Foaming at the Mouth and Falling Over Backwards

Actions speak louder than words, and the recent actions of the Conservative Party don't particularly accord with the actions I'd expect from an organization that knows itself to be innocent. Rather, it's a lot more like the political version of snapping on a light in a room infested with roaches. Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro only brought that into starker relief the other day when he stood up on his hind legs and not only demanded that the Liberals prove a negative by opening their phone records to demonstrate that they weren't responsibile for the robocalls, but refused to do the same.

"Obviously our party is not behind these calls," said Del Mastro, who I heard was some kind of used car salesman prior to entering politics. "We know that."

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What a wonderful example of circular reasoning; there's not much there to boil down, but what is there reduces to "we didn't do it because we say we didn't do it." So it's coming down to asking Canadians to trust the Conservatives on their word... the same Conservatives who, if you'll recall, were found in contempt of Parliament last year regarding crime bill expenses, the issue that triggered the last election. The same Conservatives that practically rewarded Bev Oda when she made a handwritten addition to KAIROS funding documentation, changing it from a confirmation of funding to a confirmation of NO funding. The same Conservatives who, by their actions, agree with the notion that you are either with them or with the child pornographers.

I ask you, Conservatives - how fucking stupid do you think I am?

Stupid enough that to my great shame I voted for the Conservatives once, back in 2006. Source: Elections Canada.

Look at the way the two parties are approaching this. The Liberals, even though they were the party targeted in the robocalls and thus have no reasonable motivation to have done them in the first place, are opening their phonebooks. If the Conservatives were reasonable, and had no reason to believe they were behind it, the sensible thing would be to do the same. The fact that they're not, that they're digging in their heels over this, only makes me more skeptical of their protestations of innocence. It was the Conservatives who were using that poisonous old "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" rhetoric; so the question is, what do they have to fear? This is election fraud - ELECTION FRAUD - and they do not exhibit ANY interest in confirming that they have nothing to do with it. I mean, they're only the MAJORITY PARTY, after all.

The Conservatives, I'm sure, will be poring over them for the slightest, most irrelevant issue or inconsistency to pounce on, in the hope that consistently hammering one point will tilt the discourse in their favor. That has already started to happen; witness Margaret Wente's characteristically insipid column in the Globe and Mail, dredging up all those tired old "it can't happen here" arguments. Yeah, you're right, it can't happen here - and while you're busy saying that, it's happening behind your back. Vigilance goes hand in hand with freedom, and the Conservatives don't want us to be vigilant. You can't prove a negative, but the Conservatives will no doubt be doing their utmost to convince the Canadian people that you can.

I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt before. That's over now. Actions speak louder than words, and I would need an extraordinary action from the Conservative Party to convince me that they're not the ones who are trying to compromise the integrity of our democracy.

I am not as stupid as they think I am.