Harper’s former adviser to release book in early May Add to ...

[CHIMO]

Last edited Mon May 5, 2014, 07:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is reputed to be a man with a penchant for control, a leader with a grip on the Conservative communications machine.

So when one of his former advisers several years ago wrote an insider book called Harper’s Team, the Prime Minister’s Office, the author says, asked him not to publish it.

That writer, Tom Flanagan, now is back with a forthcoming book, Persona Non Grata: The Death of Free Speech in the Internet Age, that speaks of Mr. Harper in “Nixonian” terms, as a man who “believes in playing politics right up to the edge of the rules, which inevitably means some team members will step across ethical or legal lines in their desire to win for the Boss.”

“He can be suspicious, secretive, and vindictive, prone to sudden eruptions of white-hot rage over meaningless trivia, at other times falling into week-long depressions in which he is incapable of making decisions,” Mr. Flanagan writes. “I feared, as I still do, that he might some day bring himself down Nixon-style by pushing too hard against the network of rules constraining authority in a constitutional government.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/pm-harpers-former-adviser-to-release-book-in-early-may/article17911256/


Added Mon, May 5, 2014.
The link is to Power n Politics intervrw with Flanagan today. It appears to have run more than 15 minutes.
http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Politics/ID/2454578882/

[greyl]

1. Looks like it's available now:

Persona Non Grata: The Death of Free Speech in the Internet Age at Amazon

[Spazito]

2. Wow, cue the PMO to come out with lies and obfuscation to try and counter this...

Saying Harper is "suspicious, secretive, vindictive and has eruptions of white-hot rage" reinforces what many already knew but I had not connected the dangerous similarities to Nixon until reading this, kudos to Flanagan for making the connection.

Being of a somewhat cynical person, I can't help but wonder why Flanagan, a died-in-the-wool Con, is coming out with this. Is this preparing the field for a 'favored' candidate to fill Harper's seat, could that 'favored' candidate be Flanagan himself?

I don't trust any Con to simply tell the truth without a hidden agenda, they are incapable of doing so, imo.

[arikara]

3. He's probably one of the hatchet people

I doubt in conservative circles that he'll win brownie points for writing the book. I wonder who in the background that he's cozying up to these days.

[Spazito]

4. Yep, exactly...

He's neck deep in the Alberta Wildrose party strategies, Wildrose being the equivalent of the radical right wing teabaggers. He ran the Wildrose campaign 2 years ago so Danielle Smith might be the shadow in the background.

[arikara]

5. Harper's managed to disappoint his base

perhaps by not addressing abortion and gay marriage?

[Spazito]

6. I think his base is more upset with the way the Senate scandal has been handled...

even they don't believe him when he says he wasn't involved. When it comes to abortion, I have no doubt the radical faction of his base is not happy he isn't trying to take away a woman's right to privacy, I think the issue of equal marriage is a moot issue for the most part, even they realize it is here to stay and nothing is going to change that.

There certainly seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for Harper and the Conservatives in the last year, I hope that continues and, even better, grows over the next year.