Thin Skinned and Unaccountable Harper

I see once again that when the heat starts to get up in the kitchen, Harper runs away. This time, to the United States to do a bunch of network interviews down there - because he's too scared of what Canadian journalists might ask him:

No government-to-government business or meetings are planned Sunday in Washington and Monday in New York, said his spokesman, and the full list of media outlets Harper will speak to is not being released.

"The prime minister will be in these cities in his capacity as the prime minister of Canada, but with the purpose of speaking with international media about Canada's position going into the G20 and NATO summits," Kory Teneycke said Friday during a briefing on Harper's pending trip to London, Germany and France.

Think about this for a minute. Do you really believe that Americans give a flying fig what Harper's position is on anything? This is Harper going where he thinks he can get an "easy ride" interview instead of dealing with real issues.

Canadian correspondents were told not to bother trying to track Harper in Washington or New York. "You will likely be disappointed," said Teneycke.

The prime minister's latest round of media shopping comes just a month after he was last in New York.

It's part of a strategy to limit Harper's Canadian interrogations - where the questions tilt toward the specifics of Canada's troubled domestic economy - in favour of foreign media who can be expected to compare this country favourably to its international partners.

Oh yes, how typical of Canada's most dishonorable PM. He can't - and won't - face real questions about real issues. Instead he wants to flit about the world stage bragging about how great things are in Canada. Meanwhile Canadians are losing their jobs in droves, and the economy is slowly grinding itself to a halt.

As if to underscore the point about looking for a softball interview, we find this little turd being released by the PMO:

The only detail provided by the Prime Minister's Office was that Harper will be doing a live interview on Fox News on Sunday morning and a CNN interview on Monday.

The Fox interview comes less than a week after some Conservatives called on Canadians to boycott the network because of an offensive late-night talk show that disparaged Canadian military efforts in Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay called the Fox program "disgusting" and "crass" and a Conservative strategist said he hoped Canadians would cancel their Fox News subscriptions and that Canadian advertisers would stop doing business with the network.

Teneycke downplayed the controversy Friday, noting Harper's interview is with a prominent Fox News personality.

"There is a big difference between an interview with Chris Wallace - one of the most respected journalists in the Washington gallery who is a very substantive and tough interviewer - and a comedian, so-called comedian, with a show at 3 a.m. on a cable channel. It's different."

No, it's not different. Faux News should be boycotted by every Canadian this side of creation until they issue a credible apology and fire the bunch of morons that were so disparaging towards our troops less than a month ago. However, it is no secret that Faux News is a parrot stand for NeoCon talking points - that's why Harper's going there.

What PMSH is forgetting is that Americans don't elect him - Canadians do. ... and Canadians should rightly be outraged by this Prime Minister's refusal to communicate with them in any meaningful way, and insulted by the fact that he chooses to communicate more with Americans than he does with Canadians.