well you might want to look at Free Dominion and the comments of several of the Blogging Tories that are offended by this act to see just how much rationalization supporting this move there is as well as how bitter the reaction to Harper and the CPC being condemned is before you claim my generalizations need more research.
As for the worst traditions, I was referring in that case not to Emerson but Fortier, you know rewarding a party loyalist with a Senate seat, and in this case the patronage portfolio in Cabinet as well. To defend that move I have seen many CPCers bring up examples of Senators in Cabinet from the Trudeau days among other Liberal governments of the past. However, I suppose that was something you completely missed when that appointment was being defended over the past two days.
You know for someone castigating me for making unfounded assumptions and overly broad and unsupportable generalizations you seem to be doing a lot of this yourself. Perhaps you are projecting your own nature onto others, it certainly would be more consistent with the facts as they are then what you have been claiming of myself.
>Why is suddenly “Well the Liberals did it and you didn’t seem to mind†suddenly an acceptable rebuttal to the sleaze of a Harper government?
It wouldn’t be, if there were any sleaze taking place. Fortunately, calm and collected minds realize that whatever floor crossing and senate/cabinet appointments might be, they aren’t sleaze. Act like an adult, if you are one.
>>”I assume you can prove that I didn’t mind it when the Liberals did it I trust? Otherwise one can fairly say you are making assumptions without evidence to support them. I trust you will now prove the assertion you have just made, assuming of course you are an intellectually honest person.”
Uhhhhhh, Scotian, that’s how you framed it. It’s your statement, and when you say something like ” Well the Liberals did it and you didn’t seem to mind,” and use it as an accusation that the statement is being employed to deflect blame from Harper, then you really need to go on the record with the rejoinder that you did in fact “mind.” Otherwise, one is left with the perception (quite correct, in my view), that you didn’t, and aren’t objecting to the fact that the Liberals ” did it,” but rather only to the fact that Harper engaged in it when he said he wouldn’t. By the way, I had a brief peak at your blog. All CPoC bashing, all the time. Couldn’t help but notice that you’re also a big Paul Martin fan. I’m sure none of that has any influence on our discussion here.
>>”Perhaps as well you might want to look at Free Dominion and the comments of several of the Blogging Tories that are offended by this act to see just how much rationalization supporting this move there is as well as how bitter the reaction to Harper and the CPC being condemned is before you claim my generalizations need more research.”
Could you try spitting that one out again, but in a fashion where it makes some sense? I’ve just finished deleting two paragraphs in response, upon realizing that your stilted argument meant something entirely different than my first impression.
All I can say to you Scotian is, if you can’t find all kinds of conservative bloggers and newspapers who are critical of Harper over this, then you aren’t looking. Period.
>>”As for the worst traditions, I was referring in that case not to Emerson but Fortier, you know rewarding a party loyalist with a Senate seat, and in this case the patronage portfolio in Cabinet as well.”
Thanks for clearing that up. That’s what you get with an unelected Senate. From both parties, I might add, so once again, it isn’t simply a Liberal failing.
>>”To defend that move I have seen many CPCers bring up examples of Senators in Cabinet from the Trudeau days among other Liberal governments of the past. However, I suppose that was something you completely missed when that appointment was being defended over the past two days.”
Nope, haven’t missed that. As I said in my earlier post, the usual suspects will always seek to defend every breath their party takes. However, to repeat myself, you have ” completely missed ” the conservatives, both in the blogosphere and the media, who have been bashing Harper over this for ” the past two days. How convenient.
Oh wait…….., you have noticed…..
From your own blog:
>>” The one moderately bright spot to me in all of this has been the generally negative response to Emerson from many (here are links within to many other BTs upset with this thanks to Damien’s work) of the Blogging Tories. Andrew at Bound By Gravity is particularly disgusted,….”
You did use the word ” many, ” or do I have that wrong? Scotian, it’s awfully decent of you to confound your own argument, but it does take some of the fun out of it for me.
>>”You know for someone castigating me for making unfounded assumptions and overly broad and unsupportable generalizations you seem to be doing a lot of this yourself. Perhaps you are projecting your own nature onto others,…..’
Perhaps you need to reacquaint yourself with reality.
[...] Here is an interesting group session centred around the question, “How does the Emerson defection make you feel?” Naturally, many participants have had their feelings hurt by the defection. I would just like to say that I think it’s wonderful that these guys have the opportunity to come together and share their feelings with one another so openly and so honestly. Real men cry. Yes, real men do cry. Princess Monkey: “I thought when nonsense like this happened, I, as a Harper-opposed voter, would feel some kind of perverse vindication. I wish I did, but I don’t. I just feel dejectedly indifferent. Is that cynicism? Must be. It sucks.” [...]
They lost the election, but not the ability to feel
Here is an interesting group session centred around the question, “How does the Emerson defection make you feel?” Naturally, many participants have had their feelings hurt. I would just like to say that I think it’s wonderful that the…
Mark H:
You are really starting to demonstrate your dishonesty most clearly. I realize this might be a hard concept for you but that while many Blogging Tories were appalled, there were also many that were not. That in the various comments of the threads at various left/right/center political blogs in this country there were the arguments defending all of this that I said. If you have not encountered them it can only be because you aren’t doing much reading of these comments. Indeed, many of these arguments were made IN THE COMMENTS of those Blogging Tories’ posts that were upset by all of this, but I guess you didn’t bother looking there did you?
Your ability to be intellectually dishonest as you have while castigating me for what you claim is my intellectual dishonesty is a remarkable act of hubris. It also demonstrates your love of straw man arguments. If this is all you are going to be doing I must say then I am not seeing much point in discussing/debating you at all. I have no problem letting others determine which one of us is being honest and truthful in their comments, nor do I feel the need to continue this inanity with someone that has now several times put words in my mouth so that he can then attack that straw with such indignation.
That’s an awfully longwinded way to say, “I surrender”.
It’s ” Mike H,” you silly tool.
Go beat up your pillow. Might make you feel better.