Harper's Putin-bashing on the election trail was an epic fail

The so-called Ukraine crisis has pretty much been run off the front page by the ISIS crisis, but I'm sure you recall Putin's "annexation" of Crimea and his "invasion" of the Donbass region. The reason you remember is because Big Steve put a lot of electoral eggs in his anti-Putin basket, and our media never tired of retelling the same tired tale; we have to stand up to Putin's quest for world domination. Yup, Bad Vlad was trying to rebuild the Soviet Empire for sure...

Serious people understood all along that Harper's jingoistic rhetoric was aimed squarely at the Ukrainian Canadian vote in the upcoming election. Apparently the Conservative Party brain trust was convinced that third and fourth generation Ukrainian Canadians would reflexively vote Harper if the anti-Putin slanders were loud enough.

Alas, it was not to be. Not that the rhetoric wasn't loud enough, or that Harper's grand-standing (remember Australia?) wasn't silly enough; it was simply too silly. In the end, the Conservative showing in Ukrainian Canadian ridings shrivelled mightily.

The other so-called ethnic vote Harper was excessively pandering to was the "Jewish vote." That was probably something that went beyond mere electioneering considerations. If you look at the agenda of the Alliance Missionary Church types who were heavily over-represented among Harper's inner circle, it's not hard to see the "Christian Zionist" sub-text that permeates their ideology.

Nevertheless, there can be no question that the Harper gang was aiming for a sweep of the most populous Jewish ridings with their incessant pro-Likud rhetoric. How did that work out? Not so great. Three out of four went Liberal.

Why? Those "Christian Zionists" made the mistake of assuming that every Jewish Canadian automatically supports everything the government of Israel does. When the government of Israel is in the hands of a racist settler clique, there are many many Jewish Canadians who have grave reservations about giving unqualified and unquestioning support to the state of Israel.

Harper's politics of division went far beyond Ukrainian and Jewish Canadians of course. It was native against non-native, old-stock against immigrant, old immigrants against new immigrant... wherever the Harperites found a fissure to bang a wedge in, they went for it.

On the other hand, Trudeau built a campaign around inclusivity and tolerance, and Canadians bought in big-time.

Maybe there's hope for this country yet.

Did the Prime Minister's wife really leave him for a woman?

It's that time of the year when the pot-addled hillbilly likes to drop in on friends, relatives, distant relatives, friends of friends, and random acquaintances old and more recent who have the good fortune of owning waterfront vacation property. I've got this summer strategy down to such a fine art that it wouldn't make any sense for me to get my own place on the water.


So it was that I found myself the other day drinking in a 4.9 million dollar view over in Muskoka. Also found myself chewing the fat with a couple of guys who have some proximity to certain Harper gang insiders.


We were musing about what might or might not yet come out in the course of that theatre of the absurd commonly known as "the Duffy trial." That's turning into quite the sordid spectacle, is it not? All those God-fearing Alliance Church types twisting the Word Of God inside out to justify the fact that their least favorable option when caught fibbing is to fess up and just tell the truth. I mean, look at poor Nigel - he reached into his own pocket and pulled out 90 big ones just to avoid the truth coming out.


Here's a scripture for you, Nigel; "be sure your sin will find you out."


We got to speculating about what else Harper's Holy Rollers might have swept under the carpet in this dark decade, and talk eventually came round to the Laureen Harper scandal. That might sound like an oxymoron to the Big Steve fan club, but google "Laureen Harper affair" or "Laureen Harper lesbian affair" and you'll be shocked at the slimy innuendo that bubbles up.


When that story was first getting traction a few years ago, it didn't last long. The general public may have assumed that was because it lacked substance. But when you look at the lengths that these God-fearing men will go to bury the truth, you have to wonder.


Then the conversation turned to my favorite Harperite, bullshittin' Baird. Regular readers will know that the think tank here at Falling Downs has theorized that the reason for Baird's sudden disappearance from the Harper cabinet was nothing more significant than his decision to cash in on twenty-five years of public service.


But apparently there's another angle. For many years Big John was something of an anomaly among the Bible-thumping Harperites; an unclosetted if not quite openly gay man amongst a gang of homophobes, it was obviously Big John who was putting the fun into fundamentalism.


Too much fun, it seems. The Alliance Church Mafia was alright with his egregious incompetence and his boorish hooliganism on the world stage, but they were never comfortable with his lifestyle choices, and the word is he sealed his fate when he and his posse of party boys rocked Macdonald House in London for free during the Christmas holiday of 2012. That was a bridge too far, and from that point on even the most loyal of Harper loyalists began to secretly lobby for Baird's demise.


As with Laureen, we were always prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt; after all, if the various scandals had any substance to them, they wouldn't disappear so quickly, would they? What the Duffy trial is showing the public is how hard the Harper gang works to make unpleasant facts go away. It's been quite the eye-opener for a lot of once-loyal Harper fans.


To paraphrase Heiner Muller; the deepest plunge into Hell is from the heights of self-righteousness.

********

Dear Reader,

Much has changed since I wrote this post six years ago.  Check out my latest work at Substack.

neumann

Stephen Harper's Alliance Church mafia

I've made reference from time to time to the influence of the fundamentalist Christian and Missionary Alliance on Harper government policies. There's an interesting profile of Conservative Party lawyer Arthur Hamilton in today's Globe and Mail. Here's a quote that made my coffee spray out my nose;




Politically, Mr. Harper has found the sweet spot between economic success and responsible environmental policy, Mr. Hamilton said, and he's made Canada relevant on the international stage.




In reality there's never been any question that economic considerations trump environmental concerns in Harper's Canada, nor does any reasonable observer imagine that Canada is more relevant on the world stage today. What's frightening is that Harper and the clique of Alliance Church types around him totally believe their own bullshit.


Here's a quote from the Alliance Church's "vision statement" that might help explain our foreign policy;


Vision Prayer


O God, with all our hearts we long to be:
a movement of churches
transformed by Christ,
transforming Canada and the world.
By your grace and for your glory:

• Renew and empower us through a fresh encounter with yourself
• Release us to be strategic in service, kingdom-connected in practice, passionate in pursuit of your mission and mercy

Use us to fulfill your purpose for Canada and the world.

… Canada and the World ...

• Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth...
• Pray for our nation - the government - that godly agendas be required through minority rule.
• Pray for a missionary you know by name in a cross - cultural situation. Ask God to provide inspiration. Ask God if you are to be a provider.
• Pray for an utterly unreached people group - those under the domination of Islam, closed Hindu and Buddhist nations, etc.

If you've ever thought that our Israel First foreign policy smacks of religious fervor, that's because it's religious fervor.


And here's what they call an "Environmental Vision" at the Alliance Church. Good luck trying to find anything in it about what most normal people think about when they hear the word "environmental."


Faith can be a beautiful thing, but I don't recall where Canada ever signed up for faith-based government.