The expediency of wedge issues and the judgement of history tied together by a strip of fabric

The Lizard of Oz has given Harper his wedge issue and it is paying dividends since the Conservatives have started to move up in several polls.  

Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff attributes the latest bump in Tory fortunes to the party scoring points amid the recent flare up in the controversy over the niqab, the face veil some Muslim women wear.

One can only hope this benefit for the Conservative Racist Party is a short term hiccup and that this manufactured issue flares out soon enough for people to recollect the manifold failings of the Harper Government.   We seem to have regrettably been able to forget about a little boy soon enough.

Andrew Coyne summarizes why the niqab is a non-issue and the shame that accompanies a politician willing to utilize this odious tactic:

That so many, especially in Quebec, have somehow been persuaded to believe their lives are materially affected by it — worse, that so many politicians have been willing to pander to this sentiment — is also what makes this ridiculous issue terribly serious. They are marking out a small and easily identified minority, already made to feel vulnerable by the presence of a few violent extremists in its midst, for shame and suspicion. They are trafficking in their humiliation....A liberal society is pluralist, not relativist. It allows each of us to pursue our vision of the good life, to hold and espouse our ideals of what is just, without prejudice to the notion that goodness and justice exist: indeed, precisely so that we may more nearly approach them as a society. Neither is a liberal society incompatible with the idea of cultural norms: beliefs that are commonly shared, practices that are commonly observed. It draws the line only at enforcing these norms upon the unwilling.

And the inevitable fallout from the utilization of hate tactics has begun:

On Tuesday, Le Journal de Montréal reported that Oumessad Khoufache, 31, was walking to pick up her child at school when two boys on bicycles approached her, grabbed her hijab and knocked her to the ground. She’s four months pregnant.

What brave boys. Knocking down a pregnant woman picking up her child from school.  (I wonder if they had swastika streamers on their handlebars)  But they are just taking their lead from the Harper and his ilk.

Harper won't be Prime Minister forever and historians will not be kind to him.  (There is a better than even chance that he will be gone after October 19 as some have suggested).  Regardless, Harper will eventually be called to task and compared to the legacies of other Prime Ministers.  His risible results in the field of economics and finance, the pervasive corruption of his PMO, the disdain for responsible government have pretty much reserved a unique space for Harper as the worst Prime Minister ever.  When his legacy is compared to the Nobel Peace Prize of Pearson, the efforts on behalf of Nelson Mandela of Mulroney and others before him, Harper is guaranteed to be alone as the worst person to ever hold the office.Recommend this Post