Exhibitionism or Accountability?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has never been a favourite of the news media. Lack of accessibility is cited as the main factor, although not to be overlooked is the fairly obvious fact that the media seems overwhelmingly canted in favour of a left-wing interpretation. Canada's very own beloved Canadian Broadcasting Corporation which we fund to the tune of over $1-billion annually for Canadian content of value feeds us a fairly steady diet of left-wing bias.

And there is no one in the country it is more eager to cast aspersions on, even if it has to work very hard at it, than (1) the Prime Minister; (2) the current Conservative-led government; (3) the State of Israel. In that order, and all the more along with its inter-relatedness reliant on the principled stance of this prime minister and this government in supporting a universally embattled collegial Democratic state. And the CBC is joined, in large part, by the print media.

The current slate of negative advertisements released by the Conservative Party of Canada pointing out what should be obvious to anyone with a functioning brain beyond grade school, that the newly-crowned leader of the Liberal Party, urgently contesting to recapture its rightfully entitled and inheritance-ready place as the governing party from the upstart Conservatives have been faulted as attack ads.

It's difficult to recall the same news media heaping scorn on those advertisements making much comment on the Liberals' adverts warning Canadians they would see troops in the streets of Canadian cities should they be foolish enough to bring the Conservatives under Stephen Harper to govern the country. As soon as this man ascended to power, they insisted, his Hidden Agenda would be revealed. Two minority governments later and now within a majority government that Hidden Agenda remains hidden.

Lately, the Prime Minister has experienced the misfortune of having his judgement come back to haunt him, when three of his appointments to the Senate of Canada were found to have been raiding the piggy-bank that we all contribute to as citizens of the country. Mr. Harper no more has hindsight than any other of us. The greed and entitlement manifested by those three senate members has further tarnished the Senate, and embarrassed the government.

But this is most emphatically not a government, unlike its Liberal predecessors, given to tolerating treating tax dollars as an endless source of pay-offs. Prime Minister Harper is a man of irreproachable probity who takes his responsibility to the country seriously. What has occurred with these Senate appointments has been scandalous, but hardly more so than a Liberal senator in the throes of mental decline whose doctor declared incapable of making intelligent contributions to the Senate, let alone her own life, being encouraged by her Liberal colleagues to remain in the Senate.

Raiding the public purse and doing so without scruples, earns concerned attention and repudiation. The four individuals, three Conservative and one Liberal Senate members, have been put on notice that the funding they claimed for housing and travel expenses they were not entitled to must be repaid. Those four Senate members brought disgrace down upon themselves. It is a disgrace that is pitiful, but not one to be shared by the Prime Minister.

It is amazing how delicately scrupulous the news media can be when it feels it must be, in reporting on capital crimes, for example. When that same media feels it can smear the Prime Minister and his government with gleeful impunity, ascribing to him actions and reactions that would be the furthest from his intentions as an honourable man, yet never stopping to think through their viral allegations.

A far distant treatment than is given to murderers whose atrocious acts may have been witnessed by countless, reliable people, whose act of murder may have been captured on video, but who are nevertheless quaintly referred to as "suspects" for whom the rule and law and justice insists they must benefit from proof of guilt, and until judged and found guilty must be treated with respect as innocent of charges brought to bear.

In the case of the Prime Minister, there are those journalists who take pains to contrast Mr. Harper's aloof style with that of his American counterpart, as though President Obama's constant media presentations are far more indicative of responsible government. It's clear enough that their personal styles differ because their personalities are different; one is an extrovert who relishes expounding, the other an introvert, who prefers his own counsel.

President Obama is fond of pronouncing on events with the air of an admonishing academic, and verbally smearing his Republican opponents, yet is seen as open and accountable, although he has refused any hint of responsibility by his administration on the three real and serious scandals that have recently rocked his administration. The three scandals that have arrayed themselves before Mr. Obama are of a far more serious nature than Mr. Harper's one of inadvertence.

And while the Canadian media mew over President Obama's accessibility and willingness to make public statements, those statements consistently slough off any administration responsibility for events that have been documented in a manner that credibly demonstrates the administration's full responsibility for important matters that have gone awry.

He is given the "suspect" treatment while Mr. Harper is given the full "guilty-as-charged" treatment.