Well, it's been quite a day... an all day Harperfest! Things started off this morning on CBC radio with an interview on The Current with Paul Wells. His new book, The Longer I'm Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada, looks back from Harper's rise to power up to today. It was an interesting interview. Wells asserted that Harper is the most right wing PM we have had in his lifetime, far to the right of Diefenbaker and Mulroney. He said that Harper is such a control freak he never eats in public in case an awkward photo might be taken. He rehearses his speeches over and over, never taking chances, never giving impromptu remarks. Say what you want about Michael Ignatieff but I remember reading that his campaign speeches were often different and he always took questions. Harper, on the other hand, gave the same campaign speech over and over again.
Later, on Q, Jian Gomeshi interviewed veteran journalist Don Newman about his memoir, Welcome to the Broadcast. Again, a very interesting conversation about all kinds of political figures.
The day has been capped off with Mike Duffy's bombshell speech in the Senate. Now I am not about to start the Mike Duffy fan club but really..... at last..... someone is going to be able to show Harper for the person he really is. According to Duffy, Harper was in on the money deal from the start. Here we have a big name Conservative insider telling us how Harper operates. It is confirmation of exactly what many observers have been saying for a long time. In Duffy's words, there is "unaccountable power in the PMO." To hear such a totally blunt speech, as opposed to the usual Conservative message machine is unbelievable.
Today was the political equivalent of a hockey playoff game, near the end of a series. The day has ended with CBC's The National, complete with At Issue and Rex Murphy. Murphy thinks that now Harper "must haul himself out of his surly cocoon." We'll see.
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