Monday, December 03, 2007

Is Stephen Harper the new favourite?

So, the list of Bush lickspittles has gone like this, so far:

Aznar of Spain? Done.

Blair? Done.

Howard? Done. In fact, Australia just ratified the Kyoto Treaty. Ouch.

So who else is left? Or, to put it another way, has Stephen Harper -- by maintaining his government just slightly longer than any other right-wing climate hater, actually increased his usefulness to Bush by default?

6 comments:

Greg said...

I would say, in all honesty, that Harper sees himself as a world-transforming figure (think Margaret Thatcher but less butch) and beyond GWB. In fact, I suspect he sees Bush as a useful idiot.

john said...

Yeesh. Ya think?

Hard to fathom that.

Anonymous said...

Unlike all the other Bush lickspittles on the list, you guys put Harper at the head of your government AFTER it had become apparent to the rest of the world that Bush was not someone who should be emulated or assisted.

And from what I've read so far your opposition party still hasn't cleaned itself up enough to be an acceptable alternative yet. So you're probably going to be stuck with Harper after we've finally booted Bush to the curb.

john said...

Nony: That's a fair point. I'd only suggest that it should have been clear long before 2004 that Bush was a disaster, and yet he was re-elected.

But yes, it's certainly possible that we'll be stuck with Harper post-2009. Shudder.

Anonymous said...

I'd only suggest that it should have been clear long before 2004 that Bush was a disaster, and yet he was re-elected.

I wouldn't object to this, but I was only suggesting that the rest of the world had figured out that Bush was a disaster before Harper was elected - not the US. Actually, I think MOST of the world figured it out sometime around March of 2003 when he decided to invade Iraq.

We in the U.S. of A. are pretty stupid, but I think most of us figured out that he was a disaster before election day 2004. Unfortunately we ARE pretty stupid. Even a few reasonably intelligent people who had figured out that Bush was a terrible president just couldn't bring themselves to vote for Kerry. They'd say things like "well, Kerry would be even worse" despite all evidence to the contrary. Stupid, stupid stupid.

Disclaimer: I am related to people who had figured out that Bush was a disaster in 2004 and VOTED. FOR. HIM. ANYWAY. - justifying their knee-jerk tribalism with the "Kerry would be worse" excuses. If stupid is genetic I'm in trouble.

john said...

"Disclaimer: I am related to people who had figured out that Bush was a disaster in 2004 and VOTED. FOR. HIM. ANYWAY."

I have only one thing to say... my condolences.