A sampling from the American press:
Here, here, here, and here.
New Zealand:
Here.
Australia:
Here and here.
Taiwan:
Here.
China:
Here
Not to mention every international news organization. There's more, but you get the gist.
Imagine if this was really news, Conservative apologists?
14 comments:
Lets hope the is a good follow up plan.
There is a long List of Stephen Harpers broken promises that is not getting a lot of public attention.
Its just a matter of deciding which one is the flavour of the day, and having a well organized attack.
This election is finally getting interesting.
Haha, that certainly is embarrassing, I must say.
Not that I'd complain from my point of view, but I'd find it rather ironic if Canadians finally started scrutinizing the Harper record over something because it gets massive coverage internationally, rather then anything said so far domestically.
Just thought I'd see if I could find Bush's speech from that same time period, found it at http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/3/17/215133.shtml. It clearly was written by someone different than the man/men who wrote the Howard/Harper speech. At no time do parallel sentences appear, although all the talking points are there. Here http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/realitycheck/sheppard/20060518.html is Howard's visit to Stephen in 2006.
I agree with Scott (is there an apocalypse abrewin'?), I'm not sure that many Canadians read the international media, or necessarily care about it.
But this sucks for Harper internationally. He's forever branded a speech stealer. Which is bad enough for low level politicians, but for heads of government, it's pretty bloody embarrassing. Biden still hasn't lived it down, and he did it, like, 100 years ago.
"This is just silly. Are there no real issues to debate?"
Sure - let's talk about how Dion will raise the GST.
Except he won't.
Or how about how he is going to take away the child care payment?
Except he won't.
So I guess we could talk about how desperate Harper is to get his majority that he has to make things up.
I suspect the only people who actually read those sections of the papers are those who follow politics closely. The Globe and Mail had something not too long ago on the Bavarian state election results and another today on a possible early Greek election due to the expulsion of a few members possibly reducing the governing party to minority status. Yet I doubt many Canadians know much about those countries. As much as I don't like Harper, generally speaking most people outside Canada cannot name our PM, any of his policies, or even what ideology he subscribes too. Mind you how many Canadians know much about the politics of Holland, Norway, Denmark, Austria, or Poland.
As for ideology, it would be interesting to see how Harper would fair globally. I would like to think he would get crushed, but considering that it seems almost every liberal democracy has at least 1/3 of its population who are right wing, I doubt this would happen. I should note the lack of ideological right wing governments in Europe has more to do with the fact you need to get over 50%, not 40% to win a majority there as most use PR not FTFP.
Still when it comes to getting things done globally for Canada, those who matter tend to know a fair bit about our politics even if 90% of the population doesn't.
Nah, it's just "gotcha journalism" so it does not matter. That's their new favorite nonsensical excuse. Mike Duffy repeated that excuse tonight. Lee Richardson racist remark? Nah it's gotcha journalism, it does not matter.
Are they running out of excuse. That is kind of a lame excuse. Gotcha? you bet.
Is this for publication? Heh.
Don't forget Iran and the Netherlands!
I wonder what Australians think of our PM now?
Scotian said...
If Harper is willing to take his foreign policy lead from foreign leaders on a matter so fundamentally important as whether to go to war or not, it raises the question "What else would Harper take from foreigners regarding Canadian policy, including economic policy?", especially if smart war roomers consider asking it aloud in the hearing of media mikes and/or in ads. After all, Harper is a well known strong follower of the same economic theories that the Straussians in America follow, the same people that have been running the US Executive Branch for the past eight years and who are now being branded with the main responsibility for the current economic woes in the financial markets.
I would also love to see people being reminded of Harper's letter in the WSJ apologizing to Americans for Canada's Iraq decision and claiming that the majority of Canadians supported and were with the Americans in spirit, I suspect that would also not go down too well. That was one of the most offensive acts I have seen ANY Opposition leader take regarding foreign policy in my lifetime regarding the foreign policy decisions taken in the Canadian Parliament, and it was clearly bootlicking at GWB's, Blair's, AND Howard's feet regarding Iraq. People used to believe in the idea that one does not take domestic differences abroad, and I suspect that regarding the Iraq War decision that would still apply to many if reminded of this disgusting act, especially daring to claim the majority was with Harper and the Bushies when that was never the case regarding Iraq.
I am preparing to write a post soon dealing with the fact that Harper is clearly running a Republican campaign and government despite operating in a Parliamentary system of government, because I think it shows exactly why he is so fundamentally dangerous to the future of this nation and the institutions we have built that the vast majority of Canadians clearly support and agree with. When I say Republican btw I do not merely mean in terms of the GOP (although that is an element too) but literally, that he acts as if he is running a Republican governmental structure as opposed to a Parliamentarian one. It really explains his actions both as PM and in how he has run this campaign. I hope to have it done by the end of the week, I haven't been doing much to date in part because I really haven't been in the best of health for the past while and it takes a lot out of me to write these kinds of posts at Saundrie. Until then...
(I am also posting this in another thread here tonight, I normally do not do this but I want to make sure it is seen so I will add it to the more recent thread dealing with this controversy regarding the speeches, I hope you will forgive me for this rare cut and paste action on my part Steve V)
Scotian, well said. Copy and paste away :)
PrairieWrangler (Olaf?) are you kidding? Canadians put more weight in what Jay Leno says than they do in Peter Mansbridge. Possibly with good reason some nights too, I might add. The international media picking up on this is a huge break for the ABC campaigns across the country, because people who try to insulate themselves from Canadian politics are being exposed to the cold truth about Stephen Harper's deceptions.
One can readily see the Conservative bias in the CTV "news". As these significant developments are being picked up as front page news by international media, and the story was one of the top ones on CBC's "The National", the CTV news buried the story at about the halfway mark of the broadcast.
On another note, its amusing that Harper cannot even be original when "Standing up for Canada" (as he puts it).
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