Revolutionary Moderation

Does anyone else think it's ironic that Gomery has reported on All Saint's Day?

A whole lot of bloggers are going to be weighing in with a whole lot of opinions today, and I'm certainly going to be looking over those blogs as best I can as the day wears on. But we should all remember one important fact: none of them will have read the report. Few of them will have seen a copy of the report except on television, watching Peter Mansbridge showing us how thick the darn thing is.

Having said that, recognizing that I'm only working from the same overviews and spin points as everyone else, two things seem to emerge:

- Despite the concerted effort to spin otherwise, it is unlikely that the current government as constituted really deserves to be blamed for the errors that led to the specific sins investigated by Judge Gomery. Stephen Harper stressed during his press conference that the Prime Minister is not part of the judicial authority loop, yet he wants to blame the current government for no one being in jail for this yet. That certainly smells like spin, not serious accusation toward the current government. With the report now filed, I'm sure we'll start to see the populations of minimum security prisons growing soon.

- Jean Chretien is being properly tagged for a sin of omission. He wanted to set up a quick-response project to improve the Canadian brand in Quebec. I'm certain that desire to do whatever is required to avoid another referendum drove him to resist oversight or moving the project further away from the PMO. A few million dollars against the country? Easy math. This sin of ommission is understandable. It's venial, not mortal. It doesn't undo or rewrite his entire record as PM. But that doesn't make him blameless.

- The opposition leaders as one blamed "the Liberals", and carefully avoided mention of Martin or current cabinet members. There was a particularly telling moment during Harper's press conference when he was giving grudging credit for something or another, and said "the Liberals," before he rethought and said "Mr. Martin's government." So, in short, "Liberals" = "bad". It will be Liberals going to jail, therefore the entire government needs to be replaced. My own thoughts? I have some serious issues with the current government, but sponsorship isn't among them. The government as it existed when this program began was arrogant - of course it was! How could it not be, with no organized opposition, no possibility of defeat on the horizon? I don't think anyone can accuse today's government of arrogance - if anything, it is far too timid. Punish Martin for that.