The Desperate Stephen Harper and the Ghastly Bigot of Oz

It couldn't be more desperate or more absurd or more obscene. And the timing couldn't be worse. 

Just as Stephen Harper seems to be bowing to public pressure, and preparing to finally do something to help desperate Syrian refugees. 

The Conservatives, after continued criticism they are not doing enough to address the Syrian refugee crisis, are expected to announce within days some new ways Canada could help.

After claiming for days that they were too dangerous to allow into Canada...


Garnotte/Le Devoir

We find out, a day after he bounced Jenni Byrne off the bus, that his campaign is being managed by the man known as the Wizard of Oz.

Stephen Harper’s struggling Conservatives are employing the services of a controversial Australian campaign fixer who is credited with helping David Cameron confound the polls and secure a majority victory in last May’s U.K. election.

A party source says Lynton Crosby has been giving advice — primarily analyzing polling data — since March.

Or the Bigot of Oz...



During the 2001 campaign, Howard ministers falsely claimed that a ship full of would-be refugees had thrown children overboard in a ploy to secure asylum in Australia. 

The false story played to the Howard campaign’s hard line on migrants, with the slogan: “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.”

The sleazy master of dog-whistle politics who is anti-refugee, anti-gay, and anti-Muslim. 

The man David Cameron has picked to head his Election campaign once launched a foul-mouthed rant against Muslims. Outspoken Australian ‘fixer’ Lynton Crosby used the phrase ‘f****** Muslims’ in a diatribe while working for London Mayor Boris Johnson.

He tried to convince David Cameron not to promise to legalize gay marriage. He has never hesitated to plumb the depths of depravity for crass political purposes.

Which can only make more Canadians wonder where this desperate Con campaign is going...



And how much lower Lynton Crosby might take them. If that's possible.

As for Harper, he can't be trusted to keep any promises, when as Haroon Siddiqui points out, he has demonized refugees for years to pleasure his rabid base. 

You are Stephen Harper. Your government spends years demonizing asylum seekers as “bogus refugees.” It denies them health care. It takes pride in detaining and deporting many of them.

Given that record, how do you now welcome with open arms Muslim Syrian refugees, who having waited years to be rescued have crashed into Europe and moved the world, including Canadians who are demanding urgent action from Ottawa?

You try and emote sympathy, talking about little Alan Kurdi...But you can’t go too far without upsetting the constituencies you have so systematically cultivated over the years.

His hollow promise to save desperate refugees is only too obviously a desperate attempt to save himself...


And the good news is it almost certainly won't save him or his campaign. 

By dragging his heels, and inventing ridiculous reasons for doing nothing, he has revealed himself to be a cruel, heartless leader. A callous monster who had to be forced to do the right and Canadian thing.

So even if he does something for the refugees, which would be good, he won't win many brownie point from decent Canadians. But he will annoy his rabid base, and that could cost him votes he can't afford to lose.

Which will only prove once again that he is no political genius or wizard ...



Just a nasty little man, too small and too ugly to be allowed to pose as a Canadian Prime Minister.

And who will now have to explain why a Great Strong Leader and his "Canada Strong" Cons are having their campaign managed by a political hit man from Australia?

Which certainly won't improve their image.

Or for that matter improve Jenni Byrne's state of mind...



Which as you can imagine won't help the state of the Con campaign. It's in disarray, with factions fighting each other. Or sulking. And still going nowhere.

Shuffling a campaign at this stage is a risky proposition.

So with a little bit of luck this hideous horror story.

Will have a happy ending...



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