Deft Harper Confounds Critics

[scribblet]

Whoda thunk it from the Red Star - which just shows to go you how far left Harper and the CPC have swung.

http://tinyurl.com/jlbcz Toronto Star

Deft Harper confounds critics

Jun. 28, 2006. 01:00 AM

CAROL GOAR

Any seasoned political observer could have predicted that Stephen Harper would be a shrewd, disciplined, highly focused Prime Minister. What has surprised both his fans and his foes is his sure-footedness.

He had no experience in government when he won the country's highest office. He had never managed a large organization. He had no cabinet veterans to turn to. And his party didn't command a parliamentary majority.

Yet the 47-year-old economist has sidestepped most of the potholes that trip political leaders. He hasn't tried to change too much, too fast. He hasn't been blindly partisan. He hasn't fallen victim to events. And none of his cabinet ministers has gotten into serious trouble.

When Harper has made mistakes, he has corrected them quickly enough to avoid lasting damage. When he has taken risks, they've been calculated.

What's been most fascinating is the way he has pre-empted criticism:

Right-wing ideologue? It's hard to say that about a Prime Minister who hasn't slashed taxes, hasn't axed social programs, hasn't gutted the public service and hasn't given Alberta Premier Ralph Klein any more latitude to bring in private health insurance than his Liberal predecessors did.

[Topaz]

I'm sure Harper is getting advise from Mulroney and he is just biding his time until (he hopes) to get a majority govt and then you'll see another "Mike Harris" go town and destroy everything HE doesn't like. I, for one, think the people of this country should keep the "minority" govts in place for a while! Perhaps, that's is why Harper has gotten 3 of Harris stooges in his govt. Harper is doing harm to himself by keeping the media away, if we don't know what this govt is doing than its probably something we won't like!!

[betsy]

Harper is doing harm to himself by keeping the media away, if we don't know what this govt is doing than its probably something we won't like!!

But Harper is talking to the media. Inspite of the this "feud" and the so-called "un-availability" of Harper, he is visible. Some journalist had even pointed out that when Harper talks....he really talks.

[BubberMiley]

This Star article shows how the incessant whining about the lef-wing MSM is more the product of a persecution complex than it is of reality.

[Big Blue Machine]

The background people have turned Harper into a regular kind of guy.