The timing couldn't have been more embarrassing for the Cons.
On Saturday they will choose a new leader, and Rona Ambrose is still desperately trying to whip up interest in the event...
As well as trying to make Canadians believe that the Cons have changed, and are now the New/Nouveau Conservative Party.
When along comes a blast from the past, to remind us who they really are...
When the judge at the Duffy trial delivered his verdict, and his scathing indictment of the Harper PMO, I couldn't help wondering what Stephen Harper must have been thinking.
And now we all know. He wasn't too happy. He must have been furious.
Or humiliated beyond recognition.
And had instructed his lawyer to write an open letter to Canadians.
Almost two years ago Gilles Michaud, the RCMP's Assistant Commissioner, held a splashy news conference to announce that the force had laid no less than 31 charges against Mike Duffy.
And despite the way the trial went, a few hours before the verdict came down, he sent out a memo to staff members.
Which in retrospect couldn't be more absurd.
Yesterday I wrote that the RCMP owed Canadians an explanation about the way it handled the Duffy case.
Because it has raised some disturbing questions about the relationship between the police and the Harper regime, that strike at the heart of our democracy.
And now Michael Harris has a lot more questions for everyone involved.
I'm pretty sure Mike Duffy must dream of telling Stephen Harper what he thinks of him.
Dream of suing him, and his little monsters in the PMO, and his Senate stooges, for what they did to him.
But his legal options are limited.
His lawyer says he is battling serious health issues.
So it probably was his last hurrah.
But what a hurrah it was.
When Justice Charles Vaillancourt acquitted Mike Duffy, he brought down his gavel on the head of quite a few others.
He savaged Stephen Harper's PMO for the way it had tried to cover-up a scandal.
He heaped scorn on the Senators who had treated Duffy so badly, and on the crown for the way it prosecuted the case.
And as Neil Macdonald points out, without singling them out for special treatment, he also raised some disturbing questions about the conduct of the RCMP.
Nobody really expected Stephen Harper to comment on the Mike Duffy verdict. Not after the way the trial judge blasted the sleazy behaviour of his monstrous PMO.
And he didn't. His office didn't even respond to media requests for a statement.
But he wasn't the only Con running for cover.
In one of my last posts I looked at the fallout from the Duffy trial.
Celebrated the way the judge's scathing indictment had damaged what was left of Stephen Harper's legacy.
Rejoiced at the way it must have left him quivering in his closet.
And of course roared with laughter at how Mike Duffy's acquittal turned out to be the ultimate payback.
Well today was going to be the day Stephen Harper finally emerged from the closet where he has been hiding for months. The day the Duffy trial finally ended.
But sadly for Great Feathered Leader it seems he's going to have to stay there a while lot longer. Or move to Paraguay.
Because while the trial judge acquitted Ol' Duff of all charges, he blasted the Harper PMO.
Well I think it's safe to say that Stephen Harper will not be seen anywhere near Parliament Hill today.
And that he will spend yet another day hiding from Canadians.
Because today would not be a very good day to come out of the closet.
For three very good reasons.
It was if the air was suddenly let out of the balloon. One moment the prosecutor was pounding Mike Duffy.
The next moment he wasn't. The trial was suddenly adjourned. Ol' Duff was cut loose and left to float gently in the general direction of the ground.
Without even being asked about the biggest charge against him, the bribery charge.
And before he and other witnesses, and the RCMP, could answer the most important question of all:
It was the day Stephen Harper had been dreading. The one that has forced him to keep such a low profile some are calling him the invisible man of Parliament.
Or depending on your point of view, the invisible maniac...
Driven crazy by defeat.
It was the dreaded day Mike Duffy mounted the stand, and pointed the finger at HIM.
Well the big day finally arrived. Mike Duffy finally got the chance to take the stand and tell his side of the story.
And although it would have been better before the election than after it. And we didn't really need to know that Duffy now needs regular injections in his eyeballs. He didn't disappoint me.
For not only did he claim that making him a Senator from P.E.I. was all Harper's idea.
I don't know whether Stephen Harper will turn up for Question Period today, because he didn't bother or dare to attend the Throne Speech.
And people are starting to call him the invisible man.
The man who can't be seen, or dare not show his face. Because he's either too crushed, or too humiliated, or can't stand the sight of The Man Who Was Not Ready sitting in his seat.
But still clings to his lowly MP's seat, and his parliamentary immunity, in case he's suddenly dragged into the Duffy trial.
For who knows what Ol' Duff might say when he takes the stand in his own defence?
When we last saw Stephen Harper he was running or waddling quickly down a corridor, in a desperate attempt to escape the media.
Or as portrayed in this Le Devoir cartoon, crawling out the back window for the same reason...
But according to some parliamentary experts, he could soon be running for his political life.
Should Mike Duffy decide to summon him to his upcoming trial, and he can't use his parliamentary immunity.
It was a shocking and deeply disturbing sight. And it could only make Canadians wonder whether Stephen Harper was still mentally fit to be Prime Minister.
For there he was today, trying to mock the size of Justin Trudeau's deficit.
But only managing to look more crazy and more desperate.
The Duffy trial has adjourned and won't get going again until after the election.
So you might think that Stephen Harper would be letting out a giant sigh of relief.
But sadly for him, the trial may be over.
But as a new poll shows the damage has been done.
If you've never had the misfortune of sharing a room, or an elevator, with a member of Stephen Harper's PMO, you need to know some things:
They wear the scent or the stench of their cult leader, like a dog happily wears the stench of rotting road kill. They swagger around like bullies drunk with power, but have fear in their eyes.
As a young Kory Teneycke does in this old photo, for goodness knows what reason...
And most importantly, they check their blackberries about once every THIRTY seconds.
So this claim by the former PMO hack Chris Woodcock couldn't be more outrageous.
As we all know Stephen Harper has a lot of other problems to worry about.
The economy is tanking, and so are his polls.
And as we know he has other fish to fry...
But he should also worry about his drowning credibility.
Because when it comes to the Senate scandal most Canadians think he's lying.
I can only imagine Stephen Harper's state of mind, after what must have been for him a week in the hell of his own making.
For it was the week the Duffy scandal shredded what was left of his credibility. The week his campaign went off the rails.
The week that revealed the ugly face of his angry old Con base...
And ended with Great Desperate Leader defiling young Canadians.
