Blogging Tory: "O'Connor's gotta go"

Yes, even conservative circles seem to have enough of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor. Dark Blue Tory's reasoning is of interest.

His posting starts off with an article in the Toronto Sun:

We agree with Harper (and the previous Liberal government) that our mission in Afghanistan is vital to [defend Canada's security]. However, Canadians do need to be shown that it has a demonstrable chance of success, both in its war-fighting and reconstruction components.

Dark Blue Tory comments:

Unfortunately, Gordon O'Conner hasn't been relaying that message to Canadians. [...] He has misunderstood the facts and has been unable to articulate the possible success of the [Afghanistan] mission effectively to Canadians.

So because he wasn't able to relay the message, he's got to go? Not exactly, there's more:

[Defence Minister O'Connor] made stories up on the fly and has completely undermined his position to the point of no return.

Indeed. And these two wrongs don't make a right. Did it occur to anyone that these wrongs are not really at an even footing? It's clear to me that a lying minister creates a problem for the Harper government. But how does the inability to "relay the message" fit in? Which one is worse?

Well, the two wrongs are actually more or less the same thing. Sticking to "the message" Conservative style is nothing more than using "the facts [...] to articulate the possible success [...] effectively to Canadians". But O'Connor, being unable to twist the facts to his advantage, felt forced to lie. Eventually this appeared to be the wrong decision; it started a chain reaction of lies by Conservatives desperate to keep "the message" (Conservatives are on top of things, the mission in Afghanistan is a possible success") straight.

The American's got their War in Iraq, we've got our own Afghanistan to deal with. Both wars are lasting a lot longer as planned and the increasing and enduring "insurgencies" have been undermining any possibility of success.

But it's all good; God bless the Conservatives.

- Dark Blue Tory
- Big Lie
- Gorden O'Connor