The Conservatives’ favourite fat wheezy boy with the half-time oranges and the note from matron writes thusly:
Michael Ignatieff was also in attendence [sic] but only for the gold medal game. The Liberal leader and grandson of a Minister to a Russian tsar [sic] took a break from writing a book on his family history long enough to recognize the tournament and descend to mingle with the masses. Ignatieff had a rare chance of witnessing a Canadian hockey victory while living in Canada – the distinguished academic has been largely abroad since the late 60s. A friend joked that Ignatieff told TSN, “I am a fan of the game of hockey, but not necessarily a hockey fan.” For the two men, Harper and Ignatieff, hockey underscores a vital political strength or weakness. For the Prime Minister, voters select someone they see in themselves and they pick someone who understands and shares their concerns. For Ignatieff, voters will sever him if he cannot genuinely tie himself with the threads that line our hearts.
Good grief, what a massive shitload of bollocks.
Red Tory v.3.0.3 
So the meme is essentially that all true Canadians love Harper because his indelible spirit is interwoven with the fabric of the fatherland. (see I can spew fascist propaganda bullshit too).
Excuse me while I go clean up now.
“tie himself with the threads that line our hearts”.
I’ll try to remind myself of that when next I’m in a voting booth.
this is the first time i’ve ever actually read anything by taylor. i can see why miserable hacks are attracted to him. remove all the inuendo and you’re left with barely a sentence’s worth.
devotion to hockey, huh? that’s taylor’s barometer? when republicans start a class war, they at least have the good sense to blame it on the latte-sipping elitists.
KEvron
I am becoming afraid. What up with the vaunted War Room of Harper? Are they dropping the ball here or just taking it out of play while they dream up a new game?
Gak! that line about tying himself with threads from our hearts…
I’ll say this: anyone who needs to be tied up, or dreams about being bound, or who wants to be on a string of government has more than a few screws loose.
Is this the sort of discourse the average Canadian can expect from the heart-stringed newest Canadian government banjo thumpers?
In all, I prefer to hear from the Death Star and puffin-poopin’ minions than this heart-rending and string-winding drivel from a paid media operative. Even if it is tax-payer paid versus Con Party paid, which we will likely never know anyway.
Heh. You really don’t like Stephen Taylor, do you Red?
I fucking hate hockey and Tim Horton’s….
Walker — No, I don’t. In my opinion he’s an unctuous, self-serving toady and thoroughly disingenuous hack that is, more often than not, willfully dumb as a sack of hammers. Essentially, he’s nothing but a shameless propagandist without the least bit of intellectual consistency or integrity.
Consider that the sickening drivel noted above came from the same person who recently offered the following as part of his “sincere” advice to the Liberal Party:
A little difficult to square with another ridiculous assertion Taylor made several months ago that “conservatives” aren’t driven by emotion like hapless, mush-brained “liberals”…
That’s amusing Red – Stephen’s lecture to the Liberals I mean, with that line.
I’d get a link for that if you could.
Scott — Here it is:
http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2008/10/sincere-advice-for-the-liberal-party-of-canada/
The comments after the “article” were priceless!! Thanks for posting it.
Taylor :For the two men, Harper and Ignatieff, hockey underscores a vital political strength or weakness. For the Prime Minister, voters select someone they see in themselves and they pick someone who understands and shares their concerns.
And yet for their embrace of Mr. Harper, the Canadian public only gave him a minority government, which has hampered Harper’s ability to govern. Possibly this has to do with the tall poppy syndrome where people do not like seeing one of their own do well.
“For the Prime Minister, voters select someone they see in themselves and they pick someone who understands and shares their concerns”
Uh huh. Right. I don’t see average Canadians running out and investing in the stock market, buying up those great deals Harper was talking about.
Anyway, this is all just the beginning of ‘them’ playing the elitist liberal card.
If the libs are smart (?) they’ll avoid answering, and simply find something more substantial to smash Harper over the head with.
That’s some mighty fine writin’ there, Taylor.
Seriously, the guy’s a got a man crush on Harper so intense that it’s becoming obscene.
So, hockey is the NASCAR of Canadian politics then? I think not.
Heart? Here I thought the Liberals were bleeding hearts – geez, make up your minds conservatives – either Liberal have heart or they don’t.
We could solve all our problems by having only hockey players in government.
We could solve all our problems by having only hockey players in government.
Ken Dryden for PM?
I love it when your wisdom comes from on high.
Iggy comes across like you Red, elitist and a little cold. Harper is the Average Hockey Joe and a little cold. It is cold outside. Reality is reality.
I like Stephen Taylor’s writing, it speaks to my heart.
yeah the heart of a fool
“We could solve all our problems by having only hockey players in government.”
Change hockey players to farmers.
jsrothwell:
“The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.” — Benjamin Franklin
Wayne — It’s kind of amusing that you think I come across as an “elitist” for some reason… It’s such a supremely lazy epithet — not to mention being highly inaccurate. Why on earth Taylor’s writing would speak to your “heart” is a mystery perhaps best left unsolved.
“The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.” — Benjamin Franklin
So true. How’s your mouth doing Wayne?
“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction.” Albert Einstein
Still going downstream with the other driftwood Wayne? Or is that book learnin Einstein too elitist for you. Maybe Peanuts is more your speed
Well Wayne, there must be something wrong with Taylor and Harper then, because as a hockey player, father, and coach I can tell you he is most certainly not as popular as Taylor seems to think. Not even close.
What do you expect, the guy is a Leafs fan for gawd sakes?
“indeed style over substance”
oh! the motherlovin’ irony!
KEvron
It’s the most facile meme in the world. Maybe it says something about the desperation and intellectual bankruptcy of “conservatives” that they have to pander to the rubes in this way.