Hooray, Hooray!!!!! Great Headline, right?
The sub-headline reads:
“National rating up after visit to Afghanistan, but support for mission is still falling”
That good old MSM dangles a great headling in front of you, but they just can’t wait to tear Stephen Harper down in the next sentence. (See above)
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..OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s popularity in B.C. has soared a whopping 21 points—to 66 per cent—according to the latest Ipsos Reid poll, indicating the controversy over his appointment of former Liberal David Emerson to his Conservative cabinet is dying.
…“Harper’s approval rating is way up,” said Darrell Bricker, president of Ipsos Reid Public Affairs. “These are Chretien-type numbers by reaching the 60s. Paul Martin didn’t know what the 60s looked like,” Bricker said. “It’s a bounce back from the Emerson situation. That was Harper’s low water mark.”
…The prime minister’s national approval rating has also increased—eight percentage points to 62 per cent—following his surprise trip to Afghanistan March 12 and 13 to visit Canadian troops.
They still can’t resist the Liberal comparisons….“Chretien numbers” Heck, why did they not invoke the name of St. Pierre of Trudeau? They sure got a dig in at Mr. Dithers though. Chretien good, Martin bad.
The article has reeled you in, right? Good poll numbers, the Emerson scandal a blip on the screen, then, they go for the throat, so to speak.
But while trip may have boosted Harper’s approval rating
it failed to boost public support for the military mission
. The poll shows support for the mission actually dropped two percentage points nationally—to 52 per cent—on the question of whether respondents back the use of troops for security and combat efforts against the Taliban and al-Qaida. Support softened significantly in Ontario and B.C., dropping eight points in each province, to 57 and 52 per cent, respectively. Residents in Quebec, at 62 per cent, are easily the most likely to believe that the government should bring Canadian troops home immediately.
“Mr. Harper’s trip didn’t do much,” Bricker said. “At this point, not enough has happened to explain to people why we happen to be there and to really justify the type of sacrifice they are being asked to make,” said Bricker.
He said the Canadian public is divided on the question and he expects support to continue to drop, as it has in the U.S. with the conflict in Iraq.
There it is. Your anti war sentiment. Your anti-american dig. Your liberal pacifist mentality. Right there. Canadians in Ontario and Quebec said so.
Not to be outdone, Stephen Harper zinged ‘em right back:
Harper said Friday in an interview on CTV that it’s hard for him to comprehend why some Canadians have such deep-rooted objections to the military mission in Afghanistan.
Harper was asked by an interviewer: “Do you understand the Canadians who feel passionately that they (Canadian soldiers) shouldn’t be there?”
Harper paused briefly and responded, “You know, in a way, I don’t. In this case, I’m not sure what the case would be for not being there.”
When it was suggested that people oppose the mission because it’s not Canada’s war, Harper quickly interjected.
“But it is our war. The entire world signed on to this mission.”
The prime minister reiterated that Canadians learned from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S., in which 24 Canadians were killed or are believed to have died, how the threat of terrorism can reach our own borders.
“We signed on from the beginning,” he said of the plan to combat terrorist insurgents in Afghanistan. “The Afghan government wants us there, the Afghan people need us there, and we’re fighting a truly horrific enemy. And it’s in our national interest. I think it’s great what we’re doing. We’re taking a leadership role in Kandahar province.
Once again, Stephen Harper states the obvious. If the Afghanis want us there, we’re there for the long haul. Let the naysayers carry on beating their breasts and question “why” we are there. Just ask ‘em if they remember 9/11. I do. The Conservatives do. And I think most Canadians do.
