Conservatives' constituency week talking-points leaked

It's a break-week coming-up for Parliament, which means Members of Parliament will be going back to their constituencies and fanning-out across the country. They'll be talking to ordinary folks, taking the pulse of the nation, and all that good stuff.

And if they're Conservative, they'll be regurgitating carefully scripted talking-points on a variety of topics, from swine flu to what an evil guy Michael Ignatieff is, and how he parked his car in the Harvard Yard and what not.

Luckily, however, someone in the Conservative camp has leaked the entire talking-points package and posted it to Wiki-leaks. Feel free to download a copy, and then watch for speaking opportunities next week by your nearest Conservative MP. Follow along as he dutifully recites his pre-programmed opinions. Report any deviations to Doug Finley. And, for fun, shout out the next line before they have a chance to say it.

The content is, shall we say, quite the interesting work of fiction. My favourite part though was this:

Thank you for that warm greeting.

I always enjoy being back in [Community].

It made the Simpsons nerd in me smile:

"This morning we were driving down route... 401! And we thought they knew how to rock in Shelbyville... but nobody rocks like -- [consults note taped to back of guitar] -- Springfield!"

Good night, Springton. There will be no encores!

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Whose spin, and why?

I found this one graph in Don Martin's column interesting:

That’s why Stephen Harper has to wear this political mess himself. He personally ordered the incendiary paragraph inserted into Thursday’s fiscal update, ignored warnings from his own MPs who felt it was a lousy idea and clearly under-estimated his opponents’ resolve to defend their cash at any political price.

Not so much the fact Harper ordered this personally, although that is interesting. But what I find more interesting is that someone, undoubtedly high-ranking or well connected within the PMO, Finance, or the CPC, leaked this. Someone leaked information with the intent of pinning the blame for this situation, which may result in the Conservatives losing government, directly on Stephen Harper's shoulders.

I think that's a very interesting development.

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On leaks

As Darren observes the Conservatives are beginning to leak like a sieve, and the latest leak is particularly mind-boggling:

A secret guidebook that details how to unleash chaos while chairing parliamentary committees has been given to select Tory MPs.

Running some 200 pages including background material, the document - given only to Conservative chairmen - tells them how to favour government agendas, select party-friendly witnesses, coach favourable testimony, set in motion debate-obstructing delays and, if necessary, storm out of meetings to grind parliamentary business to a halt.

Leaks from the bureaucracy are one thing. Can’t do much about that, besides sending in the RCMP to haul out low level civil servants in handcuffs to try to foster an environment of fear. But leaks like this one clearly came from the political side, either an MP or a political staffer, as they’d be the ones with access to this kind of thing.

And that’s a leak of a different feather. When you’re starting to get these kinds of leaks on the political side of the house that should send you a serious message: you’ve got problems. If your own partisans are upset and disgusted enough to leak something that casts the party in a negative light it’s time to look in the mirror and reconsider the way you’re doing business.

Or, you can tighten things down even harder, bust heads, launch a which-hunt, and make things even worse. Want to take bets on which way Steve will go? Look for a story on Hedy Fry’s nefarious leadership organizing in the weekend National Post.

Defect, deflect…

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