Harper Vs. The Ankle-Biters

The media's attempt to create a dump-Harper movement from the petty complaints of a few self-important obscure persons has finally gotten a public response from its target:

"Any Conservative, anywhere, at any time, can, by criticizing other Conservatives, become an instant and enormous media star. That's just the way it is, we'll have to get used to it,'' he said in a speech to party staffers Thursday.

....

The Conservative leader was assailed this week by Carol Jamieson, a top Conservative official in Toronto, who said average Canadians would never vote for him and urged him to quit.

It was the latest in a string of complaints -- some on the record, some anonymously -- which Harper said he would not take seriously.

The party has raised big amounts of cash, signed up thousands of members and his summer tour attracted big crowds this summer, he said, but virtually all of that has been ignored by the media.

"Now of course you would not know any of this reading some of the press recently, (instead) there have been stories of various dissidents.''

The Conservative leader was assailed this week by Carol Jamieson, a top Conservative official in Toronto, who said average Canadians would never vote for him and urged him to quit.

It was the latest in a string of complaints -- some on the record, some anonymously -- which Harper said he would not take seriously.

The party has raised big amounts of cash, signed up thousands of members and his summer tour attracted big crowds this summer, he said, but virtually all of that has been ignored by the media.

"Now of course you would not know any of this reading some of the press recently, (instead) there have been stories of various dissidents.''

Harper said he would not respond to the dissidents.

Nor should he. No one has heard of them before; no one will hear from them again. They're letting themselves be used as pawns in the media's game, while the media in turn are also being used as pawns in the Liberal game. To address them by name or even by inference is to give them credence that they don't deserve.

Stephen Taylor has exposed the strange career of the media's latest instant star, Carol Jamieson. By all accounts, she's become a pariah within the Conservative Party, an unbalanced crackpot with a history of making trouble, and far from the top official CTV claims her to be.

If there were a serious movement within the party to dump Stephen Harper, serious players would be leading it, such as MPs and senior party officials. People like Hugh Segal, Peter White, Hal Jackman and Stanley Hartt would be calling for his head publicly.

Their silence speaks volumes about the nature of this movement; it's so pathetic that they won't dignify it with comment.

Source: CTV