Jan 21, 2006 (all emphasis added):
... Harper and his team ran a tighter, better scripted campaign. In particular, his incumbent MPs and candidates stayed "on message" as the phrase goes. There was little talk of same-sex marriage beyond stating that a free vote may be held as a result of a private member's bill. There have been no loose cannons talking about tougher abortion laws or clawing back charter rights.
May 11, 2006:
Anti-abortion activists are calling on the Stephen Harper government to restrict abortion...
Several thousand demonstrators converged on Parliament Hill today for the annual March for Life, calling for a new law limiting access to abortion.
At least a dozen Conservative and Liberal backbench members of Parliament, along with several senators, spoke to the crowd, urging them to keep up their fight.
And we all know Stephen runs a tight ship and will brook no dissent, right? Right?
But a source in the prime minister's office says such a controversial move is not in the cards.
"We have no intention of raising the abortion issue," said the source, who did not want to be identified.
Ah, good. Always nice to know that you can get your official CPC policy from an anonymous source in the PM's office. I feel so reassured.
AFTERSNARK: What's curious is why any of the mainstream media consider an anti-abortion rally to be "news" anymore since nothing "new" is ever presented. One can pretty much write a generic rally news piece in one's sleep:
There was an anti-abortion rally at (insert location here) yesterday. An estimated (insert number here) people attended. Many waved Bibles, invoked the name of "God" and proclaimed the sanctity of life for the unborn.
Did I miss anything?
9 comments:
I know what you mean re anonymous sources, but just because Harper lets them bark at throw toys on the lawn doesn't mean he's gonna let them widdle on his couch.
These protesters are so predictable. I can almost guarantee they are the same ones who believe they have the right to impose their will on the gay community. The inevitable anti-gay rallies are just around the corner. Gee, I can't wait for all this religious freedom.
I'm ashamed to say that I was too frightened to counter-protest at the crazy annual 10th-12th May Forced Childbirth rallies they have here in Ottawa.
Last year when I organized a rally to oppose them (they hijack the freaking Human Rights Monument, ffs), it went ok at first, but then the KoC showed up and started pushing us in front of cars. They're terrifying.
If by "several thousand" you mean about "one thousand" then yeah, this is accurate, I guess.
There were more farmers in the Hill three weeks ago than these anti-abortion yahoos. And Look how much Harper has paid attention to them...
At least a dozen Conservative and Liberal backbench members of Parliament, along with several senators, spoke to the crowd, urging them to keep up their fight.
Is there any point in pretending that there's a marked difference between the Liberals and the CPC?
Why would any progressive in his or her right mind support the Liberal Party anymore?
littlefury:
I'm aware that there were Liberal backbenchers there as well, but that wasn't relevant to my point, which was that it's Stephen Harper who claims to run a tight ship and had appeared to promise that abortion would not be an issue with his party. And yet, here we have a number of CPC MPs running their mouths on that very subject.
Whether there were Liberals, NDPers or freaking Martians there doesn't diminish that point.
Are we clear or do I have to explain this again?
P.S. And I'm not done with the Liberals on this point either. That's coming in a separate post.
I noticed that with Vellacott's comments re: the Chief Justice.
If Harper is allegedly running things so tightly his MPs aren't sneezing without his permission, what's the message here when they're saying things he then has to protest "Do not represent the Party"?
Either, he has no control, but deliberately chooses not to punish those who ignore his dictates to not pass their public comments through the PMO...
...or he has control and is letting them say things to test the waters of public opinion and get the 'meme' out where it can be repeated, while simultaneously retaining ability to distance the individual from Party officialness if backlash hits.
With Luntz's advice lurking in the background, which is more likely?
Re: Liberal MPs coming out in support of anti-WomenOwningThemselves and other uncivil rights movements, it would be a good thing to bring up with the Liberal leadership candidates, wouldn't it? A Very Good Thing tm.
"I'm aware that there were Liberal backbenchers there as well, but that wasn't relevant to my point, which was that it's Stephen Harper who claims to run a tight ship and had appeared to promise that abortion would not be an issue with his party. And yet, here we have a number of CPC MPs running their mouths on that very subject."
My comment was more a general observation, so I don't know if the snark was quite necessary.
Look, everyone knows the CPC is a chock full of loons, reactionaries and bigots. We know it. The CPC leadership clearly knows it. The people who vote for the CPC, by and large, know it (in most cases that's exactly why they vote for them). No matter how much the try to paint themselves as moderate, events like this always bring out their true colours. So in that sense, it is important to highlight such displays, but at the same time, I'm less interested in the authoritarian bigot party acting like authoritarian bigots than I am in the suppossed alternative to said bigots behaving the same way. All that to say I look forward to see what you have to say about those clowns.
As to your main point, I think niles has it right: Harper is using his backbenchers to float trial balloons in order to give himself distance from controversial comments made by "mavericks" while allowing him to get the ideas out into the media. As the G.O.P has shown, all it takes to advance a radical agenda is to get the ideas into the mainstream. And we know who's giving the CPC tips...
A pro-life rally is considered news because millions of people are interested in the abortion issue, both fetal rights people and abortion rights people. It got your attention, didn't it?
Harper didn't promise that abortion wouldn't be an issue among his MP's, he promised not to introduce legislation.
I was at the March for Life, and I proudly stood up for the rights of unborn children. There were several thousand people there. The parade stretched several blocks long.
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