Gawd. I must admit I got a bit of a shock when I saw that Robert Silver was recommending that Stephen Harper call an election TOMORROW.
If I were Stephen Harper, given the pile of scandals that have the potential to become a dominant election issue (and there is no reason at this time to think that any of the scandals Harper is facing is harming him electorally), I think it would be foolhardy to give the opposition two extra weeks to lay tracks.
Because Silver is normally quite rational, but Harper isn't, he's a maniac. And when the voices in his head are screaming "Gimme my MAJORITY #!%!!# " he's capable of ANYTHING.
But then I thought of this ruling.
And I saw Bev Oda standing there in the House of Commons, while Con MPs rushed to fill the seats behind her so it didn't look like she was speaking to an empty chamber...
Reciting her lines like a badly wired PMO robot. Or one of the Stepford Wives.
And I thought of the Con gang leaving town in a hurry...in her limo.
To try to get away from her odour, and this scandal.
Or try to avoid explaining why Jason Kenney is looking like a werewolf version of Richard Nixon. With his lame lies, the permanent five-o-clock shadow, and his insatiable lust for beef chow mein.
Or why Dimitri Soudas thinks he can get away with buying votes with OUR money.
And then, when I thought of all of the above, and I thought of all those Cons in that getaway limo, and how good it would look on TV...
Even BETTER than the Sopranos.
I said ...Oh yes Great Mob Leader...make my day.
GIMME MY ELECTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First we must defeat them eh?
And then we must ARREST them.
Before they arrest us...
Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.
Hi Simon, I'd be surprised if he did, he has boxed himself in with his rhetoric about how an election now would jeopardize the recovery etc,etc. But with Harper being an arrogant megalomaniac, who knows
ReplyDeleteActually Kev, no, he can play with the rhetoric while calling the writ.
ReplyDeleteHe can tell voters "I never wanted to do this, but they (pointing a chubby finger at Ignatieff and the Liberals) made me do it!" in his best victim tone he can muster. Voters would eat it up with a spoon. Then he would go on to say "Give me a majority or you risk the coalition of losers!" And they'll give it to him, sadly. Folks these days would rather have a dictatorship with no more elections than a progressive coalition.
You know ck, everything you say is plausible and could very well happen,but my gut tells me that he won't risk a possible backlash, not when he knows that the opposition will give him his coveted election in a couple of weeks anyways.
ReplyDeletePlus he likely doesn't want to waste too much of his 4 mil ad buy on our dime. Anyhoo, I guess we will find out soon enough.
Kev, another thing, he announced yesterday that he's attending the nuptuals of the royal brat and his gold digger come April 29. Very suspicious, doncha find? I mean, if we wait until either the budget or non-confidence motion, that election would have to be scheduled in early May; he wouldn't be away on the other side of the Atlantic just days before an election.
ReplyDeleteNo, he's up to something and it ain't prorogation. That would send his numbers down again. And this time, there would be no olympics afterglow from which he can rebound.
I really think he'll drop the writ, using the tactics I mentioned above.
hi Kev...yeah I would be surprised too. They have the exact date of an election in mind, and the Con War Machine is ticking down to the start. A barrage of attack ads today, tomorrow a Porky Special. It's like the Kaiser's trains in the First World War, or the movie where Joshua the computer starts playing war games and can't be stopped.
ReplyDeleteHowever as you point it, he is deeply disturbed and capable of ANYTHING... :)
hi CK...as you know I share your misgivings about where this monster is leading us. And I despair when I see how many Canadians he is able to fool. But I'm sure he wants to get his budget out before an election, because I believe it will have some kind of personal tax cuts in it. Then Harper would be able to deliver this message: "I want to put money in your pockets, but the nasty Coalition won't let me."
ReplyDeleteJudging by how easily Canadians can be bought these days, that should give him a comfortable majority. Vive le Quebec Libre... ;)