Thirty-ThreePlusOneDoesNotARealBodyPoliticMake
StraussianismWritLargeVille
Because, well....
The base:
President Richard Nixon believed that years of aerial bombing in Southeast Asia to pressure North Vietnam achieved “zilch” even as he publicly declared it was effective and ordered more bombing while running for reelection in 1972...
If you get my drift.
.
Links 12/26/24
2 hours ago
2 comments:
If Harper is our "Nixon"
If PMO is our "K"
If Duffy is our "Butterfield"
Then
Nixon and Harper might have a lot in common in the evil department, but I always thought of Nixon as being at least interesting---in the Chinese curse sort of way---and for all his flaws, much more human than Harper who seems robotic in comparison. But, then again, maybe "interesting" just comes with the territory when one occupies the most powerful office in the world.
The Cons almost exclusive messaging to their base has been the main feature of this campaign which does beg the question: what does Harper have to worry about? What's with pandering to the base to the exclusion of everybody else? Almost no attempt has been made to proselytize or grow outside of the base. All this overweening attention makes it look like it's their base's solidarity that's giving them ulcers. Almost everything they've done seems to have been aimed squarely at the base. The early campaign call allowed them to corral core partisans inside locked-down, invitation-only rallies where handlers could best manage news from the Duffy trial; a central economic theme isn't surprising, but the disgusting niqab demagoguery seems like red-meat with only the base's tastes in mind (I think it's otherwise pretty risky---it just might backfire like ridiculing Chretien's facial palsy did). The Cons' marijuana policy definitely isn't going to steal any votes from Justin Trudeau, but it's gospel for the base---nice and unscientific, just they way they like it.
"Zilch" is a good description of Canada's contribution to military theatres in the Arab world, and in the Ukraine. It's definitely political in inception, and, again, it's got the base forefront in mind.
If you look at the various factions within the Con party, it's plain some important ones must be disappointed with Harper: seven deficits in a row doesn't make fiscal Cons happy; procurement of F-35 jets is certainly no way to run a business; more than a few patriotic Cons have probably already taken flight because of how veterans have been maltreated; social Cons were told at the beginning of this majority that the sock they were to put in their abortion and gay-marriage crusades during the minorities will be permanent, not temporary the way Harper had negotiated the bible-thumpers' quiescence. It's more than just plausible that disaffection exists in the Con base.
Post a Comment