Enough With The Civics Lessons And The Speculations Already! Wait! I Have Another Scenario To Chew on!

I think Iggy just handed Stevie Spiteful his majority last night while talking to the Harper brown nose of the CBC, Peter Mansbridge.  It was an excercise in Gotcha Bull-shit on the part of Mansbridge, along with the rest of the Harpercon media and Iggy fell for it. Now the Harpercons and their cheerleaders and enablers are going to town with it.

Furthermore, it is pretty clear that Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe don’t want to go to bed with Iggy, given their campaigns these days.

For openers, it has been obvious to me, particularly since the leaders’ debates,  that one would have to be terminally stupid to believe that there is an ‘progressive’ coalition being hatched, given how Duceppe is knocking all federalist parties and is now sparring mainly with the NDP,  and is pretty much running a sovereignty or bust campaign. Layton and his pals are attacking Iggy much more than they’re attacking Steve these days.  In fact, I haven’t seen an NDP ad lately attacking Steve on the big tv screen; just Iggy.  Likewise, Stevie Spiteful isn’t really going after Jack and the NDP, he appears to be going after the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois, only. The problem is, people are that stupid and paranoid to believe it despite the fact that  all three opposition parties are attacking each and being so obvious about it.

Worse, the media, especially those who cover federal politics for a living.  Those Harpercon cheerleading  ‘journos’  in the corporate media who are blowing the coalition dog whistle, along with Iggy and some of his party speculating and giving civics’ lessons everytime one of those ‘reporters’ so obviously is playing a game of gotcha.  Nobody actually asks how the Governor General would rule if Steve lost confidence of the house on the throne speech.  He’s actually been remaining mum about the whole thing and that’s just fine and dandy. He’s not required to divulge anything to anyone.  Doncha just love accountability?   Given how we don’t know how the GG would rule, it’s best to be quiet about the whole thing. Iggy could easily have told Mansbridge something like “We don’t know how the GG would rule so it’s silly to speculate…” or something along those lines.

Some have suggested to me that the GG’s options would be limited.  Yes, they are, but not in the way those folks on Twitter seem to think.  Let’s bring back the Harperland quotes as well as portions of my accompanying post, shall we?

In Lawrence Martin’s Harperland, in Chapter 14, “Surviving the Coalition” , where Martin talks about that fateful coalition formed in 2008, Stevie Spiteful opted to prorogue rather than face a non-confidence vote back then.  What is not discussed in the usual media circles though is what would’ve  or could’ve happened had then GG Michaelle Jean not granted his prorogation demand? According to Harperland, there was a tenative Plan B.  I will quote directly from the book:

Her word, if it was no, would not necessarily have been the final word. The fight may have been far from over. The PM had warned that he intended to use every means at his disposal to stop the takeover of his government. When he got public opinion on his side, he felt there were options available.  (Pg. 187)

So much for the idea of the GG’s word being etched in stone and whatever he/she decides goes.

One such option was basically stoking public outrage to the point where thousands would’ve been marching to Parliament Hill.  Given the reaction I’ve seen from folks, even the most apathetic, I believe Stevie Spiteful could’ve achieved that.  However, it didn’t seem like the most desirable for a plan B.

Martin reminisces about an interview John Baird the pitbull did with the CBC’s Don Newman back then:

“What we want to do,” he declared, “is basically take a timeout and go over the heads of parliament, go over the head, frankly, of the governor general, go right to the Canadian peopl.  They’re speaking up loudly right across the country, in a way I’ve never seen.” (Pg 187)

I don’t know if anyone remembers catching this interview on the boob tube back then. Surely, it should bring back memories. If it hasn’t, perhaps it should.  As Martin explains, never has one been so blatant, so candid in describing just how much disrespect Stevie has for Ottawa’s institutions and their laissez-faire attitude toward checks and balances in the system.  He spilled it all in that interview.

Anyway, the option Harper was considering had Michaelle Jean not granted him his prorogation demand, according to Baird’s suggestion, was this:

If the governor general had refused his request, he could have replaced her with a more compliant one, making the case to the Queen that the people of Canada were opposed in great numbers to a coalition replacing his government. (Pg 188)

Read the rest of that post here.  I still believe that the GG is expendable under Stevie.

The shrieking masses of Harpercon cheerleaders  are all crowing about their successful Gotcha to Iggy, here’s something else to think about. Although, this might actually be palatable to them. After all, it does seem that much of the corporate media who usually serve the dreamy Stevie kool-aid are all ga ga about Jack Layton.  There is a reason for everything.  Everybody speculates and remains fixated on a Liberal-NDP coalition, but what about a coalition of Harpercons and NDP?  Before the NDPer hyper partisans start rushing my comments section and my email, think about it.  That 2004 coalition letter Harper wrote to then GG, Adrienne Clarkson had been signed by Layton and Duceppe.  They waved it in Stevie’s face at the beginning of the campaign. Guess what,  folks? It cuts three ways (although, this time around, Duceppe is on a mission for sovereignty; coalitions with any federalist parties would be counterproductive to that mission).   Layton has said on many occasions that he is ‘looking for a dance partner’ without specifying whether it would be with the Liberals or the Harpercons.  For more seats, more power, it appears that Jack Layton isn’t anymore altruistic than the rest of  them. 

In fact,  Jane and Joe Six-Packs appear to be just fine with coalitions–as long as they’re not formed with all ‘progressive’ parties, particularly if the Harpercons won.  I don’t seem to recall any public outcry of the idea of a Harpercon-NDP-Bloc coalition from 2004, nor when it was brought up again, probably because it’s ok for ‘soshalists’ and/or ‘separatists’ to mix only with a strong handed neo-con.  Ask a blogging SupposiTory, I’m sure they’d agree with that. 

Layton, like everybody else, knows how to spin and play games.  He’s proven that in both the 2006 and the 2008 election campaigns as he attacks the Liberals, but barely touches the Harpercons.  Hell, what was that creepy exchange with Layton and Steve at the English language debates? He tells Stevie that  he ‘used to be for the little guy’. Really Jack? Since when? Since when has Steve been for anybody but the rich?  Also that ‘you used to care for the environment’ schtick.   Steve used to care for the environment? Steve “Kyoto is a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealthy nations” Harper?

Not long after that, he would launch the pissing contest with Iggy.  Yes, many have shared my frustration that Jack has once again, foresaken the common enemy–Steve.  Then again, as time goes on as of late, watching Layton’s campaign and observing the NDP partisans, is Steve really the common enemy?

Funny how they love to tout how the Liberals had voted along with Harper in order to avoid successive elections and a Harpercon majority–could happen when you have a PM who turns everything into a confidence issue.  However, they appear to help Steve every election.   Perhaps the reason they chastise the Liberals is because they share Steve’s goal of annihilating the Liberals?

Given it would be the Harpercons initiating those reindeer games, I would hazard a guess that the GG would more than likely go along with a Harpercon/NDP arrangement.

However, that is unlikely to happen. Steve will likely get his majority thanks to the divided opposition (especially Layton’s more focussed attacks on Iggy and less attacks on Steve) and Iggy’s Gotcha interview with Mansbridge last night.  A majority that could likely exceed that of Mulroney’s in 1984.