Character Flaws and Other Ponderables

Horrors, a political speech emulating in large part that of another politician's speech, given halfway around the world. Expressing in large part a very similar outlook of national, political values in two countries geographically widely apart, but whose political spokespeople shared much in common, as conservatives.

It could conceivably have been coincidental, but it most assuredly was not. It was an example of a politician, through the shortcut of a speech writer, lifting words and expressions, though not ideas, from the creative energy of another speech writer.
Lazy, unprofessional to say the least.

But to use that as a hammer to bludgeon the integrity and honesty of a politician who trusted his speech writer to draft a message that would best quantify and describe his thoughts and intentions? That's dredging a mite too deep for advantage during an election campaign.

It smacks of desperation, an attempt to reveal something truly deleterious about the opposition candidate, and grasping on a triviality, costuming it as a character flaw.

Surely the Liberal Party can do better than that? It was Bob Rae's triumphant battle cry in this election to reveal that Stephen Harper's speech as Leader of the Official Opposition a dim five years ago - to support the ill-fated and truly stupid U.S.-led war on Iraq - had its genesis in the original speech given by Australia's then prime minister, John Howard.

If Prime Minister Harper can be faulted for anything, it should be his urging for Canada to join the United States and the "coalition of the willing" in invading Iraq.

We all know that, and it's a nasty bit of history, something we would like to overlook, and which Mr. Harper might consider second thoughts on, given what we know now; even what we knew then. His support at that time for the U.S. invasion did not express the will of the people of Canada.

But to now reveal the horrible news that the speech itself closely echoed that of Mr. Howard's, transcribed by a harried speech writer, and portray it as a certain sign of a sinister mind, is truly clueless. "We have a prime minister who commits plagiarism," declares Stephane Dion.

Oh dear, spare us the histrionics, they're ill-placed. "Pressed for time, I was overzealous in copying segments of another world leader's speech," Owen Lippert, a former staffer for Stephen Harper admitted with his resignation. How utterly inglorious; one does feel sorry for the man.

Compare Mr. Harper's goodwill reliance on the ethics of a professional speechwriter, to the former premier of Ontario, Bob Rae's scandalously inept performance as a premier. Wait, I've forgotten something, this is the same Bob Rae who led the New Democratic Party to provincial victory; given the opportunity to demonstrate what an NDP government was capable of.

The less said the better, but surely Ontarians will not have forgotten. One, moreover, now aspiring to lead the Liberal Party to victory, and by extension, once the inadequately-performing leader of the Liberal Party has been expeditiously removed post-election, to take onto himself the mantle of leader. Tch, tch.