Stephen Harper and the Eve of Destruction

Well I can only imagine him today, huddled in his bunker with his closest advisers. The shrinking band of PMO fanatics he still trusts.

Lamenting the fate of his faithful Dimitri.

While suggesting for public consumption, that he was the one who fired him. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally demanded the resignation of Dimitri Soudas as executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada on Sunday after he was informed that Soudas had used party resources to boost his fiancée’s bid to win a contested nomination race, the Star has learned.

Conveniently trying to forget that he was the one who hired him.

And no doubt desperately trying to ignore that the only reason he agreed to let Dimitri go, was because he was facing a Con revolt.

A rare case of collective pushback from both caucus and grassroots party members forced Prime Minister Stephen Harper to cut loose his handpicked campaign point man.

And that this latest sordid scandal is just the latest example of Harper's appallingly bad judgement.

Which in this case had Dimitri claiming he was a fool for love...



“I met the woman who I truly loved,” he told CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife. “I couldn’t hold back...”

Soudas told CTV that he had stepped in to help Adams after she suffered a concussion in a bad fall. But he also said that he had let the prime minister down, adding that Harper was like a father to him. 

Left his Big Daddy looking like an IDIOT.

And had Charlie Angus comparing the Soudas debacle to a new version of the old song Eve of Destruction.

 "What's going on with this prime minister's judgment when yet another insider goes down to the 'eve' of destruction?" said NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus. 

Because of course Charlie's right eh? It is another harbinger of the coming Con Apocalypse.

And as John Ivison points out, the damage has been done.

When the news that Dimitri Soudas had been fired as executive director of the Conservative Party broke Sunday evening, I wrote on Twitter that all empires start to decline at the inflection point where loyalty outweighs merit.

But that’s not quite right. On reflection, it would be more accurate to say decline started to set in when loyalty began to outweigh character in the Conservative Party’s hiring policy. The Prime Minister has a bad habit of giving big jobs to people who are willing to bend the rules to get what they want.

He's made his party look bush league, stuck a spoke in its election preparations, and put a giant dent in his own reputation.

The third, and perhaps most lasting, consequence is the damage to the Prime Minister’s reputation. He has repeatedly appointed people who cannot be trusted to play by the rules. Mr. Harper has just returned from a triumphant European trip to find the headlines dominated by fratricide within his own party. But he insisted on Mr. Soudas, so he doesn’t have to look far for someone to blame.

Which must no doubt have some Cons wondering whether their Great Leader is losing his mojo and/or his marbles.

Or as Chantale Hébert suggests, wonder whether he is losing his desire to be Prime Minister.

Or the King of Canada.



That Harper is more isolated and less in control today than a year ago is not in doubt. Consistently mediocre poll results; heightened caucus unrest; public cabinet squabbles; a poorly handled Senate scandal and what has turned out to be a bad hire for the top party job indicate as much. 

A more interesting question is whether, after a decade at the helm, the Conservative leader is inexorably becoming detached/distracted from the business of running the party and the country.

Which can only make some Cons like Jason Kenney, all the more eager to replace him...



And further divide the party, in the lead up to the next election.

Yup. Charlie Angus was right eh? 

It is the Eve of Destruction. The Eve of Con Destruction.

Give Great Leader a pair of jackboots.

And he can add this one to his collection...



Oh sure the words are slightly dated. And Harper does like war.

But he is crazy desperate, the revolt is beginning.

And his Day of Destruction is coming...

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