For a long time Andrew Scheer has been able to hide in plain sight. Hide behind his creepy smile.
He rarely gives any interviews. He deleted his platform the day he became Con leader, and all we ever see him doing is attacking Justin Trudeau, day after day after day.
So it's hard to take the real measure of the man.
We know he is a religious fanatic, an alt-right sympathizer, and that he is now trying to whip up racist feelings over the border issue, for crass political purposes.
But every now and then he reveals his inner mediocrity.
And it's both terrifying, and hilarious...
For here he is, the man who spends almost all his time attacking the government's plan for a carbon tax, being asked to explain his plan to fight climate change.
And failing miserably.
Will a Conservative carbon plan commit to meeting the targets set out in the Paris Agreement? We ask leader @AndrewScheer #pnpcbc #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/pTXXpbWqty— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) August 3, 2018
For nobody can be sure after that interview that the Cons will ever have a plan, and Scheer seems to think climate change is a joke.
Beaming like a Cheshire cat, even as the planet burns...
And what makes all of this even more depressing, is the way our equally mediocre MSM lets him get away with being an empty vessel.
Like John Ibbitson does, when he wonders whether Scheer's chances of replacing Trudeau will be hurt by his failure to define himself politically.
The former speaker of the House of Commons remains an enigma, a ubiquitous smile masking sometimes harsh rhetoric. The Liberals try to demonize him as Canada’s equivalent of populist U.S. President Donald Trump (which seems a bit much) or Stephen Harper 2.0 (although, is that such a bad thing?). Does Mr. Scheer’s inability or unwillingness to define himself politically hurt him with voters?
And concludes that they won't.
And worse when discussing the border issue, Ibbitson seems blind to what Scheer, and his ghastly ex-Rebel campaign manager Hamish Marshall, are doing to inflame the situation.
One file on which the Conservatives must be very careful is refugee claimants. The Official Opposition can and should hold the government to account.
But if people of goodwill ever conclude that Mr. Scheer is leading a party that stokes intolerance, he will contaminate the Conservative brand for a generation.
As if turning this photo...
Into this brutish attack ad...
Isn't more than enough evidence to convince Ibbitson that the Cons are stoking intolerance, are acting like scummy racists, and are unfit to lead this country.
As I said, it's depressing.
But the good news is that the next election campaign will begin soon, and Andrew Scheer will no longer be able to hide behind his creepy smile...
He will be revealed as he really is, an ugly hate mongering monster more Trumpling than Canadian.
Justin Trudeau's decency will finish Scheer off.
And down the memory hole him and his Cons will go...
I think it's a safe bet Scheer will end up Prime Minister, which on top of Doug Ford is really bad for Canada, but the mistakes many on the left and centre made have brought this sad situation upon us all.
ReplyDeleteI just pray Scheer doesn't punch down like Ford does.
hi Gyor...relax, Andrew Scheer will never be prime minister. As I tried to point out in this post he is a total mediocrity, and when we attacks him as he should be attacked he will fold like a cheap suit. Do you seriously think that Canadians are going to let Ford, Kenney, and Scheer run this country all at the same time? Not a chance. Ford and Scheer are the best gifts Trudeau could ever receive, and with the help of the millennials who will form the largest voting bloc in the next election, Scheer is going to be smoked and end up looking like road kill...
Delete"... nobody can be sure after that interview that the Cons will ever have a plan, and Scheer seems to think climate change is a joke."
ReplyDeletePeople who live in glass houses... Scheer didn't buy the rickety old Justin Trudeau Memorial Pipeline for $1.2 billion more than it's worth, thereby locking Canada into a high-carbon future as the world burns and every civilized country is going the other way.
Speaking of carbon taxes, what the hell are the Liberals waiting for? Last I heard, they were backing away from targets that wouldn't get us anywhere close to our Paris commitments. In fact, none of our major political parties are willing to do what it takes to meet our commitments and it's pure hypocrisy for any of them to point the finger. They're all monsters willing to commit their own children to a living hell.
Are you the same single-issue troll from the other day? That "Trudeau Memorial" language seems familiar (and why call it a "Memorial" unless you or someone else is planning something dangerous against him?). Enough already of this #WalkAway, "both parties are the same" schtick. Anyone who really thinks the Liberals are "monsters" equivalent to the Cons just like the Democrats are "monsters" equivalent to the GOP is delusional or has malicious intent to divide and demoralize decent people who would vote against the real beasts.
DeleteYou're not seeing the bigger picture here. How the hell would electing the cons not be detrimental to the whole country, particularly on climate matters and the energy sector? Let alone human rights! You do know they'd capitulate on literally everything to Donald Trump and make Canada a de facto colony of the USA?
In the words of the great Michael Jordan, "Stop it. Get some help."
anon 4:04 PM...I hate to say it but the fate of the world does not hang on the fate of one little bitumen pipeline, so pull it out of your ass and get a grip on reality. Do you seriously think that Scheer would do a better job fighting climate change? Trudeau at least is trying to green our economy with carbon tax, Scheer says it would be the first thing he would kill if he became Prime Minister. You one issue voters are truly pathetic. It's a great big world out there, there are many other issues like healthcare, and human rights, and poverty. If you can't see that you are either really dumb, or a Con in disguise. In which case you can leave now and never come back. Good riddance to bad rubbish..
DeleteHi Jackie...he is indeed the single issue troll who pretends to be a progressive in order to try to divide us. I deleted about five other comments, and that's the way it's going to be from now on. No trolls, no prisoners. And you're absolutely right, he should get some help...
DeleteThat was one of the worst non-answer I have ever seen a Canadian politician give. Still he was talking. Just for fun have a look at Australian PM Tony Abbott in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv9_mELLA34
ReplyDeleteFull-frontal, he usually looks like a poleaxed deer in the headlights but I did not have enough time to find the best of the stunned shots.
Speaking of stunned shots: Let no one forget this photo, which Andrew Scheer and his hatemongers probably take delight in looking at and want to see more of every day.
Deletehttps://data.christianpost.com/full/86770/img.jpg
How could people's memories be so short? How are they still not able to make the connection with the party of mosque-shooters and "I DON'T REALLY CARE DO U" callous indifference towards refugees? Or are there more people than one would think (or hope) who, in their heart of hearts, are just as callous and indifferent towards them as Harper, Trump, Scheer and their ilk themselves?
The right-wing is evil. Pure evil. I hope against hope that Canadians aren't willing or gullible enough to turn their backs on decency and cast their lot with the devil. Harper and his possessed marionette Scheer would turn Canada into Trumpland practically overnight.
Hi jrkrideau...how could I forget Tony Abbott Stephen Harper's good buddy? And that mute state of cognitive paralysis is what I expect Scheer to look like when he finally has to answer some hard questions. He too is about to be poleaxed and it's not going to be pretty...
DeleteHi Jackie...Right wingers are the essence of evil, and they must be totally destroyed, or reduced to a whining rump, if we are going to build a better world. Progressives have been too nice to those beasts and that's got to change...
DeleteThe Cons want to make it impossible to govern. For them this is a big win, for if the goverment cant do it, who can? Why the givers of course, set the givers free Mr Trudeau, stop the takers from taking.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve....yes, the Cons want to make the political process so ugly many decent people will be turned of by the stench, and not bother to vote, and the Cons can win elections with fewer voters. They are looking to create as much voter alienation as possible, but millennial voters are idealistic, they don't discourage easily, and they are the ones who are going to finish the Cons off in the next election....
DeleteThe Russians really are coming. Just look at this chart for how often the bot campaign was active on the immigration file:
ReplyDeletehttp://canadiancynic.blogspot.com/2018/08/im-sure-its-just-coincidence.html
Either the cons are in bed with them or they're simply willing to do the same dirty work of dividing Canada on the most odious and hateful of lines. They're shitting on the memory of that little boy who drowned in 2015.
And does anyone really think that they would stand up to the Saudis like the Liberals did? 'Course not, it's only women in prison who need to "know their place."
They're the northern equivalent of the GOP and they need to be stopped.
Hi Jackie....The bot invasion is becoming a real problem. The Cons have set up a sophisticated black arts cyber centre where from what I hear they are preparing a digital assault that will shock this country. Unfortunately for them we have our cyber specialists too, and when they blow the cover off that spiders nest the Cons will never recover...
DeleteI agree Simon. I tend to discount Russia as they have better things to do. I am much more inclined to think Con than Russian.
DeleteIt's like the old medical adage, "When you hear hoof beats think horses not zebras". I will note that this may not apply if you on the Serengeti plain.
Unfortunately for them ...
The various Cons of today seem to be inherently incompetent though they do win sometimes through sheer brutality. Sir John A would weep to see his party now.
I guess since Doug Ford ran without a platform and won the loser Scheer thinks he can do the same thing. He’s in for a rude shock. He doesn’t seem to recognize that trying to imitate Ford (or Trump) is not the way to go. But he’ll learn the hard way when Justin Trudeau teaches him a lesson he’ll never forget. I predict that two years from now Scheer will have retired from politics and will be running a small church in rural Saskatchewan.
ReplyDeleteOh, Andy has a platform, all right.
DeleteHe's just waiting for the A.I. to translate it from the original German.
hi anon @6:56 PM...yes, Scheer doesn't seem to realize that imitating Drug Ford is not a good idea. Ford may still be enjoying a honeymoon high, but that will not last. Sooner rather than later he's going to have to make big cuts to things his Ford Nation cherishes like medicare, and that's when his popularity is going to collapse, and I mean collapse...
DeleteBTW: Alex Jones finally got his ass kicked off YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and the Apple iPhone app store. About time they do the same to Ezra's two-minute-hate blog aka ConAnon. Whoever the domain registrar and/or server host is for "Rebel dot media" website needs to do the same. Especially considering the money they got from Mercer and the proliferation of assassination threats against Trudeau that Ezra allows to run rampant all over the comments pages. Scheer wouldn't have a megaphone at all if it wasn't for that unhinged piece of work.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17655658/alex-jones-facebook-youtube-conspiracy-theories
I have never really listened to Alex Jones but I like the concept. Me thinks he actually is closer to the Deep State than Trump. The whole notion of the conspiracy theory was a deep state invention to discredit people who could not accept the Warren Commission Report.
DeleteSo when you hear someone denying mass murder, or that Man has gone to the Moon, consider the source.
Just keep on embarrassing yourself with stupid statements like that, Steve.
Deletemr perfect
https://projectunspeakable.com/conspiracy-theory-invention-of-cia/
DeleteSo Steve what do Brietbart, Fox and Dan Bongino have to say since you keep finding these "reliable" sources for your theories and ideas?
DeleteAlso, how is your collection of tiki torches doing?
mr perfect
Thanks for exposing the Cons Achilles heel. Glorious attack propaganda but no political platform. A coalition party of diverse hot buttons glued together by a group of charlatans dancing around a digital cauldron that simply amplifies and projects back the worst fears of their members. The trouble is that not all share the same fear. Some fear big government and taxation but are comfortable with Canadian law , human rights and environmental stewardship others are white centric nationalists or religious zealots. Other than lower taxes, work or perish, blame and punishment there is no common ground so its attack 24/7 to mask the fact that the Cons cannot publish a detailed platform on key issues such as climate change, immigration, education, energy, trade , health care etc. A simple statement acknowledging or denying human activity as a contributing factor to climate change would split the coalition in half so avoid the statement and convince the followers to believe that either God or free enterprise will address the issue or non issue depending on your preference. Meanwhile enjoy the tax breaks, free beer, discounted gasoline and party like there is no tomorrow for the others; with not a worry that they might actually be one of them.
ReplyDeleteRT
Andy must be paralyzed as to what to do/say about the Saudis.
DeleteLet it slide because, who cares, it's just women (and suck up to Trump and his thug buddies), or use it as fodder to hammer Muslims and call JT a hypocrite one way or the other? He's certainly not going to do the unthinkable and side with Freeland and Trudeau in Trump's proxy war.
Ah, but that's where the divisive algorithm kicks in. Modify the ad copy to appeal to the Woman Haters' Club and incel boards, at the same time you tweak the content just enough to court the Islamophobe vote. Might as well throw in some of those QAnon nutters for good measure who think Canada planned 9/11 and Pierre took the secrets to his grave.
Dissociative Identity Politics: it's the Conservative way.
Hi RT...yes, if the media had done its job Scheer would have been exposed as an empty vessel long ago. But I said in my post that's about to change. The issue of climate change is now too much of an obvious problem to be ignored. And as you point out the Cons are helpless to do anything about it. Even their precious carbon tax is bound to lose traction if this becomes reality:
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/domino-effect-of-climate-events-could-push-earth-into-a-hothouse-state?CMP=share_btn_tw
Which is why the Cons are back beating the racist drum again, even though as even Ibbitson recognizes, it's a dangerous game.
When the leaves start to fall so will the Cons....
Hi Jackie....yes I imagine Scheer is paralyzed by the Saudi issue. With villains like them, and Canadians up in arms, if Scheer looks like he is being disloyal again, he will pay a heavy price. Especially since on the question of women's rights Scheer's views are remarkably close to the Saudi view. Poor Scheer, the media gives him so many breaks, but life is still so cruel...
Delete