Back to the Polls Again

Here in Canada, our Prime Minister can call an election at the fuckin' drop of a hat. Five weeks from now, we're at the polls.

The trouble is, the Conservatives are in power. I hate their leader. Fiscally, things have improved for the most part because the economic hell down south has been slow to catch up here. Things are changing, and I suspect that's imminent.

But the leader of the Conservatives, Stephen Harper, our Prime Minister, is a fucking piece of work. Loves George Bush.

Here's what was said in the Globe and Mail about Harper today, by Gerald Caplan, who was an NDP campaign manager a world ago:

Mr. Harper, as we keep being reminded, is very, very smart. He smartly learned the twin lessons of politics a la Karl Rove south of the border, where he'd really rather be. Those two lessons are be as dirty as you need to be and never to stop.

Mr. Harper has taken the low road to new depths in the past few years. He's the man who allowed his staff to accuse Paul Martin of being soft on child porn. He's the man who accused Mr. Dion of caring more for Taliban prisoners than Canadian soldiers. He's the one who's suggested that those who disagree with his Afghanistan policy are "traitors." This is the man who smeared a Liberal MP by insinuating his family was linked to terrorism.

Mr. Harper, like Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, harbours deep, unfathomable resentments that lead him to lash out in ways that are far beyond the usual Canadian standards of dirty play. This barely-constrained fury leads him to believe he's justified in saying anything to mortally wound his enemies - and in his eyes, he has enemies, not opponents.

He is indeed smart. Brilliant at toeing the line. Hence he's still in power. Not good.

I mean, when the Conservatives first won, they didn't win a single seat in any large Canadian city. Every gain they made was in rural regions. Nothing in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa. Nada.

In the hicks? Sho 'nuff.

NOT looking forward to our election. If they win, then things go south, you're damned right they'll stay in office the full five years, if they can, whereas they have three years left of the present term.

Sometimes our political system pisses me off.