The Harper Dictatorship (Benevolent Warriors) . . .

When the Harpos lost the UN seat their first instinct was to blame someone else. Like little children unable to take responsibility for their own failures they turned to their nearest target. However, at some level they seemed to realize that blaming Ignatieff's rather mild and vague critique of Harper's history on the international stage has its drawbacks. There is an inherent suggestion here that Ignatieff is the most powerful man in Canada, and perhaps the world, because all he needs to do is make a few comments and the entire world pays attention.

So yesterday Lawrence Cannon framed another spin as well; this one was a suggestion that it was indeed the government's fault that the seat was lost but not because of their diplomatic failures or their childish bullying and fundamentally anti-UN stance these past years, but the world rejected Canada because the Harper Dictatorship was too (!?) principled. Cannon suggested that there were a group of countries out there that don't like Canada's values but he assured us that the Government was standing strong and wasn't going to pander to these mysterious and unnamed forces of darkness. Of course he didn't tell us what these values were or who exactly were rejecting them, he left that to our weary imaginations. If you haven't actually been paying attention over the past few years, this is pretty good spin because it is just vague enough to be contentless and plays the victim card. Canada hasn't failed diplomatically but has been the victim of an axis of evil which opposes the good work that the Harper dictatorship has been trying to do out their in the harsh world. But Harper's angels of benevolence will not be swayed from their duty to spread righteousness through the world and will not compromise their principles.

Jose Socrates

Angela Merkel

Of course, the first and most obvious problem with this spin is that it contains an inherent assumption that both Germany and Portugal who were victorious in their efforts to gains seats on the Security Council, DID compromise their principles and are part of this mysterious force of darkness out there. We can assume in this scenario that Germany's Prime Minister (a Conservative one with whom Harper shares much political ground) is the Evil emperor and Jose Socrates, Portugal's Prime Minister (and leader of the SOCIALIST Party! OMG!) is Darth Vader. The obviously offensive implication is that Germany's and Portugal's success is based upon their cooperation with the forces of darkness.

But the other problem with Lawrence Cannon's spin is that it is not based in any sort of fact unless we understand that the "principles" which the Harper Dictatorship is so boldly upholding are the principles of anti-democracy and fascism which they have consistently represented. This is the equivalent to Joseph Goebbels telling his citizens in 1940 that the allies are at war with Germany because they oppose all the good work that Germany has been doing. But of course, even Mr. Cannon is aware how tentative his spin is and that is why he was so vague and failed to actually name any of these 'principles' that he was upholding or any of the countries that so opposed him. In this sense Harper's clowns share much in common with Goebbels; when you lack a convincing or legitimate target - just make vaguely Nationalistic references and wait for the people to eat it up. 

So it goes.