Enter The Mini Leader
After The Leader, enter: The Mini Leader.
Maybe it's just me, but seeing priviledged politicians, who have never served one nanosecond as a soldier in an actual live war theater, and trying to play Mighty General, or Supreme Commander, for all to see, admire and fawn over - well, this simply grinds my stones.
I can't help it: I find such poseurs (and typically chickenhawks) who use patriotism and military servicemen/women like P.R. props, while in so doing putting the lives of said servicemen and women in grave danger, absolutely disgusting and nauseating.
If you think that I am refering to President G.W. Bush, Vice-President Dick B. Cheney and all their neocon ilk - you would be right ... and wrong.
I am specifically speaking here of my very own (Canadian neoconservative) Prime Minister, Stephen J. Harper.
Yes, Harper went to Afghanistan this week in a surprise visit (again) for a photo-op in military gear, to give a pep talk to our troops and to parrot the usual neocon Bush-like talking points - like "stay the course".
For a while now, I have repeatedly illustrated how Harper keeps on following in the footsteps of Bush - such as with regards to the Afghanistan War or Climate Change, as two examples among many.
Not convinced of this, yet? Then let's compare again some of Harper's words with some of Bush's:
And to think that one MSM journalist had the gall to report that Prime Minister Harper's "words no longer echoed the gunslinger idiom favored by U.S. President George W. Bush" in this week's speech to the troops. Are you kidding me?!?
Then again, this should not come as a surprise since the MSM was (predictably) largely fawning over the Prime Minister's staltwartness and historic bravery for being so near the front lines of the war (examples here, here, here and here).
Impolitical calls Stephen J. Harper "the Mini Bush". I could not agree more (as an aside, I recommend the reading of Impolitical's entries on Harper's latest visit to Afghanistan here, here, here and here - but I digress).
Still not entirely convinced? Then how about this: Prime Minister Harper is poised to join President Bush in scuttling or watering down any statement on climate change from the G8 summit of next month.
Better yet: while The Leader is quietly implementing a second surge of U.S. troops in Iraq, The Mini Leader is coyly planning to extend the Afghan mission of Canadian troops beyond their scheduled 02/2009 pull out. Why? Because "the work is not complete yet" (sayeth both The Leader and The Mini Leader).
Meanwhile, more soldiers die in Iraq and Afghanistan day after day after day after day, while those who keep sending more of them to their deaths parade and pose in military gear in order to dazzle the intellectual sloth-driven electorate with their boastful (but empty) patriotism and their politics of incompetence and lies, of ignorance and fear.
The final question is: when The Leader finally starts the Iran War, will The Mini Leader follow?
I keep hoping for (Canadian) federal elections ... soon.
(Cross-posted as a DKos Diary and at Diatribune)
Maybe it's just me, but seeing priviledged politicians, who have never served one nanosecond as a soldier in an actual live war theater, and trying to play Mighty General, or Supreme Commander, for all to see, admire and fawn over - well, this simply grinds my stones.
I can't help it: I find such poseurs (and typically chickenhawks) who use patriotism and military servicemen/women like P.R. props, while in so doing putting the lives of said servicemen and women in grave danger, absolutely disgusting and nauseating.
If you think that I am refering to President G.W. Bush, Vice-President Dick B. Cheney and all their neocon ilk - you would be right ... and wrong.
I am specifically speaking here of my very own (Canadian neoconservative) Prime Minister, Stephen J. Harper.
Yes, Harper went to Afghanistan this week in a surprise visit (again) for a photo-op in military gear, to give a pep talk to our troops and to parrot the usual neocon Bush-like talking points - like "stay the course".
For a while now, I have repeatedly illustrated how Harper keeps on following in the footsteps of Bush - such as with regards to the Afghanistan War or Climate Change, as two examples among many.
Not convinced of this, yet? Then let's compare again some of Harper's words with some of Bush's:
S.J. Harper (05/17/2006): "We honor those who take risks and make the ultimate sacrifice by making a commitment to staying the course".
G.W. Bush (04/05/2004): "(...) So we've got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course".
S.J. Harper (05/24/2007): "We can't set arbitrary deadlines (to get out of Afghanistan) and hope for the best".
G.W. Bush (11/30/2005): "(...) setting a deadline to pull out (of Iraq) is not a plan for victory".
S.J. Harper (05/23/2007): "I don't have to tell you ... the risk that terrorism will come home if we don't confront it here (in Afghanistan)".
G.W. Bush (07/04/2005): "We're taking the fight to the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home".
S.J. Harper (03/13/2006): "You (the soldiers) have put yourselves on the line to defend our national interests; protect Canada and the world from terror (...) it is in our national interest to see Afghanistan become a free, democratic and peaceful country".
G.W. Bush (11/30/2005): "We will not turn (Iraq) over to the terrorists and put the American people at risk. Iraq will be a free nation (...) and this will add to the security of the American people".
S.J. Harper (03/13/2006): "(...) cutting and running (from Afghanistan) is not your way. It's not my way".
G.W. Bush (04/21/2004): "We're not going to cut and run (from Iraq) if I'm in the Oval Office".
And to think that one MSM journalist had the gall to report that Prime Minister Harper's "words no longer echoed the gunslinger idiom favored by U.S. President George W. Bush" in this week's speech to the troops. Are you kidding me?!?
Then again, this should not come as a surprise since the MSM was (predictably) largely fawning over the Prime Minister's staltwartness and historic bravery for being so near the front lines of the war (examples here, here, here and here).
Impolitical calls Stephen J. Harper "the Mini Bush". I could not agree more (as an aside, I recommend the reading of Impolitical's entries on Harper's latest visit to Afghanistan here, here, here and here - but I digress).
Still not entirely convinced? Then how about this: Prime Minister Harper is poised to join President Bush in scuttling or watering down any statement on climate change from the G8 summit of next month.
Better yet: while The Leader is quietly implementing a second surge of U.S. troops in Iraq, The Mini Leader is coyly planning to extend the Afghan mission of Canadian troops beyond their scheduled 02/2009 pull out. Why? Because "the work is not complete yet" (sayeth both The Leader and The Mini Leader).
Meanwhile, more soldiers die in Iraq and Afghanistan day after day after day after day, while those who keep sending more of them to their deaths parade and pose in military gear in order to dazzle the intellectual sloth-driven electorate with their boastful (but empty) patriotism and their politics of incompetence and lies, of ignorance and fear.
The final question is: when The Leader finally starts the Iran War, will The Mini Leader follow?
I keep hoping for (Canadian) federal elections ... soon.
(Cross-posted as a DKos Diary and at Diatribune)
4 POVs/Comments:
I can only speak for myself, but such theatre-of-war photo ops just piss me off big time -- partly because everyone knows how staged it all is (i.e., if it weren't staged in that sense, Harper himself would be stationed in Afghanistan and fight the Taliban himself on a daily basis).
The one thing about all those wars that really stands out for me is a scene in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit movie where he gangs up on US congressmen and asks them, point-blank, whether their sons and daughters will be deployed in Iraq as well. They all ignore him and walk on -- talking about a non-answer being the best answer in the world. In so many ways, that's what Harper (and Bush too) is doing: as long as it's someone else's problems, as long as it's someone else's son or daughter who is killed in action, everything's just fine.
Exactly.
Such posing is utterly hypocritical as well as demeaning (if not dishonoring) all those men and women sent to fight and die - especially in a war of choice like the Iraq War.
And of course, it is never (or very rarely) the sons and daughters of the chickenhawks and poseurs who must be sacrificed.
While the Afghanistan War is not so easily identifiable as a war of choice, the way it has been run (and left uncompleted) smacks of incompetence.
My worry here is that Mini Leader seeks to cover The Leader's arse by planning to extand the tour of our troops in Afghanistan - probably hoping The Leader will finally see "victory" in Iraq and *then* redeploy more U.S. troops back to Afghanistan.
In effect, Mini Leader may be gambling the lives of our soldiers to "have the back" of his dear Leader.
The artificallity, mendacity and incompetence of neocons (Canadian and American ones) have become staggering, if not mind-boggling ...
I agree about the potential consequences for Canada. At least, last time, we had a PM (Chrétien) who was smart enough to prevent Canada from being dragged into this mess. But with Harper? Who knows?
Exactly.
I may have never been a "fan" of Mr. Chrétien, but at least he did one thing absolutely right: not take us into the (predictably) Iraq mess.
But with Mr. Harper's tendency (if not outright pinning) for G.W. Bush's approval ... I find myself dreading what is to come ahead.
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