Musings on Greenwood

The federal Conservative campaign, much like the federal Conservative party, leaves me constantly befuddled.

The campaign is trying to get past two recent scandals.

The first being that one of Harper’s ex-advisers had five fraud convictions including an embezzlement charge yet was hired by the PMO anyway.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/04/05/former-aides-criminal-past-dogs-harper-on-campaign-trail/

And now we hear that two first-time voters were bounced from a Conservative rally because some gestapo staff member learned of their “connections” to the Liberal party (the information turned out to be bogus, read the following article.)

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/04/05/matt-gurney-strong-leaders-dont-hide-from-young-voters/

I have to give a big shout out to Matt Gurney for writing this one. I couldn’t have said it better myself but I think there is a connection between these two scandals.

Harper is not a corrupt man. Say what you will about him but there has never been any dirt dug about shady business deals, lobbying or arm twisting. But let’s assume for a minute that he loves fraudsters. That still doesn’t explain why he would allow one into his inner-circle.

He’s a politician. Mere self-preservation requires those in public life to stay as far away from convicts as possible even if you think that deep down inside they’re good people.

As for the two young women who were tossed from the event Sunday, they had registered in advance, they were causing no problems but someone felt they had to be removed and now the Tories have a PR debacle on their hands.

The Conservative campaign has been completely inept up to this point with the staggering exception of this magnificent ad;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rEkFG5MNTk&feature=player_embedded

Anyways,

I believe the two scandals share a common connection: Harper surrounds himself with paranoid, over-compensating five-year-olds.

How did a well known swindler get into the Primer Minister’s inner circle?

Because everyone around him were too busy blowing sunshine up his ass. Either that or they just forget to relay the info.

How did two young non-aligned voters get thrown out of an event where no problems were being caused?

See previous answer.

As Matt Gurney points out, Harper can’t shrug off either controversy. Even if he didn’t know about the criminal history of his former aide or the ejection of two voters from his rally, he’s put together a team of the most paranoid, uptight and absurd losers I have ever seen.

If the Tories blow their majority, and I believe they will, it will be for the same reason they blew it in every other election; Harper surrounds himself with children who get off on illusions of toughness and importance despite massively lacking both characteristics.

So far, the Tory campaign has been pitiful. The election is far from over but it already has that eerie feeling of deja vu from the ghost of elections past.

We’ll see…

Ethan Rabidoux