You Know it's Bad When...

You know things are going badly for the Harper Conservatives when people who should consider themselves the "base" of the party are considering re-forming the Reform party (if I may be permitted the play on words). Maybe they can even dust off ol' Pressed-on Man-Thing as well!

In other news, Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett explains why she has taken to heckling in the House of Commons. The reason? Stephen Harper and his whopping lies. Read about it here.

Finally, Stephen Harper has once again dipped into his Republican bag of tricks to denigrate his political opponents. At a morale-boosting rally for our troops, Harper used his podium time to play politics, blaming the opposition for having the temerity to inquire about detainee torture. Said Harper:

"Unfortunately these soldiers did not get the attention they deserved because their stories were eclipsed by arguments in the House of Commons over the allegations of Taliban prisoners"

If this type of shameless rhetoric sounds familiar, it's because we've heard it before - from Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. And lest there be any remaining doubt about Harper's sycophantic man-love for Bush, let us never forget this:

Conservative Canadians Speak Out!Wall Street Journal 3/28/03 Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day
Canadians Stand With You
By STEPHEN HARPER and STOCKWELL DAY
Today, the world is at war. A coalition of countries under the leadership of the U.K. and the U.S. is leading a military intervention to disarm Saddam Hussein. Yet Prime Minister Jean Chretien has left Canada outside this multilateral coalition of nations.
This is a serious mistake. For the first time in history, the Canadian government has not stood beside its key British and American allies in their time of need. The Canadian Alliance -- the official opposition in parliament -- supports the American and British position because we share their concerns, their worries about the future if Iraq is left unattended to, and their fundamental vision of civilization and human values.
Disarming Iraq is necessary for the long-term security of the world, and for the collective interests of our key historic allies and therefore manifestly in the national interest of Canada. Make no mistake, as our allies work to end the reign of Saddam and the brutality and aggression that are the foundations of his regime, Canada's largest opposition party, the Canadian Alliance will not be neutral. In our hearts and minds, we will be with our allies and friends. And Canadians will be overwhelmingly with us. But we will not be with the Canadian government.
Modern Canada was forged in large part by war -- not because it was easy but because it was right. In the great wars of the last century -- against authoritarianism, fascism, and communism -- Canada did not
merely stand with the Americans, more often than not we led the way. We did so for freedom, for democracy, for civilization itself. These values continue to be embodied in our allies and their leaders, and scorned by the forces of evil, including Saddam Hussein and the perpetrators of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
That is why we will stand -- and I believe most Canadians will stand with us -- for these higher values which shaped our past, and which we will need in an uncertain future.
Messrs. Harper and Day are the leader and shadow foreign minister, respectively, of the Canadian Alliance.