Monday, February 13, 2006

Garth Turner: Always New Depths

A sense of purpose and a sense of skill,
A sense of function but a disregard
We will not be the first,
We won't
You said you were going to conquer new frontiers,
Go stick your bloody head in the jaws of the beast
--Bloc Party


So, we've all pretty much had our say about Emerson, and it's clear most bloggers and Conservatives are pissed that Emerson is the new leader, but it's clear now that he's not backing down and Harper, our leader, thinks its best to keep him on board. I'm prepared to go with it for now. I'm not happy about it, but let's accept it and move on.

Some of us are prepared to go farther, however...

"Right now I do not feel I'm allowed to do what I want and say what I think," Turner said in an interview yesterday, pointing out he'll decide whether to stay in the caucus after talking to party officials this weekend.

"It's a fairly intensive time at the moment."

Turner, former business editor of the Toronto Sun and a cabinet minister during Kim Campbell's brief administration, said he would continue to sit as an MP and represent Halton if he does decide to bolt the Tory caucus.

Turner is so upset about the fact that Emerson's constituents voted for a Liberal, that they deserve a chance to elect a Liberal again in a byelection. Fair enough.

However, I think someone elses' constituents might be a little upset if a certain MP suddenly decided to switch political stripes, or worse....decided to actively undermine the party whose banner he was elected under.

The voters of Halton.

It's one thing to make a point about Emerson's legitimacy, but it's quite another to become a source of disunity within the party. What is Turner's motivation here?

You have to wonder about his suitability to be an MP, since it was Kim Campbell's judgment that Turner be a Cabinet Minister. And like George Castanza's instincts, whatever Kim's gut says, it's safe to go with exactly the opposite approach.

Kim thinks Turner should be a Cabinet Minister? Chances are that Turner is probably fit only to clean the minister's office. But at this stage, he might be thinking it would "serve the constituents of Halton" to steal a Cabinet Minister's files and leak them to the opposition.

Garth writes from his soapbox:
Of course, I told them in person I am not leaving the Conservative caucus. I will fight from within, speak out when it’s called for and do all I can to truly represent the people who gave me their authority to go to Ottawa. They applauded, and it was for all of us. We are Conservatives, long in opposition, newly in power, not knowing everything but being forced to deal with it all. We will get through this. We will prevail.

Hey bro, it's called an inner monologue. Just because you think it, doesn't mean it should be splashed all over the front pages of the Liberal media that is playing you like a Sega. The sooner you realize that, the less likely the Cons will find themselves back in the opposition benches.

It's time to get behind the leader, who'd be well advised to kick this Kim groupie out of caucus on his sorry ass. This guy's as big an enemy as Brison right now, but he doesn't realize it because he's confused "media attention" with "credibility".

4 comments:

A. Carlton Sallet said...

I quite agree.

Time for Garth to move on.

Anonymous said...

i AGREE AS WELL TIME FOR GARTH TO MOVE ON. WE DON'T WANT A DRIED UP PRUNE LIKE GARTH IN THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY, THE PARTY WHO I AND MANY OTHERS VOTED FOR. IF HE STAYS HE WOULD BE A LIABILITY AS FAR AS LEAKING MATERIAL TO MSM.
HE HAD HIS GLORY FOR A WEEK FLAPPING HIS MOUTH.
VERY DISGUSED WITH HIM.

Shamrocks! said...

Have you noticed that his website is strangely apolitical? The guy has nothing to denote his allegiance to the cons at all.

Rob Huck said...

In his interviews I've seen, he's very careful not to claim that any ethical breach has been broken by Harper or Emerson other than the defection. He's almost kissing their butts in making up, but continues to say he's standing on principle.

You're right; inner dialogues exist for a reason.