Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Mulroney vs Harper

Paul Wells of Maclean's outlines the saga of how Prime Minister Stephen Harper sought to distance himself from former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

It's an odd affair.

I can fully understand why Harper might want to separate himself from the sleaziness of Mulroney, but why do it in such a clumsy manner?

Writes Wells: "By March 31, a day after the senior staff meeting, three Ottawa news bureaus had been approached by PMO political staffers with the stale but suddenly handy 'news' that Mulroney had asked to be stricken from Conservative party lists. And also that he had let his membership in the party lapse in 2006."

Did not the PMO foresee that such a strategy would give a resentful Mulroney an opportunity to blow them out of the water -- which he did.

That in turn created days of negative stories for the Tories.

It just doesn't make sense.

6 comments:

Carolyn Gardner said...

I have been keeping track of this whole thing from pretty much the beginning. I've read many of the comments from the PMO and certain Conservative MP's on ctv.ca for instance, that were really negative to Mulroney and self-defeating in my own opinion. I never used to be a big fan of Mulroney, but I've come to respect him and his contributions, and the way this whole issue has been handled by the party and the PM is sad to say the least.

Anonymous said...

Mulroney only cares about Mulroney. He'll destroy the party a second time if given the chance. I cannot stand the man, never have.

Alberta Girl said...

"I've read many of the comments from the PMO and certain Conservative MP's on ctv.ca for instance, that were really negative to Mulroney and self-defeating in my own opinion."

Um - Carolyn....did you only start "reading" lately, because a little over a year ago - the Libs and the NDP and the Bloc were decimating BM's reputation, KHS was courted and fetted and played out as the victim by every Liberal and NDP'er around.

Now BM is the victim and the Libs and the NDP are falling over themselves trying to portray him as a fine upstanding citizen.

The way the whole issue has been handled by the opposition is laughable really - and makes one wonder why the about face??

Perhaps you have some thoughts on that Carolyn?

Anonymous said...

Nobody is being destroyed here...it is mostly a navel-gazing media that is all pissy on the issue.

AToryNoMore said...

As far as I'm concerned Mulroney is still on the ballot. I would support him any day of the week! Wish he were back running the shop.

Rotterdam said...

Harper needs to repair this soon.
The PMO really blew this.