Friday, March 14, 2008

"I look forward to seeing the Leader of the Opposition actually let this go to trial so he can hear the whole truth and admit his own role in it."

Stephen Harper, yesterday in Question Period. Harper can't wait to hear Dion in court, defending his role. Only trouble with that wish:
Liberal MPs could invoke parliamentary privilege to delay testifying in the prime minister's libel suit over bribery allegations - a tactic Stephen Harper himself has used before.

Harper invoked parliamentary privilege last year after longtime Tory Alan Riddell sued him and the Conservative party for allegedly libelling him during the last federal election.

Canadian courts have ruled that parliamentarians aren't compelled to appear at legal proceedings while the House of Commons is in session.
Nor do they have to appear 40 days after the end of a session, or 40 days before the next one begins.
That narrows the window when an MP might be compelled to testify. Sessions only end when elections are called or when the government prorogues Parliament.

It's actually kind of comical, Harper makes threats, then backs down, Harper tells Dion to be weary, but seems to forget the precedent he set, hiding from the courts.

The best part, this story, which just rehashes the entire affair, only makes it to publication because of Harper's libel suit. Harper, the strategic genius, throws a few logs on a fire.

One suggestion, when asked by reporters, the Liberals should refer to the parliamentary privilege angle as the "Harper Defence". Too rich for words.

As an aside, Kady O'Malley has a great post on the bumbling pointman for the Conservatives, James Moore.

12 comments:

Paladiea said...

He sounds like the trolls that were commenting on your earlier posts! "I can't wait..." and "I'm looking forward.."

This confirms it. Harper is a garden variety troll at heart.

Steve V said...

That seems to be all they can say paladiea. Poor things.

Mark Richard Francis said...

Harper is trying to turn this around. He wants this scandal to be about Dion.

This suit is anything but private. It is completely political in nature.

Anonymous said...

Dion essentially pleading the fifth.

That'll look real good.

Also, if you think that only sitting MP's had involvement in the posting you're nutz.

What's more likely is the underlings will be pointing the finger to Dion et al saying "he made me do it".

Dion holding his hand over his mouth in the circumstances would be best case scenario.

Anonymous said...

"harper's trying to turn this around",

yeah, that's like a bank robber saying the prosecutor is trying to "turn it around" on him.

Newsflash: it was Dion who smeared Harper will allegations he committed criminal acts with no factual basis whatsoever.

......wait, wait, the sinister Harper somehow made Dion say those maliciously libelous statements......that's it....eeeevil Harper.

Steve V said...

"That'll look real good."

Worked for Harper :)

nikki

Pay attention, he dropped the suit against Dion, that was last week.

You guys are a hoot.

Demosthenes said...

This lawsuit is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen, and I'd honestly love to find out the true rationale for it. It surely isn't actually what it seems to be, but then what is it?

Red Canuck said...

James Moore is yet another in the long line of buffoons that Harper feeds to the sharks as frontmen for his various misadventures. (Think Sandra Buckler, Jim Prentice, Rahim Jaffer etc etc)

Harper is so tight-lipped about things, his own spokespeople have no idea what's actually going on. They just get thrust in front of the camera with their talking points, and end up bumbling and fumbling trying to make patently absurd arguments. O'Malley's take on Moore was particularly funny.

burlivespipe said...

Anything that reminds Canadians about Harper's litigenous habits -- and failing miserably at them, too -- is good fodder for the gander. I'm also enjoying the well-overlooked irony on this 'tape has been edited' detour and its interesting relationship to Harper's own fingerprints on the whole Snoop Grewal tape escapade. Seems these lying, cahorting and ethically lobotomized CON team only uses the same 4 tricks in their soiled bag.

burlivespipe said...

After reading Kady's funny reprisal of Moore at the stake, it only seems plausible that the jolly Port Moody mouthpiece can't get his stubby paws on a copy of the tape because the CONs are now selling copies of the tape. Could it be a new fundraising ploy, or perhaps part of Ezra's publicity tour for the Cadman book? How else to explain Moore not having 'heard' the tape... If the gov't has a copy, maybe he should knock on the door and see if Stevie will give him the secret passcode to come in for a brief boo.
What a bunch of CONNY clowns!

Steve V said...

It is pretty revealing, that the Cons point man in this affair, doesn't even know if the PMO has a tape. Obviously, Moore was just given his three lines, the minion not privy to the details.

Anonymous said...

Well, I think the Liberal Party should countersue Harper for libel. What reason?

Harper as plantiff has control of who is called to produce documents, or provide evidence.

If the Liberal Party countersues, they will have a similar right to demand production of memos, email, telephone logs, airplane ticket info, hotel and car rental or taxi info, la de da etc.

We can look forward to seeing the Liberal Party forcing this to trial. Harper will crumple like the front-end on a rustbucket beater.