Harper's crumbling foundations

This morning saw three interesting examples (two by Impolitical and one by Cathie From Canada) of how quickly Harper's power structure is collapsing beneath him. Lawrence Martin has an interesting editorial this morning that is worth dissecting as a demonstration of how his support is vanishing within the mainstream media. Mr. Martin has generally been fair in his opinions so having a non-partisan call out is catastrophic for Harper.

Quotes with subsequent discussion below:

"Elizabeth May tells a story from the televised election debates. The rules stipulated that leaders were allowed to bring in blank paper for note-taking. “I'm seated next to Stephen Harper,” the Green Party Leader recalls, swearing she isn't imagining things, “and I look down on his little table. His paper isn't blank. He's got all these notes, already prepared. It was like to hell with the rules. I do what I want.”"...

"his opting to play power-monger politics in the midst of a global economic crisis last week showed there was little change. It confirmed the worst suspicions."...

Up until now, the Prime Minister has been able to get away with his strong-arm tactics, his disavowing of his own election law being another recent example. But the economic update did much to expose the essence of him. My suspicion is that we don't know the half of what went on in his first term and that if there were more journalistic inquiry the extent of his attempts to put a stranglehold on the system would be found to be startling.

Last week, a bureaucrat with close ties to the PMO, said Mr. Harper has told colleagues, “When I'm hiring someone, I want to see fear in their eyes.” It may be an apocryphal story, but like Ms. May's, it seems to fit the mould. In any case, the fear isn't in the eyes of others now. It's in his own."

This could have been excerpted from a post on Progressive Bloggers. A major columnist, respected for his impartiality, has put into print that Harper feels he is above the rules, that the worst suspicions of Harper have been confirmed and outlined the way in which Harper rules through fear. This buttresses the argument that the response from Harper might very well come from an unexpected, unethical and illegal direction.

And even juicier, Martin hints that a bit of digging will uncover all sorts of nefarious doings. Perhaps now that the melodious female with an excess in adipose tissue is warming up her larynx some of these issues will come to light.

What Cathie from Canada highlights is that he has lost the Western Standard. And as a Reformer, if you have lost the Western Standard you have lost the base.

With respect to the rumblings reported by Impolitical, there is no way the Baird website goes up without Baird's knowledge and approval. And now we see that it looks like Giorno is leaving Harper holding the bag for the schmoozle. it is my interpretation that the rank and file of the caucus and cabinet have decided that this is a done deal and they have decided that the sooner Harper is cut loose the better for the Party.

These last two points might be all that prevents whatever subversion Harper is plotting.

Five days. Less than 120 hours. It is hard to keep up.

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