All Neocons Use The Same Talking Points, Mr. Rae

This is not surprising:

Rae accuses Harper of plagiarizing speech on Iraq

Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae on Tuesday accused Conservative Leader Stephen Harper of plagiarizing a speech from Australian Prime Minister John Howard in a 2003 address in the House of Commons calling for Canadian troops to be deployed to Iraq.

At a campaign appearance in Toronto, Rae played video showing then prime minister Howard speaking to the Australian Parliament on March 18, 2003, alongside video of an address by Harper — at the time the leader of the Canadian Alliance — two days later in Ottawa.

The two speeches have lengthy duplicate passages.

Rae called the apparent duplication "shocking," saying it reveals the ideological approach of the Harper government in shaping Canada's foreign policy.

"How does a political leader in Canada's Parliament, on such a crucial issue, in fact an issue that in many ways defined our foreign policy for a generation, end up giving the exact same speech as another country's leader?" Rae said. "Let alone one who was the key leader of George W. Bush's 'coalition of the willing.' "

Howard was a stalwart ally of the Bush administration in the Iraq war and deployed Australian forces to participate in the U.S.-led invasion of the country in March 2003, which other world leaders, including then Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien, opposed.

The actual point here is that Howard himself "borrowed" heavily on Bush-Cheney talking points to sell the Iraq war in Oz Land.

Harper only did the same to try to sell the Iraq war over here.

As he did to minimize global warming, dissmiss/demean/kill Kyoto and stall every further global warming international talks so far.

As he did to push further oil production from the Alberta tar sands.

As he did to make Canada the torch-bearer for the Afghanistan war.

As he did (and still does) to make us "strong" militarily.

As he does to deny our worsening economy.

As he does to push "trickle-down" economics down our throats.

Because Harper, and Howard, are conservative/republican/neocons adjuncts who not only follow lock-in-step the American G.O.P./neocon philosophy, but accordingly take their talking point lead from the standard bearers of the American G.O.P.

Case in point - Harper's own words back in June 1997, at a Montréal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing U.S. think tank:

Your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world.

Hence, that is why nearly all conservative/republican/neocon adherents throughout the Western World use the same playbook for their campaigns, which inevitably are about character, fearmongering, toughness on crime, toughness on security, pro-military, pro-corporate, pro-oil production, anti-gun control and pro-Christian "social conservative" moral values.

What I call the same old song and dance.

And that is why I've wondered before whether Harper served the U.S., instead of us.

And that is why McCain sounds like Bush-Cheney.

And that is why Harper now sounds not only like Bush-Cheney, as before, but also as McCain.

Any questions?


(Cross-posted at NetRoots)