Once they were the best of buddies. Two Con peas in a pod united by fanatic ideology and religion.
But then Stephen Harper threw his faithful Chief of Staff under the bus. Along with so many others.
And now the question is, will Nigel Wright destroy Great Desperate Leader?
Only a saint or alternatively someone with a guilty conscience would continue to play dead as his former boss wreaks irreparable damage on his or her reputation. Prime Minister Stephen Harper can only pray that former chief of staff Nigel Wright falls squarely in one or the other category.
Because doggone it, there are so many questions that just won't go away. Like this one:
It has now been acknowledged by the prime minister that other Conservative associates had a part in what Harper now calls a deception. If Wright was going rogue, if the route he chose to put the Senate controversy to rest was taking the PMO far out of the ethical boundaries set by the prime minister, why did no one feel compelled to give Harper a heads-up?
And if Harper is lying, as he does all the time, and Wright cares more about his reputation, than he does about Big Business and the Lord's Business, he now has the power to DESTROY him.
Or keep Harper under his thumb for the rest of his term in office...
As short as that may be.
And for some reason, when I look at at that picture of Ol' Nige running through the dark streets of Ottawa at four in the MORNING...
I really wouldn't want to give him that kind of power. Or make him my ENEMY.
*Gulp*
Which reminds me who the hell said Harper was a political or tactical genius?
You — Nigel Wright, who reluctantly took a sabbatical from a fabulously lucrative Bay Street career not out of ambition or lust for power but from a sense of public service and partisan loyalty, who compromised that career and your reputation for Stephen Harper, and whose very liberty may be in peril — have now been cut loose.
Because after the way Harper has vilified him he really has nothing more to lose.
Time to lawyer up, Mr. Wright. Time to consider precisely when and in what forum you will share what you know — maybe even before the next election 18 long months away. The prime minister no longer believes he owes you anything, and I guess that frees you from any obligation to him.
And besides, I know he's a religious fanatic, but why would he crucify himself for the Judas who
Paul Wells quotes Harper as saying that his practice is to scrutinize his own mistakes to make sure he doesn’t repeat them. But that isn’t really true. His tactical pattern is one of thuggishness that pays no tribute to loyalty and no obeisance to literal truth. And people are starting to notice.
And of course if Ol' Nige does talk, that could be REALLY embarrassing.
Because he could damage what's left of Great Desperate Leader's credibility, even worse than Ol' Duff did....
According to Ekos, even as they have precious little time for Duffy, twice as many voters believe the discredited senator over Harper. How many would it be if the prime minister’s word was stacked against that of a former chief of staff for whose honour he so repeatedly vouched for until this week?
And to make matters worse, if that's possible, look who's defending the man Harper was
While Prime Minister Stephen Harper is taking an increasingly tough line against his former chief of staff over the Senate expense scandal, federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney is defending Nigel Wright's character.
The religious fanatic who wants to be the next
Because let's be clear eh? Kenney is sending out a coded message that if called by his Lord, or the Con base, he's ready to serve !!!
Gawd. Lord help us.This sordid Senate scandal is scarier than Breaking Bad.
Oh wait. Let me rephrase that. It won't be as good as that great show.
Because the lead actor in this one is just a grubby little Con for whom NOBODY could feel any sympathy. Or believe ANYTHING he says.
But this is definitely true eh?
It is really scary. In the best sort of way.
And it will end BADLY....
Click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.
I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who would like to hear Nigel Wright's version of events.
ReplyDeletehi sassy... it would be interesting to hear from him, but I doubt we will unless he is forced to go to court. He is a very disciplined man, just jogging through the streets of Ottawa at 4 am every day tells you something. He also belongs to some ascetic Christian branch, and he has been working at a soup kitchen since he left the PMO. And of course he is a big Bay Street player, and a very rich person, so who knows what exactly motivates him. But yes, it would be rather interesting to hear what he has to say because he might just tell the truth. But this is Harperlans where the truth goes to die, so I'm not holding my breath...
DeleteIt could be that Nigel has decided that the quasi-religious, neoconservative ideological social experiment in Canada can be continued if he remains loyal to it and keeps his mouth shut. An examination of the emblem on the guy's jogging shirt is enough to tell you where his head is at.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe his legal counsel has simply advised him to shut the fuck up.
As I told sassy I don't know what his motivation is, but I suspect your first reason is probably the one that brought him into the PMO. Harper's stealth campaign to fund religious institutions, and replace government with charity, sounds like it could be his principle motivator. As for his decision to remain silent it's probably a combination of both reasons. Fanatic loyalty and legal discretion that I fear will only be broken if indeed the police lay charges...
DeleteI think Nigel Wright has concluded that few actually believe he is the mastermind behind the Senate scandal, that his own reputation has not been "irreparably damaged", that Harper has doomed himself already with Duffy's testimony, and that further revelations from Wright at this point would not only seal Harper's already doomed fate with horror movie overkill - sort of like poisoning evil Rasputin, then filling him full of lead, then drowning him in the canal - but would sink the electoral fortunes of the Conservative Party to its lowest levels. Wright may have concluded that the Harper regime may well be nearing its end, but that he may still have a future with a rebranded Conservative Party .....
ReplyDeleteWe have yet to see whether Harper has the longevity and invulnerability of the evil Jason Voorhis .......
hi Rene...Wright's reputation in the business circle he moves in is in no danger. The Bay Street gang regards him as a demi-god, and going public would only lower him in their esteem. How faithful he is to Harper, rather than the socially conservative values of his regime remains to be seen. I don't want to compare him to a Nazi, but his role in the Con regime reminds me a bit of the role Albert Speer played in Hitler's court. Better than most of them, but still willing to be a good soldier....
DeleteAs for Harper as Jason...all our Lord of Darkness needs is a hockey mask, but as we all know that can be easily arranged... ;)
Knowledge is money and in this case also power for Wright. When someone has you firmly by the balls, your heart and soul will follow. Wright has Harper firmly by the balls. money in the bank. Why would give that up it would be like burning money. All the cover up Harper`s worry.
ReplyDeletehi John...as I mentioned above, Wright seems to be in a category of his own. He apparently works very hard in a soup kitchen these days, which is admirable. So trying to figure out what is driving him is a bit more difficult than the others. But he definitely is committed to something, if he would give Duffy $90,000 of his own money just like that. I am hoping that a few days in court might help explain the mystery, especially if he has to swear on a Bible. ;)
DeleteBut I can also see him remaining silent, even if that means going to jail, so who knows if we'll ever know what really happened...
.. its always been about money and power Simon
ReplyDeletefor the 'peas in a pod united by fanatic ideology and religion'
forever n ever - Amen
Scroll down in this stunning article by Amy MacPherson
to the parts about Onex and the CPP (Canada Pension Plan)
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/amy-macpherson/cpp-money_b_2487663.html
And why not add Arthur Hamilton, that paragon of virtue, law, order, litigation & trench warfare
to the pod stooges.. Tom Flanagan as well.. that 'Distinguished Feller' from the US of A
that whispers 'extinguish, extinguish' constantly re First Nations & their culture
I would argue that 'peas in a pod' does the Harper Party packjackals 'justice'
when they're more like invasive asian carp that walk the Canadian political landscape
When they gamble our environment as Joe 'conflict oil' Oliver doesrnejust as all the complicits do ..
Clement, Baird, Flaherty, Ashfield, Kent, Fantino, Lecce, Novak, Byrne et al
they are gambling with 'house money' .. not theirs .. ours
.. our elders, children .. and neighbors
hi salamander...thanks for the link to that article, it really is fascinating as well as deeply disturbing. The one percent really do live in another world, and most Canadians have no idea of what is going on, or in this case what is being done with their CPP money. Unfortunately because investigative journalism is expensive, and the MSM is in dire straits, we don't see enough articles like that. But it does explain why when push comes to shove most of the corporate media leans the same way. Reporters are not told what to write, or limit their criticisma of the system, but they instinctively know how far they can go, and as a result our understanding of the big picture is like peeping through a pin hole with coke bottle glasses...
DeleteThis just gets better and better! Oooooooppppppppsssssss! I mean worse and worser! haha
ReplyDeleteIt does indeed. Even if we never find out what really happened, the scandal is doing enormous damage to the Con brand. And what the Harperites fail to understand is that in the absence of truth, imagination fills that vacuum, and it can be far more deadly than the sordid facts themselves...
Delete