Harper should have let botched interview speak for itself

By Barbara Yaffe
Canwest News Service

Liberal leader Stephane Dion had trouble comprehending and answering a question by a CTV interviewer and asked that the interview be restarted twice. (Shaun Best/Reuters)

VANCOUVER - In a campaign that has been buffeted by the unexpected, Tuesday night's botched TV interview with Stephane Dion seemed not out of place.

Things were going wonderfully for Liberals, climbing in the polls to the point that folks were starting to muse about a possible Grit minority - when Dion, during a media moment, was caught looking like a complete doofus.

Whereupon Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, in that way of his, sought a partisan advantage. And, as a result, both party leaders lost ground.

First, let's be clear: CTV was on solid footing in a decision to air the segment which showed Dion in a mental meltdown as he attempted to answer a simple question about how he'd handle the current economic crisis were he PM.

Dion couldn't get his tenses straight. It appeared to reflect not a language but a conceptual problem: What would he do if he'd been prime minister during the past two and a half years? Or if he were going to become prime minister after next Tuesday?

The confusion, punctuated by a laughing outburst by Dion and subsequent intervention by a Liberal aide, persisted so that the interview, at Dion's request, had to be restarted three times.

That's what happened. And whatever it said about the Liberal leader, voters surely were entitled to make up their own minds.

Some will conclude Dion was only being human, that perhaps the interview came at the end of a long day. The leaders jet through time zones and keep to pretty daunting schedules during a campaign.

Others will assert that those who want to lead are not human, they are politicians and if they cannot tolerate the bright lights they shouldn't be putting themselves in front of TV cameras.

Had Dion's mistake not then been torqued by a prime minister seeking to gain advantage from it, it might have damaged Dion, and Dion alone.

But Harper, in this election campaign, has been his own worst enemy.

Whereas the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties once used to be damaged by loose-lipped caucus members, this Conservative party keeps getting throttled by a leader who has shut everyone up but himself.

His remark this week about buying opportunities on the stock market was dumb, as was an earlier assertion that Dion wants a recession in Canada.

Canadians believe Harper is a strong leader but they're uncomfortable with his coldness, his extreme partisanship. With or without the sweater, he is Mr. Nasty.

True to form, he donned the meany mantle once again Thursday, moving quickly to show reporters travelling with him the tape of the Dion stumble. And he made himself available for a scrum in which he took shots at Dion.

He didn't need to. The tape spoke for itself and was on the public record. All Harper's comments did was reinforce people's feelings that this prime minister is really not a nice guy. He travels the low road every time.

He and his party have taken endless cheap shots at Dion, who Canadians view as an insipid leader but believe is honest and sincere. It's like picking on the school weakling.

At a party in Vancouver Thursday night, I heard people talking about the Dion interview but there was just as much talk about Harper's reaction.

Bashing an opponent is the mother's milk of politics. American Democrats certainly have been trashing John McCain during the presidential campaign; but have you noticed?

Whenever Barack Obama is personally asked about McCain, he takes the high road, exuding respect. It's as phoney as a $2 bill, and it works.