He Haunts Us Still

Jokes aside (see post below), has anyone yet tallied up the eerie similarities between Harper and Mulroney when they're in trouble?

- Both are relying heavily on deceased people to back them up. In Harper's case, he says only the late MP Chuck Cadman knows what was and wasn't on offer from the Conservatives in May 2005; in Mulroney's case, he says only the late leaders Francois Mitterrand and Boris Yeltsin can attest to the fact that he was indeed lobbying for his $300,000 fee in the Schreiber affair.

- Both have launched libel suits against Liberals - and only against Liberals. It always seemed strange that Mulroney only sued the Liberal government, and not media outlets or authors, when the Airbus allegations first surfaced in the 1990s. Similarly, Harper didn't sue anyone involved in the Cadman book or media reports when he fought back today, choosing only to accuse Liberal leader Stephane Dion, Deputy leader Michael Ignatieff and Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale of libelling him.

- Both have troublesome chiefs of staff (or ex-chiefs). Harper's chief of staff, Ian Brodie, reportedly "can't recall" whether he gave CTV the information that is causing such a stir between the government and the Barack Obama campaign. Mulroney's former chief of staff, Norman Spector, came to Ottawa to testify against him in the Schreiber affair a few weeks ago.

- Both have probably made retrospective resolutions - don't be so candid with authors. In Mulroney's case, Peter C. Newman had the embarrassing tapes. In Harper's case, it's author Tom Zytaruk.

Weird, isn't it?