Here's one of the many problems that Harper's style of leadership - he, and his party, are unwilling to take responsibility for anything. It doesn't matter what the issue is, Harper and his goons are willing to point the finger at anyone else and claim that it (whatever it may be) is somebody else's fault.
However, we have to recognize that Harper's leadership style is precisely what has given rise to this thuggish, uncivil approach to campaign management. It's Harper who has the media being kept a goodly distance away from him; it is Harper who insists that he will only answer questions that he wants to answer; it is Harper who gave the directives to his people to disrupt parliamentary committees (remember, they wrote the book on it - literally!). Remember, it is Harper who has suspended parliament repeatedly to save his political hide from the flames.
Ignatieff has it nicely summarized:
Ignatieff also pulled Harper's former relationship with Bruce Carson into the screenings debate, saying Canadians are in a bad place "when you have got a prime minister who does a background check on his audience at a democratic crowd and doesn't seem to do a background check on the people he hires in his Prime Minister's Office"
Should we be surprised that Harper's campaign staff are acting like thugs? No. Should we be worried about it? Absolutely. I've argued for a long time that there's a totalitarian streak in Harper - and it keeps on coming to the surface. The man's behaviour is closer to that of many totalitarian dictators than it is to any democratic leader.
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1 comment:
I find it VERY disturbing that Harper and Thugs would be monitoring what Canadian citizens are thinking and doing so as to eliminate possible dissenters. That is the type of behaviour that we've been condemning the dictators in the middle east of, WHY are we putting up with it here?
If Harper is so very willing and actively behaving like this in a campaign, what do you think is going to happen if he gets a majority?
SB
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