Saturday, June 29, 2019

Why The Scheer Cons Are Still The Harper Party



Ever since it was recently revealed that Andrew Scheer consults his mentor Stephen Harper before making any major decisions, an old and deeply disturbing question is being asked again.

Who is the real leader of the Cons?

Some say Scheer aka Weak Andy is just humouring Harper because he's afraid of him...



While others believe he is a willing stooge. A religious fanatic and far right sympathizer, who still believes in Harper's feverish vision of a Canada changed beyond recognition.

But as Aaron Wherry points out, what can't be denied is that the Cons are still the Harper Party.

"Stephen Harper with a smile" was the shorthand description embraced by both Andrew Scheer (while he was running for the Conservative leadership) and the Liberal Party, after Scheer became the second leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. 

Two years and five "vision" speeches later, that description seems only more apt.

For although it's been four years since Great Leader was deposed, his policies are still the policies of Scheer's Cons.  

"It wasn't our policies that cost us the last election," Scheer said in an interview in April 2017. "When I went door to door in my own riding, when I talked to candidates that ran for us but lost ... a recurring theme is that they heard time and time again that, 'You know, I like you and I like what you've done, but I just can't vote for you the next time.'

Thanks to the boost they received from fake scandals, and the cheerleading of their shabby media stooges, the Cons don't feel the need to change anything.

After winning 32 per cent of the popular vote in October 2015, the Conservatives briefly dropped to 26 per cent in public polling. But since May 2017, they have been consistently above 30 per cent. So Conservatives can reasonably tell themselves that getting back to power is simply a matter of smiling more and waiting for the public to tire of the Trudeau government.

So although Scheer doesn't mention his name often, reminders of the Harper years are everywhere.

Like this ghastly attack ad which is getting a lot of airplay all over the country...



The ad is paid for by a Calgary group headed by a man named Douglas Nelson, who was the chief financial officer for Jason Kenney's leadership campaign.

It is aimed at disaffected Liberal supporters, but it also serves as a sign to the faithful that their Great Leader is not far away, and is still hungry for revenge.

And of course it's also a warning to the rest of us that the next election could very well be a referendum on the Harper years.

Scheer's Conservatives seem prepared to argue that it would be better to go back to the way things were before Trudeau became prime minister. Trudeau's Liberals will argue it's better to keep moving along their preferred path.

In this troubled time when dark populist forces are poisoning much of the world, it's impossible to predict what will happen in October.

But Canadians need to understand that while Scheer may be the leader, the Cons are still the Harper Party.

And the only person who can defeat them is the same leader who sent their real leader packing four years ago...



And all decent Canadians better hope that he will succeed.

Or we could return to a nightmare world that we thought we had left behind...



We are now only three months and twenty days away from the next election.

And failure is not an option...

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bah who cares if Scheer wins? You'll still get your precious 350K+ immigrants and refugees every year. You still get all of academia, the mainstream media, the gigantic tech companies, Hollywood etc pushing your neverending agenda.

The Democrats are talking about reparations for slavery and free healthcare.

Almost every right winger has been banned from Facebook and Twitter...

You Progressives have it way too good.

I can't believe you call yourselves "The Resistance" with the entire system backing you without a hint of irony.

Jackie Blue said...

I'm getting scared because Putin is waiting in the wings too. Putin wants the Arctic and the oil sands, and if Harper was willing to sell the wheat board to the Saudis and let Uranium One fall into Russian hands, I don't see why he and his puppets like Scheer and especially Kenney wouldn't let the Russians have that too. As long as they get their man and make bank, they'd sell Canada to the highest bidder even if it's the world's most mortal enemy. Selling off to the Americans, the Koch brothers is basically the same thing, what with the U.S. being a de facto colony of the Kremlin now.

Putin hates Trudeau for his staunch support of LGBT rights, and hates Freeland for a number of reasons including her support for the Magnitsky Act. Putin's stooge, Trump, got Trudeau into a mess with the Chinese, which the incompetent JWR was all too willing to oblige in her myopic pursuit of "the rule of law" without concern for realpolitik. I'm honestly waiting for the Cons to pull a backroom deal with China to get the hostages released after the election, which is how Reagan ratfucked Carter in 1980. All the Cons do is copy from the Republicans anyway.

Putin also just said at G20 that liberalism is obsolete, that the kind of nationalist populism spreading like a cancer around the world, championed by thugs like himself, Orbán, Trump and of course Harper is the way things ought to be. Big surprise, he was cheered on by the kind of right-wing shitbags who support Trump and Brexit, like Piers Morgan and columnists at Breitbart. Someone named Stephen Gordon on Twitter specifically asked a CPC comms guy if they agreed with Putin's sentiment about nationalism and multiculturalism. All they got in response was a vague answer about opposing military adventurism. That raises a red flag for me as it did for Mr. Gordon. Who is Harper really involved with? The IDU needs to be investigated ASAP.

The ad-hominem focus on Trudeau is intentional. Republicans won big with character assassination of Hillary Clinton, and my guess is that Harper's meeting with Trump's goons was about how to go about using those same weapons against Trudeau. They know they can't beat him on policy so they have to make him a pariah in his home country. They have to crucify him by whipping up the villagers to reject him at Nazareth.

TL;DR Stephen Harper is a terrorist. He's not just fueled by oil. He's fueled by hate. Canada's Putin-lite.

rumleyfips said...

' Sherrly-not policies are Harper's policies. Sure, but look at how little effect Harper had. Most of his agenda was unconstitutional and died at the hands of the Supremes . Also notice how Trudeau has made real changes that do not break the law.

Jackie Blue said...

Go away Boris, you're drunk on Buck-a-Vodka. Canada has had public healthcare for decades and is in danger of losing it thanks to Cons looking for "efficiencies," which means people will die. They already are in Ontario and Manitoba, and the Cons want to take that national just like their British equivalents have gutted the NHS and intend to kill it after Brexit. Why do you object to a country pulling together to take care of sick people? Oh, right, because you're a right-winger and therefore, a sociopath.

As for the M$M, you can't possibly be serious about them pushing a "progressive agenda." MacLame's called the Cons "the Resistance" to troll Trudeau on the carbon pricing system (for which he is now 2-0 in the courts, while Doug is planning to waste more of Ontarians' tax dollars on an appeal). They have been nothing but vicious to Trudeau, just like they were vicious to Hillary while softpedaling Trump and Scheer to score ratings from manufactured SNC-Emailghazi "scandals" and avoid the dreaded accusations of "bias." The M$M is corporate trash. Not progressive in the least.

Tech companies are in the pockets of liberals and progressives? Sure, Jan. Zuckerberg and Dorsey are basically complicit in the destruction of liberal democracy and even genocides all over the world, and haven't done @jackshit to stop "rightwingers" from spewing their filth. But go ahead and tell me that you're hurting because you can't troll and harass people on their platforms anymore. Last I checked, Ruble Media is still on YouTube and so is Jordan Peterson, while he, Ezra, Faith and Ben Shapiro among others -- like the entirety of the staff at the Sun rags, the Probe and Wail, and MacLame's still have blue checkmarks. Trudeau's feed is a nuclear garbage fire of people calling him anti-gay slurs and threatening his family. That's being silenced or banned from Facebook and Twitter? Your argument is invalid.

I know yellow pests like you are allergic to facts, but I'm not sorry in the least if I've triggered a reaction of your "economic anxiety disorder." Now go back to Kenney's war room or Hamish's troll farm and play with your Andy Doody Dandy doll. The adults are preparing for the real battle.

Anonymous said...

Simon I'm worried again. I just watched a video of Trudeau jr stuck between China and Brazil. The fascist Bolsonaro or whatever his name is clearly snubbed him. The Cons are already using this footage to create embarrassing videos. I viewed one on the Alberta Proud Facebook group.

Justin reminds me of the friendly new kid going around school trying to make friends. He's trying his best to smile and be positive but these bullies are making his life (job) difficult. I'm trying not to have a panic attack just thinking about it.

Here in Hamilton we have our own set of problems I'm sure you've heard of. In all my years I never thought I'd see Canada go down this road.

Jackie Blue said...

Simon, can you write up something about the Con media and their latest incidents of anti-Trudeau bullying? Leo Housakos infantilizing Justin over Tragically Hip stickers on his briefcase, and now Jen Gerson joining the pile-on over "Handshake Gate." This is fundamentally disgusting and, considering who he was seated at the table with, a frightening prospect for what seems to be ahead for the world.

They don't want kindness. They revel in abuse. They've attracted a swarm that's calling him a cuck and a soyboy fairy and dealing out all sorts of demeaning, homophobic insults. I don't know how or why he tolerates it, and I can't believe this is how Canada treats the best leader they've had in 50 years. Heck, I can't believe this is Canada, but I guess that whole bit about politeness was a stereotype that had to be broken at some point. It just breaks my heart that it had to be like this.

What the hell is wrong with these people? Never mind disagreements on policy as a PM, why don't they see him as a human being worthy of decency and respect? They're laughing at him and taking the side of DICTATORS??? Jen Gerson is Canada's Ann Coulter! She is such an obnoxious BITCH!

Jackie Blue said...

You and me both, Anon, which is why I posted my own concerns about the same video below. In fact, I couldn't stop sobbing after seeing the earlier video of Rempel making fun of his speech impediment, because I too have a nervous stammer that gets in the way of job interviews and social situations. It causes me to have something called selective mutism (basically silence out of anxiety), which is also what Greta Thunberg has, and she gets bullied for it too. Social media has really brought out the worst in people, but that "worst" was already there among a substantial set of voters, politicians, and obviously the M$M. Social media just amplified it and brought it to the mainstream.

I really do think the world is losing its ability to demonstrate kindness to one another, judging by who Justin is surrounded by at that table and how few decent and compassionate leaders there are in the world anymore. It's almost like he was in the right place at the wrong time. The rest he sat with were Sanchez, Macron and Merkel, the latter of whom is nearing retirement while the first two are practically lame ducks. But the Bolsonaros, Trumps and Xi Jinpings of the world wouldn't be in those positions if there weren't enough nasty people to prop them up and/or vote them in.

My empathy circuits go into overdrive when I see Justin being abused like this, not just because I "like him" but because I can 100% relate. It really reminds me of how the press savaged Margaret back in the '70s and are still bullying her to this day. They all think of Justin as more "his mother's son" than a reflection of Pierre, that feminization of him (and their association of "femininity" with "weakness") being at the root of why they abuse him so much. As I've often lamented, there's a reason why Jimmy Carter got eviscerated and why Fred Rogers, Keanu Reeves and Tom Hanks never stood for political office. It's really pathetic that this is what politics has become (or always was).

Justin really is so kind and friendly, and really does want to build a better Canada and a better world. The results of his government prove that he can do it. But there are some very powerful people who don't want him to keep going, and some petulant purists angry that he didn't do everything they wanted or go fast enough for their tastes. That's why they sabotage him every step of the way and why he attracts so much cruelty and hate.

I wish he'd been my teacher. I might have turned out OK. Honestly, I just wish I could give him a big Queen of the North hug right now. This song is dedicated to him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I85ApzR43jU

Steve said...

Have you seen the Trudeau he was not ready banner on the National Disgrace, thats a disgrace on so many levels/

Steve said...

i dont think JT over Jean Chretien is by any means a slam dunk

Jackie Blue said...

OMG, I just found out Harper is involved in the British Cons' leadership race, backing BoJo the Clown's rival Jeremy Kunt. What the fuck is happening to the world? Why won't these horrible people GO AWAY?

Anonymous said...

Most of the responses to Gerson's tweet say that Trudeau was simply indicating to Brazil guy that someone further down was reaching out to shake his hand. PMJT was not snubbed he was just being helpful.
Laurie

Steve said...

watch the whole video, seconds later they shake hands, fake news

Jackie Blue said...

Not surprised at all the Con media went for it. They hate Trudeau so much that they spent the first half of an election year abusing him over an "anonymous source" who gave fake news to Robert Fife.

It sickens me that Canada's bullshit detector is as nonexistent as the U.S. because the media manufactures bullshit in the first place. Makes me wonder how many of these propagandist hacks was promised a Senate seat for their collaboration with the enemy.

Simon said...

Hi anon 10:05 AM....You sound bitter, but not as bitter as I would be if that loser Scheer ever became prime minister. and your analysis of the situation is a bit off. But I see that the Con gang that put up that latest version of the "Justin isn' ready" ad has taken it down. I guess they realized that he is about to make fools of them again. As you yourself point out, the progressive wave is on the right side of history, and will not be defeated...

Simon said...

Hi Jackie.....I did notice how Cons of all descriptions celebrated Putin's absurd statement that liberalism is obsolete. And although I was disgusted, I was also glad to see that the Cons aren't able to conceal their fascist tendencies any longer, Good, we thrashed them once, and we will do so again...

Simon said...

Hi rumleyfips...It's true that Harpo was extremely ineffectual, and that many of his plans ended up,in the garbage can of history. But Scheer now has the backing of the Trump regime and its billionaire thugs, so unlike Harper who was restrained by Obama, he is a clear and present danger to this country and its values....

Simon said...

Hi anon @ 1:27 PM...As you may know by now, that clip of Trudeau and Bolsonaro has been exposed as a hoax. The two shook hands moments later, and only the Cons looked bad, and unfit to govern this country....

Simon said...

Hi Jackie....I've written many posts criticizing our shabby Con media, including a couple aimed at that Con shill Jen Gerson. But sometimes you just have to give them enough rope to hang themselves, and sooner or later they'll end up swinging in the breeze...