Tom Flanagan: Out of the Closet!

Speaking on CBC’s Power & Politics show about the government’s decision to renounce the hapless Kyoto Treaty, Harper mentor and political “scientist” Tom Flanagan admits he believes global warming is a “non-problem” that he attributes possibly to “cosmic rays” and says “it’s time or the deniers to come out of the closet.”

Gee, I didn’t really think there was anything actually holding back the so-called “deniers” given the vehemently obstreperous campaign relentlessly waged in the editorial pages of this country’s conservative media establishment each and every day dismissively trashing the notion of “anthropogenicity” as a contributing factor to demonstrable changes in the environment. Should be interesting to see what happens once all these closeted “deniers” are liberated to speak their minds…

Tom Who?

On Power & Politics the other day, MPs discussed Tom Flanagan’s somewhat surprising comments on Monday’s program where he stated that “everyone knows that parliament was prorogued in order to shut down the Afghan inquiry.” Responding to this assessment by Harper’s ideological mentor and former chief of staff, Shelly Glover, the Conservative MP for St. Boniface, MB said this:

I’ve heard some of the allegations made by someone by the name of Tom Flanagan. I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen this man on Parliament Hill. He is a Canadian I understand and he is entitled to his opinion.

Needless to say, everyone on the program was utterly incredulous at the phenomenal cluelessness of Glover’s awkward reply.

By the way, Glover is the same nincompoop that last year wanted to distribute water bottles emblazoned with the Conservative Party logo to local schools in her riding and was dumbfounded when the offer was refused because it would have violated the school division’s policy regarding contributions of a political nature.

h/t: JKG in the comments for the link.

The Flipper in Chief

This morning’s Toronto Star provides a handy list of Harper’s most recent “turnarounds”:

• The Senate. He was adamant he would not resort to the old politics of stacking the upper chamber with party cronies. But faced with the possible defeat of his minority government, Harper moved fast before Christmas to fill 18 vacancies with loyal Conservatives, many failed candidates or with party ties.

• Fixed election date. In May 2006, Harper proposed fixed election date legislation that would set the next election date in October 2009, to stop political leaders from “trying to manipulate the calendar.”

Instead, Harper called an election last September, saying that Parliament had reached an “impasse.” But he was also hoping to capitalize on his own promising poll numbers and a weak official Opposition before the economy worsened.

• Supreme Court appointments. In December, Harper appointed Thomas Cromwell of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, bypassing a parliamentary hearing process he championed to more openly scrutinize nominees.

• Government appointments. The Prime Minister had promised to implement a public appointments commission to eliminate cronyism in such appointments. It was to be part of the government’s much-vaunted Accountability Act. It never happened and, since winning its first minority government in January 2006, the Tory government has made some 1,500 appointments, many based on political pedigree.

Of course, we all know that. What’s more interesting are the remarks by Harper’s mentor (or Svengali, if you prefer), Tom Flanagan.

Tom Flanagan, a former Harper campaign organizer and strategist, said Harper has transformed from a conservative ideologue to a political survivor, but remains a victim of his own dark side. “Both sides are real … but what you see more and more is the political Harper,” said Flanagan, author of the acclaimed Harper’s Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power.

Flanagan said the “Machiavellian” side is far more troubling than his political transformation, given that it almost cost him his government. “He lost the initiative by provoking the other parties into this potential coalition against him … and now he finds himself having to put together a budget which is really a coalition budget … the government’s hand is fairly weak right now.”

Isn’t karma a bitch sometimes?

Harper’s Yes Men (and Women)

The Hill Times reports this morning about grumblings in the Conservative caucus and cabinet suggesting that a shakeup may be needed in Harper’s inner circle in order to curb his “worst instincts” and perhaps help him to “avoid a future major, political miscalculation” such as the recent “debacle” that resulted in the shuttering of parliament for a month and a half.

“You need to have some people around you who are going to disagree with you. My concern is some of the people around Harper reinforce his worst instincts whereas I’d like to see him get some calming influence,” said one top Conservative insider who spoke to Hill Climbers on condition of anonymity.

“Caucus and the Cabinet want to see changes, not the leadership changes, they’re firmly behind Harper but they want to see changes around him, people who are giving him advice. He has to get better advisers,” said the source.

Declared another Conservative insider: “I agree totally with that. While the Prime Minister does have good people with him, one of his challenges is to expand the circle so that there can be a variety of views that are reflected to him and variety is helpful in these circumstances.”

Even Harper’s dark eminence, Tom Flanagan is cited as concurring somewhat with the opinion of unnamed “insiders” in this regard, at least to the extent of feeling there “should be a mechanism to test decisions” — whatever that means. More polling?

Flanagan: Harper is Lying

Slice it any way you want to, but that’s what the “analysis” by Tom (“Harper’s Brain”) Flanagan in today’s Globe & Mail boils down to.