Another Appearance by Mr. Angry

The Opposition just handed “Mr. Angry” another plank in his next election platform. You might want to get used to calling him Mr. Prime Minister for a long time. At the rate the NDP and Liberals keep lining up to shoot themselves in their collective feet, the CPC will be in power a long time.

I really don’t think this hands Harper an election plank. Far from it. If he tried somebody else a bit more acceptable to the BQ or the NDP and got blocked, or if he asked the BQ and the NDP to suggest candidates of their own and they refused, then you might have a point, but one vote by an opposition who are entitled to oppose does not an obstruction make. We’ve seen obstructionism. When the Liberals tried to sweet-talk their way out that confidence motion that wasn’t a confidence motion last year, the Conservatives shut down the business of parliament by walking out on the committees. That’s obstructionism; an example of good obstructionism, in fact — although some voters were turned off by it. Voters are not stupid. They can see that Harper has walked off in a petulant huff, and this incidence speaks more about Harper’s inabilities than it does about anything negative on the opposition side of the ledger.

I notice that at least one Conservative Party supporter in the blogosphere thinks that Harper is playing cheap politics and should stop. I’ve also overheard somebody saying in the coffee shop (and my wife echoed this):

It’s ironic that Harper is whining about the opposition shooting down his choice to lead a government oversight committee. It’s like “how dare the opposition seek to oversee my government! I want absolute power!”

Canadians don’t like cheap politics, full stop. And yes, we see a lot of it in the official opposition. But you are deluding yourself if you believe that Harper isn’t engaging in cheap politics himself. I am confident that most Canadians are smart enough to see this for what it is.

Yeah. I think I’m seeing the strategy here. You understand the parliamentary process, but Joe Voter doesn’t. And he’s taking advantage of people’s ignorance.

Case and point: today’s Afghanistan vote. The opposition is likely to vote against it—not because they disagree with the mission, but because they don’t like the process of trotting it out before parliament. Harper’s now saying he’ll extend the mission for a year without parliamentary approval (that he didn’t need in the first place), and will take a further extension of the mission “to the voters.”

He’s going to hold up these votes, however irrelevant they are, as evidence that he’s the only one who supports the troops/wants transparency in government/whatever comes next.

And the opposition seems to be playing into it. It’s not democratic reform. It’s a chess game.

Darcy,

You’re probably right that you and I pay more attention to politics than most people. But if that’s the case, and Harper is playing cheap politics than just being petulant, then it’s poor strategy. Because most Canadians who don’t pay attention to politics won’t remember a single vote of a particular committee, there is no way that Harper can get traction if he tries to spin this. Besides, the media is likely to fact check his ass if he tries to pull this on us.

If this is a political strategy, those who care will see through this. Those who don’t won’t pay attention.

Also it seems that Harper’s timing jinx is still with him. This was a terrible day to have the discussion and vote on Ahganistan.

“….It’s not democratic reform. It’s a chess game….”

You are right…and the Opposition are playing Checkers while Harper keeps thinking nine moves ahead.

…in the opinion of partisan supporters wearing blinders.

At least I know there are Conservative supporters out there with the integrity to call a spade a spade.

James, I’m not disagreeing at all. I suppose the reason why it bothers me is that this sort of thing actually worked for George Bush in 2004. From what The only thing I can assume is they’re trying to maneuvre the Liberals into some sort of lame “flip-flopper” accusation. I’m hoping the media does figure this out. If nothing else, I suppose the Canadian media is less likely to blindly regurgitate spin.

I don’t want my political leaders playing games. I want them doing their job. Their commitment to democratic reform was the reason I always had a lot of respect for the old Reform party, even though I disgreed with pretty much everything else. To see their inheritors take that and use it as a cynical excuse merely to make up their own rules whenever it suits them is, frankly, disappointing.

Darcy, I absolutely agree with you.

Darcy,

Nice to see Andrew isn’t the only CPC supporter with some integrity. Good on ya.

I agree with you, and I also don’t think much of his strategy in dealing with this appointment process that he wanted in the first place.

Nevertheless, on the news tonight, Mike Duffy (I think) said a poll coming out soon will show Harper’s approval rating to be as high as Mulroney’s after his election sweep.

Well, there are several ways one could respond to this:

• the only poll that matters is the one on election day
• this matter isn’t the only matter facing this government, and other things are probably bolstering the numbers
• approval rating may not be the same thing as support. All the polls I’ve seen in the last thirty days place Harper in the 35-41 range, averaging around 38%.
• I’ve also heard Duffy say that Harper’s approval ratings were in the high 40s. That still means that a majority of Canadians disapprove of him.

But we’ll see when the actual poll comes out.

Harper is obviously trying to trick people, and later claim again in a campaign that the opposition blocked the accountability work he set out to do, when actually Harper was the one who blocked it since he alone can make the appointment.

“Harper was the one who blocked it since he alone can make the appointment.”

Which is interesting—perhaps even ironic—because it was the Public Appointments Commission that he sank. Oi.