Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Ethical Amnesia - Too Good To Be True

As the Duffy / Nigel Wright / Harper mess unravels and casts a light under the mossy rocks of Harper's government, someone pointed me to this quote that has been making the Twitter rounds:
“At worst, he personally ordered it done and chose the people who executed the plan. At the very least, he fostered an attitude within the party [...], chose the managers of the people who committed these crimes and completely and utterly failed to exercise any oversight, supervision or leadership. In the end, it doesn’t really matter where [his] actions or lack of them fall on that scale. He is the leader and a leader is responsible for the actions of the people he leads. If he had a right or honourable bone in his body, he’d admit that and resign immediately.”
This was reported to have come from Harper during the Gomery Inquiry. I tried to find the source for it and couldn't find any reference back beyond March, 2012. Turns out that even though it has appeared on numerous media outlet sites and politicians' webpages, it was  written about Harper, and not by him. It does mimic his pre-PM 'Holier Than Thou' voice well.

In the meantime, have a look at the longer genuine statement Harper made on corruption that I posted here - almost as full of ironic goodness - Harper's View on Government Corruption - 2005.