Who's afraid of liberals?

Many commentators have picked up on the parts in Lawrence Martin's book that deal with the Prime Minister's "visceral" hatred of Liberals. My colleague Chantal Hebert has  explored it more  today, comparing it to Gilles Duceppe's antipathy toward the Liberal party, while the Globe's Jeffrey Simpson sees shadows of Nixon in all this.

Because I've been covering Harper all the way back to the early 1990s, I remember when this hatred had another target(s). First I remember it was Brian Mulroney and the federal Conservative party at the time. Harper was fixated on their destruction. Then, when he parted company with Preston Manning, his contempt was directed at all the Manning loyalists in the Reform Party. (Have you noticed that their praise of their old friend and co-worker, now in power, is quite faint?) Then, when Harper  came back to Ottawa to lead the Canadian Alliance, I remember it was impossible to have a conversation with him without getting some withering ridicule directed at Joe Clark and the Progressive Conservative party. And it really was withering -- Harper does contempt well.

Now it's the Liberals. And here's the secret to Harper -- he doesn't value people with whom he shares friendships or old associations (that's why you get former  loyalists like Tom Flanagan, Gerry Nicholls on the outs with him). He values people who share his enmity and his single-minded fixation on destroying his enemies of the moment. Look at his favourite word in the Commons (see previous post) and that of his most loyal lieutenant, John Baird. 

His former press secretary, Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, is Exhibit A in this regard. (She's now a senator.) I never understood why someone who was so bad with the media was kept within the Harper circle while very smart communications folks --  who actually had an understanding of journalism and a professional attitude about them  --  were repeatedly churning in and out of that office. Then, on the first prime ministerial trip to Afghanistan in 2006, I figured it out. 

We were at a stopover in Pakistan and I approached Stewart-Olsen to get clarification on something. She started explaining where Harper stood and then went off on some crazy tangent about Liberals. She was awfully angry; this seemed personal -- not to mention, totally off-topic.  I had no idea why we were suddenly talking about something a Liberal backbencher had said or done three years ago. I wanted to say: "Calm down. You won. You're in power now. Relax." 

By now, nearly five years later, we in the media are used to this. The worst thing you can call someone in Harperland is a Liberal. Hence, Lawrence Martin is dismissed as a "big-L Liberal" by the PMO after his book is released.  Being a liberal, small-l or big-L, is something for which people, in Conservative Ottawa, should be deeply ashamed. There's an element of hysteria to all this too -- witness the slightly off-the-rails, anti-Liberal  rhetoric of Lawrence Cannon and Jim Flaherty in recent speeches to non-political audiences. 

A few months ago, I saw a quote that keeps rattling around my head. It's from philosopher Eric Hoffer, a man himself who apparently celebrated his standing as an anti-intellectual, anti-elite outcast. Here's the quote: 

"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you." 

 

That is enormously useful information in the hyper-partisan capital right now. The more that the word "Liberal" is used as a swear word, the more I wonder where that fear is coming from. 

Comments

[Anne Peterson]

I think his contempt and hatred are switiching to Canadians in general and that he wouldn't mind fiscally breaking this country if it won't give him a majority. Else why so many foolish hugely expensive initiatives. And why try to do the country such damage as he is doing by taking away our statistical knowledge. He know the effects of this is he is so smart.

[Canada'sTwin#1]

Guilt drives a man to hate and a lie is his weapon of distruction.

[floyd]

also explains the over use of the word coalition. Harper fears this more than anything. He knows he can lose and he will. the CPC has pissed off so many different factions of the voting population, I struggle to figure out how they can get win another election...

[johnnyk]

He pushes all the "divide" buttons because he doesn't know where the "unite" buttons are.

[Clayton]

He (Harper) also knows that he is cornered. If Harper does not deliver a majority government in the next election - something that is even more unlikely now - his party will move fast to replace him. And I suspect that Jean Charest would be their first and best choice for the job.

BTW. Does a party ousting their own Prime Minister amount to a coup. I mention this because it would be a radical change in government "without the consent of Canadians" as the Conservatives like to phrase these things.