Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Interference



So Harper denied that his chief of staff, Ian Brodie, did not leak the memo that the Obama team sent to the Canadian government. He says he's looking into it. If he looks into it in the same manner that he looked into the Cadman affair a couple of years ago, I suspect precious little will come out, unless of course the leaker is a civil servant that he perceives to be a Liberal appointee.

That said it will be interesting to watch the results south of the border tonight. On one of the political shows this evening, someone posited that if Obama loses Ohio, that this issue will linger for some time to come. I can't recall who said it but I think it's a person I rarely agree with. His point was that if Obama wins and becomes president, the relationship with Canada could be chilled. I don't agree with that specifically, but certainly the story of Harper interfering in the US primary will have legs, both here and in the US.

We'll wait and we'll watch tonight. Remember when I said stuff always pops up when the House is sitting and that is when the Con's are at their worse? This is just one more story that doesn't bode well for Harper. It's a shame really that there is an Easter break.

I know, there is a poll out that Duffy was pushing that shows the Lib's aren't gaining from all of this and perhaps that is true. The Con's certainly aren't either though. In the end, it boils down to what you can go to the people with.

As a former dove I can now say, no more abstention. At the next opportunity go. Land the by-elections and go!

8 comments:

Gayle said...

You know, that poll Duffy was referring to apparently said 51% of people do not approve of Dion's tactic of abstaining.

It brought to mind the poll that was done right after the first attack ad, where the majority of people did not approve and thought it was unsubstaniated and unfair. Look what happened there.

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember when Bush and Gore were fighting over the election,Cretin opened his yap and said it would be better for Canada if Gore won.So since we now have a Conservative Government it would be better for Canada if McCain won.

Karen said...

Gayle, it's a silly poll. If it's 51% of people, who is to say what party they support? I haven't seen the internals but it's not tough to figure out how that question would be posed and answered.

I'm growing weary of weekly polls.

Monkey Loves to Fight said...

I agree that it could be problematic in the short-run, but considering how pro-American Harper is in general, I doubt the relations will be that strained. I think the worse possible combination would be Liberals in Canada and Republicans in the US in terms of Canada-US relations, mind you I feel we need to find a way to put some distance between us and the United States without having bad relations. Our differences are too large to work closely together, but lets at least be respectful of our differences.

I do however, support closer ties with the EU who I think is more in synch with the values of most Canadians than the United States is.

Karen said...

Anon, if you had a grasp on fact, people might listen to you.

It wasn't the PM, but an abassador in fact and he said that Gore knew Canadians due to his experience in the White House.

He was excoriated for his comment.

This country, our country, would be far better off if a Democrat was elected.

Most of the rest of the world has rejected this right win ideology ideology...even Sarko looks like an idiot, so a Democrat in office does not bode well for Steve.

The tag line is, NO ONE agrees with you.

Karen said...

miles, I think you are right on the EU point. Media tends to ignore this fact, but it's valid.

Love your avatar btw. I was going to use my guy and still might do that, but having lost him, it's still tough.

Anonymous said...

It seems I'm continually hearing "this issue has legs" with every new revelation of some corrupt appearing incident with the Cons. And yet all these incidents seem to eventually disappear out of sight & out of the mind of the general populace, & the media's as well.

I don't understand it at all as the Cons have so many "incidents". The Cadman scandal, the NAFTA blunder, & on & on. Can anyone tell me how they are able to get away with all of these things?

I'm infuriated!!!

penlan

Karen said...

penlan, it is infuriating but I think it's due to the fact that the media don't seem to be able to create a narrative around it all.

They report the story de jour but they don't draw the obvious links it has to other incidents. It's what reporting seems to have evolved to.

That said, I suspect that Harper and gang has ticked off huge groups of people and there is more anger out there than the polls let on.

During an election campaign, a narrative will be written pointing out the pattern while promoting solutions.