Thursday, January 18, 2007

The Arrogance Of The Conservative Street

It began with Andrew Coyne's Wednesday column, "Harper's learned his lesson", in which he laments the stupidity of the Canadian People when it comes to environmental issues:

...the Tories have learned their lesson. It isn't efficacy by which the parties' commitment to curbing global warming will be assessed, but motion. It isn't progress the public wants, but the appearance of it; not concrete improvements, but gestures of concern.

Apparently, we're all just suckers ready to be played by any slick-talking pol waving an environmental plan. Now, according to Andy, the Tories were just too damn sincere for their own good:

So the Tories set about dismantling [useless Liberal programs], on the theory that the public would prefer effective policies, at the price of some delay, than ineffective ones now.

(Just as an aside, Andy, what Canadians wanted and still want is effective policies now. The most disgraceful aspect of the Tory plan was not that it planned fifty years out with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, but that it delayed the onset of any cuts, whether absolute or in intensity, out beyond the likely term of any Conservative Majority, let alone Minority, government, thus giving the CPC a good decade cushion before they would have to shoulder blame for any policy failures.

However, I digress. I am not writing to argue this morning, but to ream.)

Not only is Andy appalled at the inability of Canadians perceive the effectiveness of Tory enviro policies, he thinks we're too thuggish to allow most programs to even work properly. He disparages the Liberal Energuide program, for example, because:

Offer people a subsidy to switch to more energy-efficient refrigerators, and what do they do with the old ones? Stick them in the basement and use them as beer fridges. Result: more energy consumption than before.

Yeah, we Canadians are so primitive that we would short circuit a program designed to increase energy efficiency in the home for the sake of more beer! Tell us what you really think of the country, Andy!

And if you think Coyne himself is an emotional swamp of uppitiness and self-pity, you should read some of his blog minions (and I should note that, on the whole, Andy's groupies seem to be a little more literate than the run of Conservative bloggers). The consensus is: we're pathetic as a nation. If the Tories are plunging in the polls, if Canadian's don't appreciate the genius behind the Tory Green Plan, its because we're naive at best or idiots at worst. Here's a few samples:


The unfortunate reality is that Canadians seem to like empty rhetoric that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

An unserious country gets and deserves unserious policies.
-Chip



Years ago my late and much-missed father remarked that the average Canadian wasn't very bright. Watching this enviro-business playing out, I realize how right he was
-Gotthardbahn



Rick,
Canadians aren't "stupid", just trusting, and therefore misinformed.

...Joe Canadian, wants something done about "the environment" and "global warming".

Joe Canadian, however, has been raised for the last several generations to believe that responsibility for doing things about things lies, not with himself, but with "government". That's what "governments" are for in Canada: To absolve Joe Canadian of personal responsibility...even, push comes to shove much of the time, for his own life.
-Springer



The Conservatives' problem is that they are too sincere. Harper actually intends to do what he says he will, thus he doesn't make impossible promises such as complying with Kyoto targets. This works against him in Canada. The Liberals have learned to use cynicism as a political tool of power. They promise the voters things that make them feel good when they mark their ballots. They will not however do anything that actually causes pain to a lot of voters.
-Randall G

Poor Stephen Harper, to be forced to rule over a country of ignorant, miserable louts! But don't worry, he'll be able to look for another job, where he'll be appreciated, godammit, in just a couple of months.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice try. It's taken all of the world over 100 years to 'create' this so-called problem, yet you want it fixed NOW. Funny, why didn't the Liberals take any serious action when they had a MAJORITY? And don't tell me the 1 Tonne challenge was serious. Or the Energuide program Harper killed. Most likely it was just another Liberal scam to refill your coffers. As long as it LOOKS like something is done, and you can SAY you're doing something, it doesn't matter if any action actually takes place. All optics with Liberals, check the polls, will we get more votes if we reverse our position, who can we sell out in order to support Ont/Que?

The Liberal party should change it's name to BOHICA.

Anonymous said...

"Apparently, we're all just suckers ready to be played by any slick-talking pol waving an environmental plan."

Well you do get down on your knees to service Al Gore & his slick little, full of errors propaganda piece called An Inconvenient Truth"

So much crap for all you enviro weenies to suck up.

Anonymous said...

here ya go

http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/

Anonymous said...

The Liberal Kyoto plan is so much better because it is easier to understand.

Step 1. Name your dog Kyoto

Step 2. http://thealbertaardvark.blogspot.com/2007/01/priorities-dion-style.html

Anonymous said...

"Funny, why didn't the Liberals take any serious action when they had a MAJORITY? And don't tell me the 1 Tonne challenge was serious. Or the Energuide program Harper killed. Most likely it was just another Liberal scam to refill your coffers."

The first comment and you've already Godwinized the conversation - albeit in the Canadian political sense, where we substitute Hitler/Nazis for Adscam/13-years-in-office.

Did you add anything valuable to the discussion at all, besides speculation?

Anonymous said...

"here ya go

http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/"

Here *ya* go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkscience.com

I would also post links to the dozens of peer-reviewed journals that Steve Milloy could publish in - and against which his weak-ass, corporate-funded research must stand - but that might provide an advantage to the CPC apologists on the matter. For all I care, the CPC should completely disavow climate science so we can see how long they last in office. While they're at it, they should bring back the creationism/evolution debate - I'm sure Stock is ready to man the vanguard on that one.

Anonymous said...

Heh, your post has certainly struck a chord with climate change deniers, BCL.

A clear indication that you're on the right path, and that they feel exposed...

JimBobby said...

(Whooee!) I like how the climate change deniers comment anonymously. That way, they won't have to take responsibility for spouting rhetoric that is more and more diametrically opposed to what is emanating from Stephen Harper.

All they're doing is proving to everyone that the CPoC's so-called commitment to the environment is a sham. These deniers are strong CPoC supporters. How do they square their denials with Harper, Lunn and Baird's public positions?

James Robert

Anonymous said...

Hey JimBooby, there are also many CPC supporters that support stronger committment to the environment. Why didn't Lib supporters have this same enviro committment years ago?

Anonymous said...

Look at these idiotic trolls. Do they think they're refuting BCL's argument in this post all that well? Conservatives, even top-drawer ones like Coyne are morons. We know these people in real life. Half the time, they're in a state of raging incoherence over something or other and the other half, they're seething over the fact that Canadians are too dumb to challenge them. But, that's just projection. They're dumb. The rest of are just too clever to engage their pointless blather.

...That's why I'm always yelling at trolls. In real life, I'm a model of temperance when dealing with fatheads, which I ignore most of the time.

RossK said...

Hmmmm....didn't know there was a two-tiered screamer system (ie. see BCL's pull quotes vs. comments on this page).

Anonymous said...

Ti-Guy is such a model of tolerance in this crazy world. :D

Anonymous said...

Hey dudes, what could possibly be wrong with burning toxic chemicals and releasing them into an atmosphere that's only about 30KM thick. I mean come on, obviously heavy pollution over the past 150 years had no effect on the environment. We should just keep things the way they are.

I like that Harper decided to toss Ambrose so that the poor dear wouldn't have to eat any of her words.