The Cheating Cons and the Fatal Hubris of Stephen Harper

Uh oh. It seems that Stephen Harper just can't help himself. They don't call him Dirty Steve for nothing eh?

He claimed he fired the starting gun for the next election more than a month early, to save the taxpayer's money.

Only to have it revealed that the extended campaign would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more than a normal length campaign.

And now he's been caught cheating. Again. 

On Sunday, Stephen Harper explained that the reason he was calling the longest election in Canadian history since 1872 was that he feels the money for this election should "come from the parties themselves, not from the government resources, parliamentary resources or taxpayers' resources." 

Not even a week later, the Conservative Party of Canada is actually promoting Harper using his 24/Seven vanity videos – which are taxpayer-funded and produced out of the Privy Council Office – on their own official website.

Can you believe that Con artist?

First he diddles the so-called Fair Elections Act to try to disenfranchise as many as four million Canadians. 

With the help of his grotesque stooge Pierre Poilievre...



While forbidding Elections Canada from encouraging voter participation...


Then he tries to buy the election with the greatest pork-a-palooza this country has ever seen.



Now he's been caught trying to brainwash Canadians again with OUR money.

And the good news? This isn't a sign of a campaign that's running on all cylinders.

A few hours after PressProgress published this story, Stephen Harper's page on the Conservative Party of Canada website was edited and the 24/Seven videos and button were removed.

It's the sign of a campaign running on desperate. It is all hubris, and as Robin Sears points out, it could all backfire badly.  



Harper may succeed in his terrorism fear-mongering and his tall tales on the economy but I would not bet the rent on it. Canadian voters have smacked down many politicians for overindulging their partisanship in the form of tilted or unnecessary election calls.

Many affluent Canadians who could drive a Ferrari, don’t; their mothers-in-law would be appalled. And it would be a very unwise Canadian corporation that staged a million-dollar birthday party for the CEO’s wife. A party that doubles the cost and the length of an election campaign, merely because they fear defeat without that thumb on the scale, risks being dinged for excess.

He was always a freak of nature. He lost his moral compass long ago. He never knew where to draw the lined.

So he pushed his luck. He soiled himself. His desperation drove him crazy.

And in the end his own hubris did destroy him...



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