Barrel Strength

In his article ‘Failure of Nerve’, David Warren takes the Prime Minister to task for many things. ‘Glib’ and ‘gutless’, ‘craven’ and ‘abject’ are some of the words he uses to describe Mr. Harper. If only he were to do things the social conservative way, Mr. Warren argues, the Tories might even win a majority! I enjoy Mr. Warren’s writings and admire his obvious sincerity.  Elections must be a particularly trying time.  But Mr. Harper is straining to turn the course of a mighty ship that is moving at great speed.  What resources he has are precious and must find their mark.  Yes, he should do something about the human rights commissions. Yes, he is forced to play politics with the military but he is trying to influence the course of public policy in this country for years and decades to come and to do that he must advance his party in this election. Like George Washington in Thackeray’s ‘The Virginians’, Harper is in battle and he needs his friends.

“…when I am in trouble you say you will leave me. That is why I have been hurt: that is why I have been cold. I thought I might count on your friendship–and–and you can tell whether I was right or no. I relied on you as on a brother, and you come and tell me you will resign. Be it so! Being embarked in this contest, by God’s will I will see it to an end. You are not the first, Mr. Warrington, has left me on the way.’”

Democrats in Ohio are filing an appeal of a Federal Court ruling ordering them to verify the identity of newly registered voters by matching them with other government documents, as required by the Help America Vote Act, and to turn that information over to county election boards.

In related news, the New York Times reviewed state records and Social Security data, and found that tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from rolls or blocked from registering in at least six swing states, and for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two. Elections officials in several states disputed that any voters were illegally removed from rolls.

Forget fatigue, hearing impairment and language difficulties.  I watched the clip. Dion could not answer the question.  It was not just easy but predictable.  You couldn’t toss a rock in Darcy’s without hitting someone who could scribble a perfectly good answer on a foot-long bar bill. Over at Maclean’s and presumably elsewhere,  the story itself is already well on its way to being the story – the local guy should never have run it; Duffy should never have run it; nice people shouldn’t watch it and draw their own conclusions. Coyne admits that the French media would savage an English-speaking politician for the same performance. Just the French media, Andre? We all know what would happen to Harper in the same circumstances.  Whining about media bias is unattractive but so is a permanent, institutional bias in favour of one’s opponents. At worst, this incident exposes some cracks in that wall. At best, it will give Mr. Harper some seats.