Apolitical Staples

Conservatives Swiftboat Shapiro

Note to Staples: As the following has also been posted on StephenTaylor, please feel free to delete.

After having vented on bourque (subject to moderation), I have had a chance to rethink the long-term implications of this move. First, Shapiro announced his investigation just 2 days after the Liberal post-election caucus meeting. Coincidence? No. The guy is clearly a Liberal/Martin hand puppet, who has already been censured by the House. Second, can Shapiro be fired? Yes, but by a majority vote in the House. Therefore, Harper needs the cooperation of the Bloc to get a vote through. Why make a martyr out of this pathetic excuse of an ethics czar? Third, what can the Conservatives gain by engaging Shapiro, the Hand Puppet? Short term, some media exposure, but not much in the intermediate and long term. My guess is that they will just ignore the man, bring forward the Accountability Act (which can effectively void Shapiro’s appointment), and focus on their agenda. Let credibility-free Shapiro issue his press releases. Let him twist in the hollowness of his own inconsistencies.

Who cares if he earned your respect. You voted for him and will vote for him again. What matters is has he earned the respect of any Canadian who didn’t vote for him? And I think the answer would be no to that. All he’s done is prove once again that he runs from accountability; just like he did in the Grewal affair when he refused to meet with Shapiro.

If Harper had wanted to face accountability and earn respect, he would have said, “Bring it on.” That, not running away, would have earned mine.

Praising Stephen Harper in this context is like celebrating a successful withdrawl from enemy territory. Harper put himself in this mess with his poor judgement in accepting Emerson into cabinet. He insulted his supporters and those Conservative MPs who worked hard for the party all of these years. Indeed, this kind of poor judgement is proving to be his one major weakness. And this story is going to be alive for the duration of this parliament.

Why do people insist that Harper got himself in this mess. He did what has been done over our political history many times. Accepted a person who was willing to cross the floor. Emerson could have said no but he didn’t. He thought he could be more effective continuing to do his job as trade minister. Harper said during the election that he did not like floor crossing but at the same time he was not in favour of preventing it through legislation because that would give the party leader too much power. He is consistent in what he has said in the past. It is the MSM and the chattering classes and of course partisans who want to hold him to a standard that they themselves are not prepared to meet. Martin and the Liberal party would have jumped at the chance if they had the opportunity. Harper should ignore Shapiro, pass his accountability act including a truly independent ethics commissioner and then remove Shapiro. What a tempest in a teapot when we have our boys in Afghanistan being killed and we worry about this kind of stuff.

A question to all those who think the ethics commissioner is right in his investigation.

A Hypothetical for you - suppose (god forbid) the Liberals had won on the 23rd, Paulie thought that he had better up his numbers so he gets one of his flunky friends to contact a high profile Conservative and invite him over. The Conservative accepts - Paulie holds a big press conference to show off his prize. The MSM laud this another blow to the Conservatives and praise the pick.

My question - would the Ethics commissioner be investigating?? Just wondering?

“bring it on”. Bring what on, incompetence? I agree that if the ethics commissioner has just cause for launching an investigation then the parties involved are obliged to cooperate. But I also think that the investigated parties are entitled to a competent, impartial investigator. It’s a least questionable whether we have that in Shapiro or not.

You know the move to investigate ain’t going over well when a Liberal rag like the Globe and Mail has an editorial condemning the investigation.

The Libs are starting to look pathetic. Still abusing a government office for partisan Liberal purposes - it looks like a few corrupt Liberal tentacles are still snaking around attempting to do their handy work.

So pathetically obvious.

If the act of a Prime Minister offering, then in return an MP accepting a Cabinet post constitutes a bribe, then every Prime Minister and every Cabinet Minister in Canadian history is guilty of accepting a bribe in order to ‘enrich’ themselves with a limo, driver, and associated perks.

The entire federal cabinet should issue a joint declaration stating that if Emerson is guilty of being bribed, then they all are. Sort of an ‘all for one and one for all’.

This will demonstrate what a farce Shapiro is. Some may find the move politically distasteful, but we live in a representative democracy … MPs are allowed pissing off their constituents.

If the act of a Prime Minister offering, then in return an MP accepting a Cabinet post constitutes a bribe, then every Prime Minister and every Cabinet Minister in Canadian history is guilty of accepting a bribe in order to ‘enrich’ themselves with a limo, driver, and associated perks.

The entire federal cabinet should issue a joint declaration stating that if Emerson is guilty of being bribed, then they all are. Sort of an ‘all for one and one for all’.

This will demonstrate what a farce Shapiro is. Some may find the move politically distasteful, but we live in a representative democracy … MPs are allowed pissing off their constituents.