Why Stephen Harper's Great Con Debate Scam Could Backfire Badly

Well now we've heard it from the horse's mouth, or the horse's ass, or the scary puppet Stephen Harper himself. He will NOT take part in the biggest of the political leader debates. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper reiterated Friday he will not take part in a national English debate that would be broadcast by the major TV networks.

He will not say why he would boycott a debate that is watched by more Canadians than any other. But he will try to suggest that this democratic demolition derby isn't really his idea. 

“The position of the party has been clear on this question for some time,” Harper responded. “The Conservative party is ready to participate in a maximum of five debates in total, which is a record for federal campaigns in our country.”

Or suggest, as only a Con man could, that five tiny debates means MORE. When in fact it means LESS, as in a far smaller audience.

And everyone knows that the idea could only have come from the diseased mind of Stephen Harper, who has tried to wreck every democratic instrument that ever crossed his path, from the days when he was in high school and he tried to destroy the student council.

And is now desperately afraid of parading his shabby record before millions of Canadians...



Which couldn't be more cowardly or disgusting.

But of course the big question now, as Stephen Maher writes, is will this desperate gamble payoff? Or will it be his downfall? 

If you want to make money playing poker, you have to read your opponents without letting them read you. Stephen Harper sure is hard to read, but in the game of high-stakes poker over the election debates, he seems to have misread the other players.

And I'm betting on the latter. Because if Harper was counting on the other leaders to also drop out of the consortium debate if he didn't attend he was wrong. And if he got the idea from his buddy David Cameron he might have made a fatal mistake.

When British Prime Minister David Cameron stayed away from a similar debate recently, the British consortium went ahead without him. That didn’t help Cameron’s rival, Labour Leader Ed Miliband, because he got beat up by the leaders of smaller parties. 

The dynamic would be different here because many voters would like to have a different prime minister, but they disagree on whether it should be Thomas Mulcair or Justin Trudeau.

For as Frank Graves points out, too many Canadians hate Harper, and many of them are just looking for the best candidate they believe can beat him or STOP him...



A big chunk of voters — Graves calls them “promiscuous progressives” — want to see the back of Harper. If the biggest debate of the campaign takes place without Harper, and “promiscuous progressives” settle on one of the other guys as the preferred alternative, that guy would win.

So not only could that prove fatal. As Chantal Hébert points out, Harper's grubby move can also only help fuel the desire for regime change.

It is in the nature of successful ruling parties to develop a blind spot for the rot that tends to set in over their time in office. At some point they stop seeing themselves as voters see them and become agents of their own electoral destruction.

Anecdotally, the sense that it is time for a change is rampant (and growing) in just about every region of the country. The Conservatives seem hell-bent on solidifying that sense at every step of the way to the campaign. 

There is no rationale for the prime minister to boycott — as he is currently set to do — the leaders’ debates that will be produced by the country’s main networks in the next campaign. Most voters can only construe that as hubris.

So his grubby little scheme to blow up the debates, could very well end up blowing up in his face. So much for those in the MSM who still think he's a political genius.

Which only leaves the question of how Harper should be represented at the debates he won't attend. So I'm glad to see that Rabble is looking for some suggestions. 

Plastic dinosaur.
Plastic turd.
Door knob.
Frozen poultry, either turkey or chicken.
Feces throwing primate.
Ventriloquist's dummy.

And I must say I am VERY impressed by the list so far. And of course, extremely flattered by this. 

Although I have to admit that would be a challenge eh?

For how do you combine a frozen turkey, a ventriloquist's dummy, and a dead leader walking who is more than good to go?

Unless it looks something like this...



I'm sure you can think of something better, or more cowardly and disgusting.

But isn't that a great thought to end the week?

Enjoy it, we deserve it.

And have a great weekend everybody !!!

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