Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Sponsorship Whistleblower now Blowing for the Conservatives

Allan Cutler, the man who blew the whistle on the Sponsorship program, was unveiled today as the Conservative party’s “Star Candidate” in the Ontario riding of Ottawa South. Conservatives hailed this as a political masterpiece that would be the final nail in the coffin of their hated rivals the Liberal Party of Canada. With Harper and his cohorts running on their Federal Accountability Act Cutler would seem like a perfect fit. The only problem I see in Cutler’s opening the door to Stephen Harper’s ascension to 24 Sussex Drive is this:

People are totally and mind-bogglingly sick of hearing about the Sponsorship scandal.

If you watch politics like I do, you’d know that since the scandal broke the Conservatives have talked about little else. They’ve been milking the sponsorship cow for so long they weren’t even called the Conservative Party when they started! And I think the tit’s about to run dry. If I had a dollar for every time Stephen Harper has said each of the words “Scandal, Gomery, Mismanagement, Waste, Corrupt, Cronyism, Boondoggle, and Entitlement” I’d have enough money to literally buy Canada and kick all the Conservatives out.

This goes double for people who don’t follow politics actively like I do, because the only place they ever hear about it is on the front page of their local paper or on the six o’clock news, the last time they would have heard Harper talk about anything other than the sponsorship scandal would be February of 2003! That’s thirty-four months ago.

thirty
………………………four………………….

Now, I’ve heard that the Conservatives are actually planning to campaign on something other than the Sponsorship scandal this time. The problem with that is that it is already too late. When you talk about something non-stop for thirty-four months people tend to remember that and tune out anything else you have to say.

So, is there any hope for the Conservatives? Of course! This is politics, literally anything can happen, but if they win the election it will be because the Liberals lost it. This race is the Liberal’s to lose.

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