Making an early appearance: The Tory Syndrome
February 8, 2006 · By Peter Rempel
#1: Read this book.
#2: Read this post by a Blogging Tory.
#3: Say, “Oh, now I understand why the Liberals were in power for most of the last century.”
Update: Steve Janke is keeping a list of Blogging Tories who have come out supporting Harper on this issue.
Update 2:: Andrew has responded to this post here. He is a nice guy and disagreeing with him is always a chore.
from earlier this week just how far he was willing to go on this, but seeing him on Duffy today answered that question (see the clip with Turner & Peter Stoffer). And before anyone starts calling Harper a dictator, give some serious thought to theTory Syndrome and ask yourself just how bright a light you must be to ‘dis the boss, publicly, in the middle of a media-generated sh*tstorm by jumping onto the media bandwagon. Jason Kenney wasn’t happy & neither was James Moore. They found a talking point “Mr.
You are right. This over the top overreaction is a bit scary. The fiberals always support their side. I guess some of us prefer purity over being government. Remind yourself how the fiberals governed while reform was so pure!
Good point. I guess the problem is that the Conservatives have the baggage of true believers. Right wing idealogues that demand purity to their vision. The NDP has these in lefty clothing too.
Both these parties then, have a constituency that is more interested in protecting that vision than winning elections. The Liberals having no real values except pragmatism, a love of social engineering and winning have become a very difficult force to beat. They can rebrand themselves strategically and win electoral points while the NDP and Reform movements were hindered from moving deftly by the baggage of actually believing in deep seated core values.
Both the NDP and Conservatives have moved closer to the liberal model. Harper took a big step to this “pragmatic”-strategic model with his cabinet selection. The trick will be to still keep a grip on the core values that separate them from the squishy amoral liberalism that has slowly and surely been killing our country.
I for one will give Harper a chance to try to govern. I hope to god he can do it and I think True Tories need to loosen up and give him a chance. The hysterical reaction doesn’t bode well but we will see.
If the liberals get in again I can always move to Denmark.
No kidding, Pete. Harper’s very first day and Knify McStabberson is actively organizing against Harper and the CPC. Dissent is one thing, actively organizing riding revolts against Harper on his first day is…well, you have to laugh. The blogger in question thinks by organizing riding revolts he is being “moderate”.
At best, this brouhaha is based on ignorance of history, politics, and Harper’s stated policies; at worst, it’s something far more sinister. Bloody nest of traitors.
I think some good can come of this, though. The people who screamed loudest about this are shutting up now because it turns out Harper really isn’t out of line in this matter based on his words and historical precedent. The Shrieeeekers will look mught foolish if Emerson closes the deal on softwood lumber, which I think is likely. They hurt their own reputations more than Harper’s by freaking out over this.
This has been an enlightening situation for me anyway. I have come to dispise the Liberals for that ’squishy amoral liberalism’ that Gregor so aptly describes, but witnessing the frenzy of self-immolation from many of the ‘true-believers’ on the Conservative front has been painful.
I don’t vote for fanatics of ANY stripe, and I am NOT alone. They can’t be trusted to ’see reason’. The presence of this personality type within the Party is precisely what made Reform unelectable in much of the country.
Frankly I hope Harper manages to build a new governing coaliton WITHOUT this group. They don’t care about actually accomplishing anything’ they really just want be feel ‘PURE’.
Unhappily, politics is many things but ‘pure’ is not one of them.
I can’t help but think how a lot of this recent non-sense stems from a lack of any real civics education in Canada. The media gets away with murder misconstruing the workings of Canada’s parliamentary democracy under constitutional monarchy, leaving many either not mad enough at what a government is doing (ie. Martin ignoring non-confidence votes in the House last May) or over-reacting over nothing (ie. MPs crossing the floor OR appointing Ministers to the Senate to put them in Cabinet. In the first, this practice is as old as parliament itself—it’s certainly not antidemocratic in our tradition. In the second, it is the PM’s cabinet and he should be given the benefit of the doubt on getting who he wants as long as they are parliamentarians—the PM is ultimately responsible for all ministers anyway.).
Unfortunately, the media seems to think politics only entails a soap opera of personality clashes.
Yeah, the over-the-top criticism has been pretty unbelievable. I am not saying that Harper’s moves are crystal pure, but they do not make him the hypocrite that some of the screaming BTers say he is. Perhaps people should let Harper and the Tories govern for a while before they judge this move. I for one still support him. Of course my support will not be blind… but nor will it be petulantly removed by one perceived injustice.
People loudly complaining about this sound kind of like whining children upset they don’t have candy sprinkles with their cake and ice cream.
I think George is right to place alot of emphasis on the media here. If you read the Toronto Star story on this today, it’s full of quotes from unnamed sources within the CPC party which are critical of Harper. Well who the f**k are these sources? Carole Jamieson?
It’s one thing for opposition MPs to have a tough time adapting to the pragmatics of being in power. They’ll learn. But for the media to be all outraged about this (not to mention the Liberals) is completely disingenuous.
[...] against this kind of stuff,” the MP said. Peter Rempel has decided that I am a fine example of “Tory Syndrome” for this [...]