Thursday, December 10, 2020

Erin O'Toole's Great and Very Embarrassing Vaccine Fiasco

For weeks Erin O'Toole has been trying to scare Canadians into believing that Canada was going to be the last country in the world to receive Covid vaccines.

Taking advantage of their anxiety for crass political purposes, which is as low as you can go.

And growing a Pinocchio nose for lying like a thief, as only a Con could.

For this is outrageous...

Can you believe it? 

Erin O'Toole claiming that the decent Justin Trudeau is responsible for Derek Sloan's ghastly anti-vaccine petition. 

When the real reason Sloan is able to peddle his dangerous misinformation, is because the cowardly O'Toole is too weak to stop him.

Which also happens to explain why his party has become a cesspool of far-right extremism. 

And why even some in the MSM, like the Star's Bob Hepburn, are questioning O'Toole's leadership.

Since he won the leadership in late August, the Conservative party has increasingly become the home of far-right conspiracists, COVID-19 anti-vaxxers, emboldened hard-line gun lovers and politicians spouting anti-socialist hysterics.

Through all of this O’Toole has tried to appease the worst elements in the Conservative fold by issuing vague statements that say nothing, neither condemning nor praising the actors who are now defining the party as it prepares to fight the coming election.

Wondering why O'Toole would play grubby political games with such things as vaccines, when that is doing his party so much damage.

Right now, this tacit support for the anti-vaxxer crowd is about the only thing people are talking about when it comes to the Conservatives.

And wondering why the man who claims to be a strong leader is letting religious kooks like Sloan, and far-right loons like Pierre Poilievre take the Cons to very dark places... 

O’Toole has given free rein to Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre, his most senior MP, to flirt with the conspiracy crowd by becoming a cheerleader for far-right loonies who have convinced themselves that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other global elites are plotting to impose a socialist order on the world, enriching themselves and making the masses poorer. 

But while I'm glad that Hepburn has noticed how far-right and how Trumpian O'Toole and his Cons are becoming, I don't think he gets the big picture. 

If O’Toole hopes to close the gap with the Liberals, he should disavow the nuttiness within his shadow cabinet, his caucus and his new candidates. If he doesn’t, then they will gain even more public attention — and that likely won’t be good for him.

For the truth is that not only is O'Toole too afraid of the SoCons and far-right extremists to ever do anything to annoy those who made him leader.

He isn't really pandering to them, he has become one of them...

A shabby Con clown, who is also a mortal threat to this country and its values. Sad.

And the good news?

After his dirty vaccine fiasco, and all that misinformation...

This must have really hurt...

Seeing a real leader quietly doing his job.

Preparing for a possible pandemic election.

And getting ready to teach the Canada hating Cons a lesson they'll never forget.

Erin O'Toole bet against his own country in the midst of  brutal pandemic.

And he cannot be punished enough...

16 comments:

Jackie Blue said...

Happy Christmas Simon! War is over, if we want it...

Permit me a shameless plug, but here is a poem for you and a nod to contemporary holiday cinema, as Eric the Fool and his pet pigeon's VaxScam nontroversy dies hard with a vengeance. (By the way, if you haven't seen the Bruce Willis classic, I highly recommend it.)

In the spirit of (or with apologies to) Clement C. Moore.

https://missfuddleduddle.blogspot.com/2020/12/we-deliver-for-yule.html

Anonymous said...

The progressive Cons splintered into its constituent parts many years ago. Divided they fell with no hope of recovery. The new Cons picked up the pieces and transformed it into an exercise in product branding where both internal and external customers believe the brand represents their core values. To do this they cultivated strong brand name recognition and members with little desire to look behind the logo. Of necessity this strategy has to be run like an infomercial complete with hyped visibility, false claims and subliminal messaging. In addition the Cons have to fine tune the infomercial to appeal to a diverse audience. A tall order which would be impossible without the pay per click media that run the infomercials rather than evaluate them. It seems that even the CBC is contemplating getting into the game where paid for ads can be disguised as journalism, probably with a small disclaimer that nobody reads.
The problem with this type of strategy is that people eventually catch on and it grows stale. As we have seen in the US that is when the bullying ramps up. Members have to conform or be thrown into political purgatory, questioning supporters get death threats and pushed into no mans land and protesters are criminals. Hopefully, with a collective push the Toolish Cons will fracture into its original parts before the Trumpian phase kicks into high gear.

RT

rumleyfips said...

Trudeau underpromised and overperformed. Old Tool and Michie made themselves look like fools.

Congratulations all around.

Anonymous said...

How many Cons does it take to change a light bulb? None. A liberal will see that it's burnt out, change it and the Cons will try to take credit for it. They will then demand to form an investigative committee to determine whether the bulb was actually burnt out or if the liberals were using the burnt out bulb as an excuse to purchase and amass a huge stockpile of bulbs that emit subliminal blinks that will turn people into bleeding heart liberals. Bulb manufacturers across the country will be pestered, harassed and called to testify. After months of Con shenanigans they will finally say fuck this nonsense and pull operations out of Canada, along with thousands of jobs. Cons will declare victory thinking that one day there will be no more light bulbs to shine a light on their deplorable antics or worse, turn them into liberals. Such mindless Cons. Even when the lights are on, there's still nobody home.
JD

Brian Dundas said...

Living in Canada is like living through the movie Groundhog Day.

Our instituional media, even the thoughtful ones, are, like the US media prior to Trump, completely incapable of seeing the glaringly obvious... The Red Tory's are long gone. Tory's who believe in democracy are long gone. The Con party IS the party of right wing extremism.

Anonymous said...

On a more serious note, let's just say it like it is, the Cons are nothing more than a Trump/GOP aping mélange of garbage. They are destroyers, not builders. They sow a continuum of chaos. More bad than good. Not that I'm aware that they have done anything good lately other than for themselves. They're 0% substance and 100% bullshit. They're hoping that their constant barrage of inanity will deceive enough decent Canadians into entering The Twilight Zone and wasting their vote on, well, waste. Given that the eminently incompetent Blandrew Schmeer, of all people, had a chance of winning the last election, the Cons figure their slight "retooling" may work. Keep up the antics+ and maybe some of that bullshit will start sticking to the wall. Who knows? They may just well pull it off next time. Keep fighting the fight, Simon. It's always appreciated. And everyone please, let's all do our part to keep the PM's office garbage free.
JD

Steve said...

Hi Simon, this is meant for the next post
Celebrate the JT courage to put forward a responsible plan for climate change.
This can help him, and you can quote me.
Economics can be complicated
but like the law of gravity
there are certain undeniable
supply and demand
no economist even Marx
argued with this bedrock principle
You tax what you dont want
We dont want carbon
tax it and it will go away

Brian Dundas said...

Well said.

Brian Dundas said...

Agreed. Conservative parties around the world are now the parties of pure, anti-democratic nihilism. George Constanza saving himself from the fire.

Anonymous said...

An excellent retooling of A Visit From St. Nicholas, Jackie/Miss Fuddle Duddle/honorary Canadian. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you(especially at noon, January 20).
JD

Simon said...

Hi Jackie...Thank you for your great Christmas poem. It's so important to keep up our spirits at this time for depression is a real problem in this country, in your country, and the rest of the world. So your poem is most welcome.

It was Eric O'Foole... or was that Andrew Scheer?
His lies, how they angered; his dimples, how phony;
His shit-eating grin was so full of baloney.
His shadow cabinet put good governance to shame,
So he dog-whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"On Skippy! On Rempel! On Bergen and Sloan!
Every so-con and QAnon and Harperite drone!"


I like to think of it this way: first we laugh at them, and then we destroy them....

Simon said...

Hi RT...There was a very interesting article in the Washington Post yesterday that argues that the Republican Party has mutated into an ugly organism where hating the liberals is all that counts. And I suspect our grubby Cons are getting close to that state, where hating Trudeau is the main thing, and thugs roam the land. If that is what they are becoming, I don't see much future for them. To most Canadians they'll look like Trumpians, and it will be even easier to argue that they should never govern this country....

Simon said...

Hi rumleyfips...Yes, I have greatly enjoyed how the Cons spent weeks going on about the vaccine, and trying to scare Canadians, only to come down to earth like the Hindenburg. And left looking like idiots and losers...

Simon said...

Hi JD...I like the image of the Cons trying to change a light bulb, preferably at the top of a very rickety ladder. But you're right they have become an "aping mélange of garbage." I still can't believe that they think that aping Trump and his sorry gang of losers will win them an election in Canada. But I think you're right, they thought Scheer's campaign was a success because the Trudeau Liberals didn't get a majority. So they think that doing the same thing will lead to victory, which as we know is pretty close to the very definition of insanity. I suppose there is still a slim chance they could win an election some day, especially if the useless NDP manages to get enough votes to split the vote. But I'm not losing any sleep over that....

Simon said...

Hi Brian....I completely agree with you, our useless media can't seem to be able or willing to see the forest for the trees. The Cons have become little more than a far-right cult, they are a clear threat to our country and its values, but as far as the media is concerned it's just business as usual. If we survive the Trumpian Cons, the media is going to have to be held to account, and asked what they were thinking?

Simon said...

Hi Steve...I was pleased to see that the Trudeau government has taken a bold step on the climate change front. Covid may be killing us, but climate change could finish us off. I see that Cons like Doug Fraud are lamenting the increase in the carbon tax, but since most people will get rebates it will only make him look even more like an ignorant planet burner. The way he spent millions to tear down windmills that had taken ten years to build and cost millions, is simply unbelievable and he should not get away with it....