The Better Alchemist Won
That Stephen Harper breezed casually to victory on the first ballot at the new Conservative Party of Canada’s Saturday leadership vote was neither unexpected, nor unwelcome. Of the three candidates, only Harper has the requisite experience and acumen to master the political alchemy of turning underdog lead into leadership gold. At this time, with the Liberal government floundering in the deep end of the hubris pool, the Tories need a seasoned man at the helm. As I noted in my last column:
"By next week, after dealing with the earnest but forsaken Tony Clement and the obscenely opportunistic Belinda Stronach, Stephen Harper will be the newly elected alpha male of the federal pack. With the right leader, a series of well-organized forays over the next few months could return them to the top of the political food chain. And they should all feed well this season. Their primary prey is scattered, ill and broken. There will be many necks exposed. My advice is to go for the jugular every time."
Even the fiscal Socialist Michael Coren thinks Harper is the right magician, at the right time, for not just the party, but the nation. And, as he wrote last week, even some far-left NDPers think so, too:
"I am writing this column before we know who will be the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. I can only hope, and believe, it will be Stephen Harper....
"But it is Harper who can seriously undermine the rancid Liberal machine and change the political future of this nation. Federal Liberalism stinks. Let me be specific and careful here. There are many fine men and women in the Liberal Party, who care very deeply for Canada. But the confidence of power has become an arrogant smugness, a malodorous assumption of victory.
"I've even heard some hardened New Democrats and labour leaders tell me they would rather have a Conservative government in power than more of the Liberal chokehold on the throat of this country. That, let me tell you, is quite something."
It is indeed, Michael. What’s next; editorialists at the Globe & Mail quietly whispering of a secret revulsion to buggery? CBC writers holding a Seder and selling Israel Bonds?
Right.
And Michael, his leftist friends, and I aren’t the only ones who see Harper as a viable candidate for Prime Minister. On Coren’s CFRB radio show last night, the Live Listener Poll asked the listeners whether or not they would vote for Stephen Harper. Well over 80% of a predominantly Ontario audience, one not noted for it’s Tory sympathies, said they would.
Looks like the chattering wizards of the punditry coven are wrong again: This ex-Alliance alchemist has got appeal east of the Manitoba border, after all.
Of course, this appeal will in no way stifle the invective of those in media who cannot stand the thought of anyone even liking a Conservative leader, never mind being willing to vote for one. The Warlocks of Wordiness will ceaselessly chant their tired incantations of "red-neck", "racist" and "misogynist Christian war-monger", hoping to cast a decent, sensible prince of a man into a warty toad. The uninformed Zombies of the Canadian electorate will soon be spoon-fed a witches brew of raw lies and bile in order to revivify them just long enough to vote Liberal.
But Stephen Harper is on to them. In his victory speech he nailed it:
"The tired, old, corrupt Liberal Party is, right now, cornered like an angry rat. They are going to attack us like we've never been attacked before.
"They will attempt to open old wounds. They will do this because this is the only way they can survive. We cannot allow this to happen. We must unite as a team."
It is a testament to the skill and dignity of the man that he stopped short of including the members of the mainstream Canadian media when he spoke of cornered rats, and the openers of old wounds. And, it is a measure of the wisdom and morality of the man when, to the certain disgust of those unnamed enemies he ended his speech with “God Bless Canada.”
All I can think to say now is, "Hurry up Stephen. Let’s get the lead out!"
