If you were shocked and saddened by Stephen Harper's leaked private speech delivered last night, you're probably not alone. I felt very demoralized last night and still do. However if you learned anything new about Harper from that mean spirited hate-filled speech then I would suggest you probably haven't been paying attention. That was vintage Stephen Harper, consistent with every partisan speech he's made going back to the early nineties and the birth of the Reform Party. As an Albertan this type of McCarthyist BS is nothing new.
It won't have much of an impact on people who already support Harper, in fact it will probably energize them. Those moderate conservatives, leftovers from the PC days maybe, have no influence and are tied and gagged in the basement.
I doubt very much whether the opposition parties will pick up any new energy or supporters from this speech because we've seen time and time again where these type of things don't really register with the average voter who are worried about feeding their dogs. Or kids. If we look at it honestly, voters can be irrational about a lot of things. The entire Bush era and the current American Health care debate are cases in point.
Unless polling suggests otherwise, I'm willing to bet that this speech will be quickly forgotten in a swirl of garbage noise from the CPC.
Here's Milewski's take on the speech.
Update: September 10, 2009 09:40 MST
I'm starting to believe that the leak was deliberate. At the very least I doubt that Harper would be angry at the leak since it sends all the right messages to the people they're trying to keep on board. Sad.
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