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Jun 5 05 9:56 PM
Quote:Sun, May 29, 2005The cold shoulderBy Greg WestonOttawa SunOn the evening of Paul Martin's televised grovel to the nation last month, Stephen Harper stepped up to the microphone, scowled into the camera, and proceeded to scare the living hell out of voters from sea to sea.Media judgment of the Conservative leader's performance was swift and brutal, depicting Harper more as a candidate for anger management than a prospect for prime minister.The public verdict was equally unkind as the Conservatives' stunning run up in the polls, greased by shocking Adscam revelations, came to a screeching halt.Flash of temperStrategically, Harper's flash of temper inadvertently stole the spotlight from the Liberals in their worst moment of corruption crisis. Defeat once again snatched from the jaws of victory, the bitter fallout must have made Harper even madder still.In fairness, it wasn't all his fault.For months, Conservative strategists had been desperately trying to extract the cardboard from Harper's persona, coaching him to show more nice and less ice.Yet, when he finally flashes emotion, he is flogged for showing too much, portrayed not as a feeling mortal but as an angry white man missing only the blood dripping from his fangs.Poor guy just can't seem to win.And that, in a nutshell, is the harshest reality facing both Harper and the Conservative Party today -- without a change in leadership, the chances of their winning an election anytime soon are not inspiring.It is a persistent message that has replayed in the polls, over and over, in recent months.With the Liberals swamped by scandal and steered by weak leadership, the real wonder isn't that the Conservatives sailed up to 34% in the polls -- it is surely that the party didn't hit 60 and stay there.Instead, pollsters have found an all-too-familiar phenomenon, particularly in the key electoral battleground that is Ontario.Voters are mad as hell at Paul Martin and his scandal-plagued party, but they just can't warm to Harper.No matter how badly things seem to go for the Liberals, the Conservatives keep hitting a glass ceiling in public opinion, and it is Stephen Harper.For his part, Harper has all but openly conceded that if the party loses the next election, it will be his last campaign as leader. (Given that he almost walked on election night the last time around, it's a good bet his next concession speech will also be his official resignation.)All of which helps to explain why more than a few politically astute Conservatives in recent weeks were quietly pushing for an early election they had only marginal odds of winning.For them, it was a win-win -- the Conservatives would either form the next government, or get a new leader before next year.So much wishful thinking now seems little more than that, since it is all but certain there will be no election before late fall.With the Gomery hearings drawing to a close, and the Commons getting set to adjourn for the summer, it is also unlikely that Conservative fortunes will improve much in the near future.As my pal and fellow columnist Don Martin wrote this week: "To put it bluntly, Stephen Harper is screwed. Ontario is cold-shouldering his charismatically challenged personality, the Commons equilibrium is tilting against his plans for an early government take-down, internal party morale is freefalling ..."None of which is deterring the nation's pols and pundits from prescribing an extreme makeover for Harper.Some of the advice is substantive and practical, suggestions such as rolling out the next election platform now to convince voters Conservatives stand for something more than defeating the Liberals.Unrealistic wisdomBut most of the wisdom coming at Harper is cosmetic and unrealistic, an expectation that somehow a grumpy not-so-old man can be miraculously transformed into a warm and fuzzy metrosexual who loves politics, journalists and Belinda Stronach.What next? Will the phoney Stephen Harper please stand up?
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