The fact that Stephen Harper mistakenly thought Michael Ignatieff was the author of a warning that Canada could lose G8 status misses the point. Substandard staff work? Sure. But at root, it was simply a mistake, for which Harper quickly, if tersely, apologized.
It's the ease, nay alacrity, with which Harper slips into a nasty tone that reveals so much about Harper's character. "Ignatieff is supposed to be a Canadian," he snarled, implying that the Liberal leader's patriotic bona fides are somehow less than his own. The same ugly tone plays out in Harper's TV attack ads, a polite grilling about...
11 July, 2009