« Tell A Fellow Tory You Love Her (or Him) | Main | The Prophet (PBUH) Comes to Canada »
February 13, 2006
The Best Last Words on the Emerson/Fortier Thing
What I said last Wednesday:
This is not a call to arms. In the past ten years, Stephen Harper has done more for conservatives in Canada than Jean Charest, Joe Clark, Preston Manning, and Stockwell Day, combined. For conservatism to win an enduring victory in Canada, sacrifices must be made along the way, and we cannot pick all our fights at once. But this is a wake-up call, a reminder to us on the Right that we can win while holding on to our principles, that we can put those principles aside but never throw them away, and that we diminish our greatest strengths at our own peril. We do not seek to punish victory, but merely to march beside it and whisper in its ear, “Respice post te! Hominem te esse memento!”
What AC says today:
By their evident dismay at these two appointments, the Tory base has sent an important message to the government: we are not to be trifled with. They have adjusted the political scales in their favour. In future, the government will not be so quick to take them for granted.
Now put those two points together. Suppose, in the face of these abrupt departures from principle, the party had burped contentedly, and gone to sleep. What message would that have sent to the broader public? That indeed, the Tories were no different from the Grits. Instead, a good section of the base rebelled, even over a decision that benefited the party in a narrow political sense. Harper's reputation may be diminished after this week, but the party's, if you ask me, has been enhanced.
Same idea, infinitely better words (a lot more straightforward, for one). I suppose that's why he's one of, if not the best political columnists in this country, and I'm the sucker shilling out for a National Post subscription.
Posted by Kelvin at February 13, 2006 1:39 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.kelvin-chan.net/mt/mt-tb.cgi/202
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)