I'm not sure how much of this indicates an allergy to democracy. I suspect it goes much deeper. I think we're watching a control freak lose control. Elections, democracy, difference all that create uncertainty which probably alarms Harper on a very deep level.
He's trying to manage his election campaign like he manages his government: total control and hiding from those uncomfortable areas like one-on-one debates and media questions. The ONE THING you don't do on the campaign trail is piss off the media following you around and he's gone and done it. And it's made him appear - probably much closer to the authentic Stephen Harper - paranoid and afraid.
It is fascinating to watch such an apparently banal personality display such a paradoxically rich psychological drama.
A tail dragging romp through the swamps of the world
4 comments:
you caught it beautifully. I really hope the press doesn't cater to him just for a few quotes and photos
Yeah, the press is starting to get pissed off. Even Tom Flanagan thinks Harper should lighten up. Let's hope he pays no attention to Tom.
Off topic, but what really pisses me off is the Con meme that we are having the election because the opposition voted against the budget and not because they were in contempt of Parliament. Even when called on it, they keep on repeating the lie. Ditto for the coaltion lie.
Further to Alison - and if the press was doing the job they should be doing they would correct that misrepresentation each time it occurred.
It's nice to see the press pushing a little for a change but they're still behaving like lickspittles.
I'm with Dana on this, while reporters should not argue spin or contest it, they should at the least point out blatant facts and lies about them such as what caused the fall of this government and dissolution of Parliament. The CPC can argue all they want about how the contempt vote was a sham, that it was to not have to vote on their budget, but what they cannot do (or should not be allowed to do in a healthy democracy which we have seen as of late we no longer have) is claim that they fell on a budget vote when it clearly was a vote of non confidence based on a contempt of Parliament charge, which takes more than just a simple motion to create in the first place, which is why this is the first one on our history.
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