Number One in a soon to be Continuing Series:
"Know your Right Wing Scumbags!"
Today we examine the effluvia that has spouted from the maw of
Stephen "Stephen" Harper.
Harper on Canada's refusal to play ball with the Bushies in Iraq...
Canada remains alienated from its allies, shut out of the reconstruction process to some degree, unable to influence events. There is no upside to the position Canada took.
Well, maybe Stephen, we could also factor in the missed opportunity for at least a couple of dozen Canadian fatalities and casualties in the service of Blackwater and Halliburton's bottom line?
Harper is also really good at "reimagining" History...
On the justification for the war, it wasn't related to finding any particular weapon of mass destruction.
Stephen speaks from one side of his mouth...
First of all, I can't forget my first responsibility - which is to be the Leader of the Opposition and that's to provide an alternative government.
We'll support the government on issues if it's essential to the country but our primary responsibility is not to prop up the government, our responsibility is to provide an opposition and an alternative government for Parliament and for Canadians.
The Leader of the Opposition's constitutional obligation - the obligation to Parliament - it's the reason we did the merger! - is to make sure Canadians have an alternative for government.
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Stephen Harper gronks regional issues with insight and sensitivity...
I think in Atlantic Canada, because of what happened in the decades following Confederation, there is a culture of defeat that we have to overcome.
You've got to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada: people who live in ghettoes and who are not integrated into western Canadian society
Stephen "Stephen" Harper knows a true Canadian when he sees one!
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Stephen Harper - a manly man...
I've always been clear, I support the traditional definition of marriage.
Probably always wanted to be a Lumberjack.
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Stephen Harper talks the talk.
If you want to be a government in a minority Parliament, you have to work with other people.
It's the government's obligation to look really to the third parties to get the support to govern.
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Stephen Harper seems to almost get it...
The government can only be brought down because it alienates several parties in the House.
What the government has to do, if it wants to govern for any length of time, is it must appeal primarily to the third parties in the House of Commons to get them to support it
Stephen Harper on Rights for the Little Ladies...
My own views on abortion, I'm not on either pole of that and neither of the interest groups on either end of this issue would probably be comfortable with my views.
So - how many wanna "get comfortable" with Stephen? Hands up! Form a line to the right. A REALLY straight line!
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Stephen Harper on Hyperbole...
Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society... It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff.
Am I alone here, or did everyone think of "Count Floyd"there for a minute?
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Stephen Harper - Super True Patriot LOVE!
Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status.
Whether Canada ends up as one national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion.
Imagine a Republican leader saying that in the States! Get a load of the dangly brass ones on Stephen "Stephen" Harper!
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Stephen Harper on self-actualization and learning from his mistakes and "getting in touch" with his feelings...
I don't get into that second guessing of myself publicly.
Stephen Harper
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And for those still wondering why there is a motion of no-confidence on Stephen Harper and his government about fiscal matters:
This from the Vancouver Sun.
"This country will not go into recession next year and will lead the G7 countries."
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Oct. 10)
"If you don't want a carbon tax and tax increases and a deficit and recession, the only way to ensure that is the case is to vote for the Conservative party."
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Oct. 12)
"The most recent private-sector forecasts suggest the strong possibility of a technical recession at the end of this year and beginning of next."
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Nov. 23)
"I know economists will say well, we could run a small deficit but the problem is that once you cross that line as we see in the United States, nothing stops deficits from getting larger and larger and spiralling out of control."
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Oct. 6)
"If we do short-term deficit spending as a deliberate policy we will have to be able to demonstrate to Canadians that those deficits will genuinely be short term."
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Nov. 15)
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One final illustration - from Lawrence Martin over at the Grope and Flail
Elizabeth May tells a story from the televised election debates. The rules stipulated that leaders were allowed to bring in blank paper for note-taking. "I'm seated next to Stephen Harper," the Green Party Leader recalls, swearing she isn't imagining things, "and I look down on his little table. His paper isn't blank. He's got all these notes, already prepared. It was like to hell with the rules. I do what I want."
Can there be any doubt? Stephen Harper - a Scumbag if there ever was one!