Finally...Transparency

Did you see Harper being interviewed by Peter Mansbridge this afternoon or tonight? We finally got some transparency from our PM, meaning that you could see right through him.

My first reaction was, what the hell was that? I don't actually know who initiated this interview, but if it was Harper, it's yet another mistake on the master chess player's part. If you missed it you can watch it here .

He was nervous, visibly uncomfortable, testy and defensive. He also smiled at odd times, suggesting to me that he'd been somewhat coached again, as he was prior to the debates during the last election. Given that, no one should be fooled, because he was anything but contrite. I saw a man that knows he is in a really bad place and he is there because of his own doing. He's aware that he's done damage to his image and to his party and he hasn't been able to rely on his usual propaganda machine to quickly change that, because he has been exposed. He looked almost frantic, trying to regain control by rewriting history and shaping the future into a mold of his liking.

Some telling observations:

Stephen Harper is reaching out to the Liberals in an effort to drive a wedge into the opposition coalition and save his tottering government.

Not very conciliatory of him, is it?


...., Harper repeated his invitation to the opposition parties to offer specific suggestions for managing the economy.
"We have a right to that input. Some of the opposition parties are saying they want to run the government. That's fine. Precisely what is it you want to do?" Harper asked.

They have the right to that input? He went on to say that the government could then determine whether or not the plans of the opposition were wise. Wise? He's in a position to determine what is wise in this economy?

Harper suggested Tuesday that the coalition had little to do with frustrations over his approach to the economy, but was in fact a conspiracy on the part of opposition parties to bring down the recently elected Conservatives.

"I think, frankly, after the election — if not before the election — the opposition parties decided that they would work against the government as an essentially unified front," Harper said.

He went on to accuse NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe of backing the Liberal party into a corner where it was forced to either vote against the government or be "condemned as sellouts."

Yes folks, it was all a conspiracy. Even though Harper and his minions have been screaming that the opposition really only cared about the party financing provisions in the Financial Update, what he really meant to say was...they were out to get me all along! It's obvious!

This was an interview given by a desperate man who hasn't changed one iota. He'll try to convince everyone that he's willing to play nice, but the qualities required for that simply do not exist in this man. His interest is power and his belief is that he is infallible, but the back pedalling and panic were there for all to see. Harper is who he is and not a sweater vest, not a recession, nor the sudden shock of almost losing power is going to change that.

Anyone who believes otherwise really hasn't been paying attention.