The Lousiest Good News Budget Ever?

Although many of his individual criticisms are valid, it is unsurprising that someone like this guy should be criticizing a Conservative budget. What is more surprising is how poorly it seems to have played in Quebec. And what is most surprising has been the response from the Right side of the political spectrum. "The Tories have sold out," is the dominant message, from Andrew Coyne, for example. And indeed the whole Sun Chain feels similarly betrayed, running a pretty negative editorial in most of its papers this morning:

Wait a minute. Isn't this the same gang that promised to trim federal spending if we gave them the chance to govern? That won over a bunch of voters by saying that Canadians were far better judges of how to invest their own money than a government could ever be?

Indeed, the Ottawa Sun adds insult to injury by accusing the Jim Flaherty of stiffing Canada's "poorest" citizens in addition to spending like a drunken sailer.

The hits keep coming with negative columns from Joe Warmingon, Tom Brodbeck, and Lorrie Goldstein, who writes:

At long last, Stephen Harper has revealed his "hidden agenda."

It's to be a Liberal.

Ouch! That must sting!

Nor is the situation different in that faithful echo chamber of CPoC talking points, The Blogging Tories, where fiscally responsible types like Greg Staples have expressed a fair deal of dismay.

And even those righties, like Paul Wells, who have a few good words for the budget, approve of it not because they like what it contains, but because its "good politics" and others might like what it contains. Well, maybe the pundits and blogosphere are indeed totally detached from your "average Canadian voter". Maybe somewhere out there people are dancing in the street over this document. However, I am more inclined to believe that, if the opinion in the Canadian Commentairat is as negative as this, opinion among the general population will be similarly downbeat.