Harper-haters – found mainly on the progressive side of the spectrum, but not exclusively — consider the prime minister to be a black-hearted social conservative, perpetually scheming to crush dissent and push Canada further to the right. (When, in fact, he spent like a liberal during the post-recession stimulus period, and has pledged to vote with Liberals and the NDP to keep abortion legal.)

Harper-lovers — most often conservatives, but also a wide swath of Canada’s media establishment — regard their man as a latter-day St. George, slaying the twin-headed dragon of socialism and liberalism, and remaking Canada in the image of our WASPy antecedents. (When, in fact, he has piloted his Conservative party to the centre of the ideological road, and leads the most ethnically diverse caucus in the House of Commons.)

His detractors are flummoxed by Harper’s position atop the polls, as in the Abacus survey which showed his party is still the dominant force in Canadian politics, more than six years after he became PM.

His acolytes believe his popularity can be traced to conservative orthodoxy. Harper’s haters, and his helpers and hangers-on, are misinformed. Both sides believe Harper is an activist. Both sides believe he never rests in aggressively pursuing his agenda, whether they approve of it or not.

They’re wrong. Harper has survived and prospered for one reason: He stays out of your face.

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Five things about this:

1.  Calling supportive media organizations like the Sun “a bunch of pricks” is not highly strategic.

2.  These hillbillies are losing their minds in public. Seriously.

3.  A judge is still out there, reviewing Rob Ford’s conduct, and could decide to boot His Worship out of office.  That judge, like all judges, avidly reads newspapers.

4.  I do not know a single conservative who defends these guys anymore.

5.  I want one of those buttons, Vaughan.

 

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I’m on the set and about to go on air at Sun News. So I don’t know what happened here.

I do know Ken to be a very good guy, our politics notwithstanding.

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A hardcore conservative declaring that (a) progressive cooperation won’t work and (b) giving progressives advice on what they should do instead.

In other news: wolf starts providing strategic counsel to sheep.

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Who said this?: “The national flag of Canada is a symbol of honour, pride and Canadian identity.”
And who said this?: “As Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast celebrate our great country’s 145th birthday, let us also celebrate the values for which Canada has become known around the world.”

Noble sentiments, all. Still don’t know who uttered those fine words? Well, the first quotation was supplied by no less than Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on Flag Day, in February of this year.

The second quotation comes to us from NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, on Canada Day. In his stirring statement, Mulcair declared he was “very proud” to be Canadian, and that the rest of us should be, too.

It’s odd, however. When it’s safe to do so, both Harper and Mulcair insist they are brimming with pride about all things Canadian. Both men make speeches, every single day, flanked by Canadian flags. Both men profess to be “proud” of Canada. Both are members of the Privy Council, no less, which means that the flag will be flown at half-mast on the unhappy day that they slip this mortal coil.

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Our ‘Why Do You Hate Me?’ CD, on Universal/Sudden Death records, is out next month! Get it on iTunes here!

Ugly Pop’s re-release of the Hot Nasties’ EP has sold out! They’re reprinting another thousand!

We’ve booked dates in Ottawa, Toronto, and Southwestern Ontario for the next few weeks!

And, because it’s my web site and I feel like it, here’s our ‘Double Bubble Trouble’ vid! Exclamation marks!

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On the one hand, their mere existence hurts conservatives all over the place. Every day, they hammer the conservatives’ brand.  They remind voters why they need to vote liberal.  That certainly was the case in the last provincial election, in the GTA and beyond.

On the other hand, they’re out of control.  They’re idiots.  They’re a Biblical political plague.  They are even losing the support of hardcore conservatives.

Why won’t one of those big-wheel conservatives say to them:  “Stop! Stop! Can’t you two act like adults, for once?”

They won’t, however.  Which should secretly please liberals everywhere.

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Look, I know the whole world is saying it’s awful. But I’ve downloaded it, and it’s better than the GPS system I paid for.

Sorry to mess with the popular consensus and all that, but it really ain’t that bad. At all.

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The New York Times is preoccupied with the practice from another angle.  Me, I do it for all of my books – and always in situations where I think there is a possible libel action lurking in the wings.  Quote approval isn’t the defence of consent, per se, but it’s been legally useful to me more than once: due diligence, responsible communication defence and all that.

That’s what I did, in fact, in this case involving me and the CBC, which went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada – and which we won.

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Here.

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