Blue Like You

Archive for September 28th, 2008

Evening update: Welcome Little Green Football readers!!!

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Sun reporter Michele Mandel says she tried desperately to find even a speck of dirt on Stephen Harper as she interviewed his former classmates at Richview C.I.’s 50th anniversary yesterday:

…Say the name "Stephen Harper" and Heather Johnston pictures the quiet boy in homeroom who was always so polite and respectful — and of course, smart. "I think he only got three math questions wrong the whole year in Grade 13 — and that includes calculus, algebra and functions and relations."

It bothers her that many voters remain wary of her former classmate. "He’s the nicest guy," she insisted. "He’s the best guy for the job — he’s a very hard worker and he has no vices. I think it’s a tragedy the media are making him out to have a secret agenda. There’s nothing secret about Stephen. What you see is what you get …"

Harper displayed his terrific sense of humour at the reunion:

"I guess you’re not wondering what happened to me after high school," he quipped. "Look, things have worked out pretty well, except that, at this point in my life, I thought I’d have a permanent job."

So in addition to being compassionate, Stephen Harper is a brilliant, witty man.

If you read between the lines of Angelo Persichilli’s column in this morning’s Star (!), he suggests that it might actually be the media that has the ‘hidden agenda’, and that some lemmings have bought the spiel hook, line and sinker (my words).

Persichilli isn’t endorsing Harper, but he asks that voters look at the facts:

…I realize that not many Canadians get to have private conversations with the Prime Minister, but it’s also true that nobody has a valid reason to say that he is "mean-spirited" or has a "hidden agenda."

We can argue he hasn’t kept all the promises he made, but can anybody name one politician who has? Have we forgotten Pierre Trudeau’s promise not to implement wage and price controls? What about the Liberals denouncing the GST and then using it to balance the budget?

Is Harper mean-spirited because he has cut funding for some social programs? What about Paul Martin reducing transfer payments to the provinces and cutting money for medicare and education six years in a row? Isn’t he "the best minister of finance we ever had?"

We say that Harper is "mean" because he runs a controlled operation. What about Stéphane Dion who, according to some Liberal strategists, doesn’t listen to any adviser?

We criticize Harper because he doesn’t put on a show for the media and doesn’t kiss his son on the way to school, or because of the way he walks and dresses. With the cowboy vest, he’s aggressive; with the sweater, he’s phony. Did we forget the picture of prime minister Jean Chrétien with his hands at the throat of a protester in Quebec?

Then we have the "hidden agenda…"

Of course, Liberals could accuse the CPC of defining Stephane Dion as "not a leader". But the difference is that one only has to watch the Liberal Leader in action to know that they are merely stating the painfully obvious truth.

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Update: H/T to Paul in comments for this Greg Weston column - Grits head for crater:

…As one longtime Liberal insider involved in Dion’s campaign puts it: "If the debates are supposed to be our Hail Mary pass of this election, it would help to have a quarterback who can throw the ball more than 10 yards."

Yikes! How about strategic voting for second place?

Sounds like Stephen Taylor was reading my mind…  The Battle for Second Place.

Monday Update: Dion slips and slides in a field of disbelief - Post’s Kelly McParland.