Copps: Harper "a control freak"

[tuvor]

Control-freak PM mishandles mideast crisis

Sheila Copps doesn't think much of how Prime Minister Stephen Harper has handled the mideast crisis.

In her Sunday column, the Sun Media columnist and former deputy PM rips Harper, calling him a control-freak who fumbled plans to evacuate the thousands of Canadians living or visiting war-torn Beirut.

"The Harper qualities Canadians like, decisiveness, direction, focus, are actually hurting him in this situation," writes Copps.

"It is sometimes wiser to do nothing than to do something in politics. By jumping ahead of the G8 in his public statements, the PM has damaged Canada's capacity to be a balanced broker."

http://winnipegsun.com/News/Manitoba/2006/07/22/1697647.html

(This is apparently a teaser for a column to be released tomorrow in the Winnipeg Sun.)

[Spazito]

1. Hmmm, gee, looks like harper isn't her 'go-to' guy now as opposed

to her columns before the last election. Too bad, Sheila, you didn't see in him what we did, he is a pompous, arrogant, inept bush wannabe.

I suspect by the next election, Sheila will be back in his corner.

[glarius]

2. How right you are...and add to pompous and arrogant

self-promoting, cold, manipulating....I'm sure we can come up with a lot more descriptions. I detest what he can potentially do to Canada.

[Spazito]

3. I have to admit I was naive at the beginning, thinking because he

was in a minority government position, he could do little REAL damage to Canada, boy, was I wrong.

In 8 months, he has managed to harness our horses to the US in the world's perception, trashed Canada's reputation as peacekeepers and honest brokers and I am sure there is more, I just can't think of them at the moment.

[glarius]

4. I think the reason he has been able to do so much without opposition is

because of the fact that there was a minority government of short duration just ahead of him, therefore he knew the opposition was afraid to be responsible for another election so soon and through the pure luck of these circumstances, he knew he could shove through stuff right away and get away with it. I've had a feeling about him from the beginning. My family told me I was worrying unnecessarily, but I had a feeling he was fooling enough people into believing he is moderate and enough would vote for him to get him elected. That's all he needed. He's got his foot in the door now. Let's pray he makes such a big gaff SOON that it will be his undoing.

[Spazito]

5. Yep, seeing as he has not climbed in the polls at all, in reality,

since he won, he is not adding Canadians to his fan club at least and that is hopeful, imo.

He certainly made a big gaffe with the people in Quebec, a province he NEEDS to even keep his minority status, with his unequivocal support of Israel and ignoring the death and wounding of Canadians of Lebanese extraction.

[CHIMO]

6. I Wouldn't

Be as dismissive about her as you are. If one goes back to the "rat pack," they seemed to be the people that brought things together for the party.

The way I see it, is that she didn't like the way Martin took over the party. And we, I mean we all Canadians, don't yet know if he is still pulling all the strings. But from watching Sheila, I would hardly think that she wants Stevie in the drivers seat.

On the other hand the party threw her out. And until they are willing to listen to her they will be a divided party, without any goal other than winning. She is a "King" maker. Or a "Queen" maker.

[Spazito]

7. Why I have no respect for her, and I used to, is that she used her

influence and her columns to take out her PERSONAL anger at the Liberals/Martin by pettily supporting harper in her columns. She would positively glow about harper for about a quarter of her column and use the rest to vent her PERSONAL anger at the Liberals/Martin. I do not believe she ever REALLY believed the crap she wrote about harper, he was only a means to an end.

A person of principle would not do that, imo.

Edited to add clarity.

[CHIMO]

8. So Be It

Then I hope that the Green party can accommodate enough votes to keep Harper out. Sadly I doubt it. So I guess the faster the better to get it all over.

[Spazito]

9. I don't understand why you think she will influence very much of

anything, she wasn't able to when she was fighting with the Liberals while still in it, why would she have any now?

I don't understand the reference to the Green party at all, they won't figure in this, imo, any more than they have in the past.

On the other hand, the voters that "parked" their votes with the NDP as a gesture of disgust with the Liberal's scandal and arrogant attitude, will be pivotal and I don't see how Sheila affects this key group of voters at all.

[CHIMO]

10. If

You don't think that she fought for the party all those years and deserved to be kicked out by Martin, then you are leaving behind all those voters who saw her as standing up for principles.

Just look at the GST. She re-ran for her seat when she thought that Chretien had said that he would get rid of the GST. Martin's group were calling it the Sheila tax.

Then when all the big ones dropped out of the race for leadership, she stood up to Martin and as a result was kicked out. That is sort of a first for the Liberals, as they never washed their linen in public. But when Martin ran into Sheila, well she wasn't going to turn over.

So if half the Liberal party still want to attack Sheila, then many of the votes are going to go somewhere else. And the NDP doesn't seem to be on the side that will get the votes. So short of destroying the ballot the only thing remaining to a voter would be the Green party. Maybe it will rise up to be a challenger for the right. Now that we have nothing left.

[Spazito]

11. Ahh, okay, I understand better now...

Don't get me wrong, the way the Martin cabal treated her was dispicable, no question about it. I was rooting for her when she ran, knowing she didn't have a chance in hell against the Martin machine. I admired her courage to do it in order to be able to say the things she did.

Martin was NOT my preference, EVER, when it came to whom I would like leading the party.

My point re Sheila still remains, though, I lost respect for her because she forgot her love for Canada, imo, when she rah rahed for Harper simply to get back at Martin and, in doing so, you may be right in that she influenced voters to go to the NDP, Green or stay at home.

Letting the faux cons even get a toe-hold in the "seat of power" was, imo, too dangerous to risk no matter how pissed of one was at Martin, especially one who had the wherewithal to influence voters, I believe she know how dangerous they were, but lost sight of that in the heat of her anger.