Harper does a Ward Cleaver

This happened last week and has already received a lot of comment but it say's so much about how Harper not only views the world but exactly how he views.... women, and in particular how he views the role of... wives.

Crystal picked up on Harper's self-written 3000 word speech of last Tuesday which Scott Feschuk liveblogged. Aside from the fact that it was Harper's first real outing to explain anything related to the economic avalanche and its effect on Canada, it was also little more than Harper making a failed effort to blow sunshine up the asses of Canadians while they watch their jobs hit the wall and their retirement savings evaporate. Crystal's take was that Harper's comment on the Home Renovation Tax Credit indicated that it was some kind of "family" thing, requiring a family in order to qualify. Scott went into "all caps" after the offending Harper words with this:

HAS ANYONE TOLD THIS MAN WHAT A RECESSION IS, AND HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY IT, AND HOW AVERAGE PEOPLE WHO ARE AFFECTED BY IT OR WORRIED ABOUT IT PROBABLY WON’T BE SPENDING THE SUMMER BUILDING A GODDAMN SOLARIUM??

Ahem! Yes. Good point. Because the person speaking which prompted that reaction supposedly has a degree in economics!

The offending comment? Yes... this (12:53 in Scott's post)

“If you own a home and you have a wife, you will probably be doing home reonvations this year.”

Reset. Jaw.

Any politician with a functioning mind might have taken to explaining the Home Renovation Tax Credit on somewhat less derogatory grounds. You know, like, If you own a home and you had planned on a renovation in the future, if you have the money, now would be the time to do it. That would have made some sense. What Harper did, as Scott made clear, was to fail to acknowledge the reality that has become the situation now faced by thousands of Canadians, who by the way had figured out which direction the economy was going when Steve was still telling everyone that the Canadian economy wasn't going to be affected by the mega-scam perpetrated on the world by American bankers.

Worse though, is that Harper, who sense of humour is virtually non-existent and only comes to the surface when he can use it to take a swipe at somebody else, attempted to make an unapologetic funny at the expense of women. Canadian women.

Time for a quiz. Harper thinks:

a. All wives are insufferable nags;
b. Men are the only ones in a home doing all household renovations;
c. Women don't know how to drive a nail;
d. Wives are property;
e. All of the above.

This is classic "movement conservative" stuff. One might say that Harper was playing to his base, but the fact is, he was ad-libbing and it was a display of his mindset. It is that talking to "the guys", to whom the home is a castle. The same "guys" who just know that a home to a woman is actually a nest. And to Harper, everyone likes it that way because it's the constructed family of the conservative movement . The Silent Majority the conservative movement always loves to tell us about.

1957 - Leave It To Beaver .

What is even more infuriating, however, is how, with the exception of a few, it got missed or glossed over in the media. Harper painted a bullseye on his forehead and most let it slide.

A quote from TV in an era which Harper has planted his mind:

Ward Cleaver: Ah, June, Gilbert's always talking about his parents. Have you ever met them?
June Cleaver: Oh, I see her at the supermarket every once in a while. She seems like a calm sensible person.
Ward Cleaver: You can't really go by that. You might look the same way to her.

Fits the Harper description perfectly. Read it again.

Ward Cleaver has a concern about "Gilbert's" parents. June Cleaver has an opinion. Ward Cleaver dismisses the opinion on the basis it was formed by a woman about a woman and insults his wife. That got all kinds of laughs in its day - out of men and boys. Women quietly seethed. Added bonus: Ward Cleaver has never set foot in the supermarket because if he had, he would have met "Gilbert's" mother. In the 1957 world of Leave It To Beaver, women do the grocery shopping while men form opinions that count.

One more:

[Ward has opened the car door for June to enter]
June Cleaver: Thank you dear. It's so sweet of you to be the thoughtful husband after all these years.
Ward Cleaver: Your very welcome. Besides the neighbors might be watching.

That fits too... doesn't it Harper?