The Harperland Winter and the Madness of Stephen Harper

It's getting grim out there. It's winter in Harperland. The bay has frozen over so the swans are back looking for food. Like we'll all soon be doing if the Cons keep tanking the economy.

I haven't come across a cheery progressive since Christmas Day, and they were drunk.

I'm haunted by Michael Harris' line in his story I linked to yesterday:

The kiss that will awaken Sleeping Beauty is the promise of a land that is so much bigger than the single issue of the economy.

But on the other hand, when I think of what the state of the economy is doing to that other Sleeping Beauty, I feel so much better.



Because it must be driving him CRAZY. 

It’s a cliché, of course, but it bears repeating here: One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

The Harper government turned deficit elimination into a potent political symbol, tied forever to its carefully-cultivated image as a sound, steady manager of the economy. Nothing else — not growth, not job creation — has played a larger role in the government’s fiscal messaging. Now that narrative threatens to collapse, and the government’s reaction to date suggests nothing but alarm and confusion.

He didn't see it coming, he didn't know what he was doing.

Prime Minister Harper looked into his magic mirror back in the fall and decided the time was right to announce major tax cuts. And as in 2008 — when he was calmly telling people that the accelerating recession offered investors an opportunity to pick up some cheap stocks — Mr. Harper has once again demonstrated his bent for letting wishful thinking infect his fiscal forecasts.

Now he's looking like a buffoon, or a maniac who would try to make us believe only he can fix the problem he helped create...



And judging from the comments I'm reading in the MSM, not fooling too many Canadians. 

We have caught this Conservative dodging act before. Remember 2008/09 when they said everything was wonderful and repeatedly refused to consider stimulus spending until they were faced with non-confidence from the opposition? They then seized it as their own Canada-saving idea, cranked up the spending, and along with it cranked up the despicable Economic Action Plan advertising. 

I guess the one certainty we can foresee this time is: “An April budget (maybe), part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan.”

Give them a couple more months, and by the time the election arrives so many will be so angry, he'll have to spend much of the campaign, in his favourite place...



Especially when they find out that contrary to what Jason Kenney said, the Cons may raid the rainy day fund.

A federal official is distancing the Conservative government from Jason Kenney's public musings over the weekend that spending cuts might be required to balance the budget.

The official — who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter on the record — also hinted that the contingency reserve is indeed in play, given the unforeseen nature of the recent plunge in oil prices.

On the weekend, Kenney described the contingency reserve as out of bounds in that regard, and suggested the government would rather cut spending than dip into its rainy-day fund.

Which must be driving Kenney as crazy as his Great Leader...



Left Oily Joe Oliver even more confused...



And is even more evidence that the Cons don't know what they are doing.

And when I look at the big picture, and smell their desperation in the morning.

I say to myself that it may be hell out there eh?

But Stephen Harper is going crazy.

The Con regime is on thin ice.

And the wind is in our sails...



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