National Post: Conservatives are Salty

[mentalfloss]

Andrew Coyne: Conservatives brought down by their own cynicism

When people come to recall the Harper government, the face they remember first may not be his. It may be one of the people he appointed to speak for him — his parliamentary secretaries, Dean Del Mastro, Paul Calandra and Pierre Poilievre. Two of the three are departed from public life, but their faces — cunning, caustic, old before their time — are burned into the public mind, glowing symbols of the culture that took hold at the top of the Conservative party.

It is that culture that, more than anything, was responsible for their defeat. To be sure, the party ran a terrible campaign — listless, directionless, divisive — but the campaign was a product of the same culture, and in any case the election was lost long before the campaign began. It wasn’t the economy that condemned them to just 32 per cent of the vote (second-worst, for the parties of the right, since 1968), and it wasn’t their policies. It was what the party, at its most senior levels, had become: the values, the attitudes, the way it talked, how it acted, its overall approach to politics and government, all of which betrayed a deep, unrelenting, almost poisonous cynicism.

We should be clear where the roots of that culture lie. The nastiness of Tory politics under Harper, the mindless partisanship, the throttling of backbench MPs, are not outgrowths of conservatism. They were born, rather, of its repudiation: of the decision to sterilize the new party of any ideological convictions, the better (it was supposed) to remove any obstacle to its electability.

All criticism only confirmed the rightness of their position: the press were out to get them, the bureaucracy was out to get them, the courts were out to get them — and the academics were even worse. Within the party, the circle of loyalty grew narrower and narrower, even as the party itself left broader and broader swaths of society outside it: the young, the university-educated, women, even the minorities it had been so eager to court.

The damage that has been done is far greater than this defeat. It isn’t just the Conservatives who have lost favour with the public: it’s conservatism. It has been so long since Conservatives put forward any bold or radical policy ideas, they have gotten out of the habit; not having heard ideas from that quarter for so long, the public may be forgiven for concluding either that they don’t exist, or that they are so far beyond the pale as not to be worth considering.

Andrew Coyne: Conservatives brought down by their own cynicism | National Post

 

[Locutus]

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Saltier' a handful of peanuts washed down with a seawater margarita with extra salt.

 

[Cannuck]

It is unclear whether the party understands what has just happened to it, or rather what it has just done to itself

Judging by the salty Harperites here, I think it's pretty clear. None of them understands that they were a big part of the problem

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

What's hard to understand about an asskicking?

 

[mentalfloss]

They were the stewards of the Economy, so how could they possibly lose?

 

[Cannuck]

What's hard to understand about an asskicking?

Asskickings are one thing. Kicking your own is difficult but they managed to do it.

 

[darkbeaver]

Andrew Coyne: Conservatives brought down by their own cynicism

When people come to recall the Harper government, the face they remember first may not be his. It may be one of the people he appointed to speak for him — his parliamentary secretaries, Dean Del Mastro, Paul Calandra and Pierre Poilievre. Two of the three are departed from public life, but their faces — cunning, caustic, old before their time — are burned into the public mind, glowing symbols of the culture that took hold at the top of the Conservative party.

It is that culture that, more than anything, was responsible for their defeat. To be sure, the party ran a terrible campaign — listless, directionless, divisive — but the campaign was a product of the same culture, and in any case the election was lost long before the campaign began. It wasn’t the economy that condemned them to just 32 per cent of the vote (second-worst, for the parties of the right, since 1968), and it wasn’t their policies. It was what the party, at its most senior levels, had become: the values, the attitudes, the way it talked, how it acted, its overall approach to politics and government, all of which betrayed a deep, unrelenting, almost poisonous cynicism.

We should be clear where the roots of that culture lie. The nastiness of Tory politics under Harper, the mindless partisanship, the throttling of backbench MPs, are not outgrowths of conservatism. They were born, rather, of its repudiation: of the decision to sterilize the new party of any ideological convictions, the better (it was supposed) to remove any obstacle to its electability.

All criticism only confirmed the rightness of their position: the press were out to get them, the bureaucracy was out to get them, the courts were out to get them — and the academics were even worse. Within the party, the circle of loyalty grew narrower and narrower, even as the party itself left broader and broader swaths of society outside it: the young, the university-educated, women, even the minorities it had been so eager to court.

The damage that has been done is far greater than this defeat. It isn’t just the Conservatives who have lost favour with the public: it’s conservatism. It has been so long since Conservatives put forward any bold or radical policy ideas, they have gotten out of the habit; not having heard ideas from that quarter for so long, the public may be forgiven for concluding either that they don’t exist, or that they are so far beyond the pale as not to be worth considering.

Andrew Coyne: Conservatives brought down by their own cynicism | National Post

I could have written that but booze ruined my life.

 

[AnnaG]

They ALL end up arranging their own funerals.

 

[mentalfloss]

Asskickings are one thing. Kicking your own is difficult but they managed to do it.

They were the party with the largest war chest, the economy on their side with a legion of dull pitchforks at the ready.

Yet despite all of these advantages, it was the flavouring that brought them down in the end.

 

[darkbeaver]

How can we say stupid so it don't sound so stupid?

 

[Cliffy]

They were the party with the largest war chest, the economy on their side with a legion of dull pitchforks at the ready.

Yet despite all of these advantages, it was the flavouring that brought them down in the end.

They made the mistake of pandering to their bigoted following and did not count on the Indigenous, the elderly or youth vote rising up to kick their bigoted azzes.

 

[mentalfloss]

How can we say stupid so it don't sound so stupid?

I wouldn't say stupid.

I would say consider many of the staunch Conservatives on this board. The way they talk or carry themselves and the arguments they are repeatedly and aggressively engaged in.

Canadians just aren't receptive to that type of character.

They made the mistake of pandering to their bigoted following and did not count on the Indigenous, the elderly or youth vote rising up to kick the bigoted azzes.

They certainly made plenty of enemies.

And every time they received criticism on these issues they would double down or deflect from the questions.

The contrast between this approach and Trudeau just uttering the buzzwords 'open' and 'transparent' makes the guy look like a visionary.

 

[darkbeaver]

Why don't I hear any discussion of the defeat of the christian ultra right wing nuts with this Harpler disaster? This is where god punishes conservatives with liberal rule for eons.Look at them writhing in the pure white light of liberal rule,

 

[Cannuck]

I wouldn't say stupid.

I would say consider many of the staunch Conservatives on this board. The way they talk or carry themselves and the arguments they are repeatedly and aggressively engaged in.

Canadians just aren't receptive to that type of character.

I've said before, my kids have sat beside me and read some threads while I made fun of the trolls.

My kids see them (Loc, Das, CB, TS, IRBS et al) as crotchety old men. That's their perception of the Conservatives.

BTW, speaking of crotchety old men, where's Colpy been?

 

[darkbeaver]

I wouldn't say stupid.

I would say consider many of the staunch Conservatives on this board. The way they talk or carry themselves and the arguments they are repeatedly and aggressively engaged in.

Canadians just aren't receptive to that type of character.



They certainly made plenty of enemies.

And every time they received criticism on these issues they would double down or deflect from the questions.

The contrast between this approach and Trudeau just uttering the buzzwords 'open' and 'transparent' makes the guy look like a visionary.

It was like being threatened and smothered by a alien life form.

I hope the recent burst of light will drive them away. The decade of suppression is behind us, look yonder, is that not the sun riseing?

 

[skookumchuck]

They were the stewards of the Economy, so how could they possibly lose?

And the liberals were saints, right flossie? The other parties now have to deal with social media, they never did before, we will see.

 

[darkbeaver]

I've said before, my kids have sat beside me and read some threads while I made fun of the trolls.

My kids see them (Loc, Das, CB, TS, IRBS et al) as crotchety old men. That's their perception of the Conservatives.

BTW, speaking of crotchety old men, where's Colpy been?

I've been wondering the same thing for a while. I hope he's just come to his sences and reakized he's wasting his talent here.

 

[mentalfloss]

I've said before, my kids have sat beside me and read some threads while I made fun of the trolls.

My kids see them (Loc, Das, CB, TS, IRBS et al) as crotchety old men. That's their perception of the Conservatives.

BTW, speaking of crotchety old men, where's Colpy been?

He hasn't posted much in the last year or so but he still pops in from time to time.


To your main point, I know a couple of people like this.

One is a legitimate curmudgeon and another one is a guy my age who moved from Ontario to Alberta.

The curmudgeon isn't a full on conservative, but he wears the Anti-PC badge like nothing else.

The guy my age is like a minion of The Sun or Ezra.

 

[skookumchuck]

I wouldn't say stupid.

I would say consider many of the staunch Conservatives on this board. The way they talk or carry themselves and the arguments they are repeatedly and aggressively engaged in.

Canadians just aren't receptive to that type of character.



They certainly made plenty of enemies.

And every time they received criticism on these issues they would double down or deflect from the questions.

The contrast between this approach and Trudeau just uttering the buzzwords 'open' and 'transparent' makes the guy look like a visionary.

I used to hear this chit from my kids. Now that they are in their mid thirties to mid forties they are singing a different tune. That puts them way ahead of you.