More situational ethics are coming from the Conservative Party campaign operatives. Yet another one has to resign in disgrace and further humiliate Harper and bring his personal judgment and trustworthiness into question.
An admission of plagiarism by an experienced speech writer working directly for a political leader like Mr. Harper is serious stuff. This speech writer clearly knows better but did it anyway, presuming he would not get caught? This is not an example of the over-exuberance of some amateur blogger getting out of line. This is deliberate deception. It begs the question of if it was collusion with John Howard, the defeated Australian PM who gave the peech first.
This smacks so much of Harper’s hardball bullying political style of doing whatever it takes to get power. This does not look good on Mr. Harper’s judgment and qualities to govern. It shows the deceit and conniving we have seen from the Harper government and political culture goes a long way back - a long way back!
Canadians have not warmed to Mr. Harper since they gave him a minority government in January 2006. His bullying and opportunistic approach to politics has firmed up his base voter support but it has not given him any traction or momentum to break through for the majority government he covets in this election.
Harper’s approach is obviously to get personal political power at all costs and then bankrupt the Liberals in the process. He wants a one-party state, the Harper party. Is this the kind of person you think represent the foundational Canadian values? Is this the kind of person you want speaking for you as Prime Minister? Is this the kind of person you feel comfortable enough with to give the power to make the serious decisions public policy decisions that will impact your life directly?
It’s about character, competence and caring. We need both in our political leadership. We need servant leaders, not power hungry politicians. Harper is continuing to prove has not enough of these qualities of effective leadership. Be careful who you elect Canada. And be very afraid of giving Stephen Harper the absolute power of a majority government.
Er....uh....Ken:
ReplyDeletePerhaps you may want to QUIETLY do a little homework before the rocks start flying through the walls of glass houses. A simple google check - and this I outright lifted (plagiarized?) from someone else's blog, may suggest that Harper'speech writers may not be alone (although I won't make the same leap of logic that Libs do when they suggest that Harper's plagiarism is a personality flaw and not the fraud of a staffer) :
"
September 4, 2006
Stephane Dion’s Plagiarized Policy a Blemish on his Academic Career
So we hear from our not-so-dear friend Steve Janke that David Suzuki had a real good plan for cleaner air in this country. Stephane Dion thought it was such a good plan that he literally stole it.
Now before all you Chernamaniaks get on my case, I would like to point out that Stephane did not steal an idea or two, he took entire chunks of Suzuki’s plan, WORD FOR WORD, and passed it off as his own.
As a student, seeing Professor Dion’s campaign plagiarizing is outright shocking. If Dion submitted this report in any Canadian political science class, he would be given an F for plagiarism, and immediately fail the course.
As for dear Professor Dion, the first question I would ask as an aspiring journalist would be…If a student ever submitted that to you, what would you do to him/her?
Also, letting Stephane Dion off the hook for this would be like saying to political science students everywhere that when it comes to outside school, plagiarism is ok.
As an academic, plagiarism is the WORST possible accusation one can receive, as it is tantamount to academic fraud.
So as I prepare to walk into school for the first time this semester tomorrow morning and I sit down to hear the professors’ lecture about plagiarism and its consequences, it will carry a very different meaning, one a lot closer to my heart."
Thus endeth the lesson.
'Course you wouldn't expect the Lib left wing media (CBC et al) to expose their Dear Leader to any professional, balanced reporting would you.
What is interesting is wrapping a complete farce into a major indictment about a clearly innocent (for Harper) situation in which he was the victim of some sloppiness.
Presumably if Harper's dog defecates on someone's lawn because the dog slipped his leash, this will become an editorial of mammoth proportions decrying Harper's disregard for private property, and that we should all be worried because the same way Harper craps on property rights, he also craps on human rights....and... and....well...be very afraid!!!
Whoops - mea culpa.
ReplyDeleteDidn't get the full story.
Further research seems to indicate that Harper had no knowledge of his staffer's plagiarism, but Dion acknowledges that his was direct, full knowledge plagiarism, because when he - DION HIMSELF - was writing on environmental policy, he liked what Suzuki said so much, he just 'copied' what he wrote.
Hmmm
Let's see - when Harper's staffer does it - bad
When Dion does it himself - well let's move on.
Ken - you have to admit it, after you do your own due diligence, both you and the Liberal Party are spinning it wrong, and got it wrong.
This should be an interesting moment of personal moral judgment huh?
Hey Crackers...I will check out Steve's post. But remember there is no copyright in ideas. You know that given your business.
ReplyDeletePlagiarism is cheating and not the same thing has adopting good ideas from authoritative sources. Who does Harper think his is - Ralph Klein?
Harper is constantly adopting bad ideas from the soon to be gone George Bush and the thankfully defeated and gone Aussie John Howard.
There is one really "good" idea Harper must be especially proud of that he not only lifted from Howard's speech but was pure George Bushshit.
That was Harper's eagerness and insistence that We should be swallowing and adopting the lies Bush told the world about Iraq's unfound weapons of mass destruction. No WMDs...no Bin Laden either. Good work Bush!
Harper was quick to adopt those lies and tell us word for word - John Howard's words in fact, why Canada should follow Bush into a phony war based on pure Bushshit.
No sound reasons. No evidence of sound intelligence. Just Bush The Second fabricating fact and fear mongering and media manipulation. All done just so Dubya could be seen by "history" as a better "War Time President" than his Daddy. I'll see your Kuwait Daddy and raise you an Iraq.
So Bush ends up killing thousands and thousands of people - most of them civilians - and for no GOOD reason. Thank God Harper did not have power back then.
Let's hope Harper doesn't get the absolutely corrupting power of a majority government this time. I can just imagine what harm and destruction he would perpetrate with his half truths and message manipulations. I fear for what Harper would do with such unfettered power.
Now Bush is killing the American economy and Harper is still following hime in to recession with the failing Bush Economic Doctrine. Harper is wantonly leading Canada into the same economic disaster with bullshit Bear Stearns slogans about sound fundamentals. Harper is a disaster.
The character flaws rampant in the Harper War Room is resulting in a resigantion or two every week now. That damning set of character flaws in the War Room is becoming the embarrassing default position for the Harper campaign.
It is one thing to have good help Harper. It is better to have honest help with some semblance of humanity too.
We need a one-party state like the right-wing Stelmach government. Harper is the kind of person we want speaking for Canada as Prime Minister. This is the kind of person we feel comfortable enough with to give the power to make serious decisions, public policy decisions that will impact my life directly.
ReplyDeleteThank you for asking these questions. The answer is above.
Stephen Harper. One clear choice.
Ken: irrespective of what was said - whether what Harper unknowingly repeated verbatim from Howard, or whether his speech would have said the same thing differently - those are honest points of view that you and I will not agree on, but you miss the point.
ReplyDeleteThe Libs, the CBC and you castigate Harper for sloppiness on behalf of the staffer for activities 5 1/2 years ago.
Far more egregious by a huge degree is 2 years ago Dion couldn't write his own speech and come up with his OWN platform, and had to steal the idea and the words - DION ADMITS THIS WHEN HE WAS CAUGHT. He took the exact verbiage himself - not some well-meaning but misguided staffer - the guy you and the Libs and the CBC want as our Prime Minister - but Stephan Dion himself sat down with computer in hand and copied and pasted his platform directly from David Suzuki's own writing.
Everything you, Dion, the Libs, the CBC say about Harper has to be redirected with way way more significance to your guy Dion. The guy couldn't write a coherent platform or law when he was Environment Minister. He also couldn't write one when he - the professor - became the Leader of the Libs, evidently, and had to steal from Suzuki.
Even you have to take a hard swallow and admit that Dion stealing directly with full knowledge of what he was doing is a real character flaw in your leader, compared to Harper.
In fact, Harper is such a policy wonk and has such a solid ego, I suspect he is horrified that anyone would think that he needs someone other than he and his staff to write his own speeches.
Your guy has absolutely no shame. But what does he have to worry about? The mainstream media is so bent Liberal that this will never get discussed. Lucky your guy - he gets a free pass for being both a fraudster and a hypocrite in all of this......