Nothing but a game

Plenty of others have already commented on Don Cherry's sad attempt to play a Canadian troop in Afghanistan on TV. But it's worth taking a moment to consider how the latest publicity stunt fits into the Cons' general style of government.

It's no great secret that the Cons' domestic strategy has been based on little more than turning public institutions into a massive photo-op generator. And presumably that isn't a difficult strategy for the Cons to justify to themselves: since they don't consider most government to be legitimate or useful anyway, why not use all of its resources to fuel a PR machine?

For the most part, though, they've tried to act a bit more serious in their treatment of the military, especially where Afghanistan is concerned. And that too sense given their desire to push spending toward the military in the longer term by making it look more important than their farcical mimicry of a government at home.

What's significant about the Cherry bombing, then, is that it exposes the Cons' complete lack of any serious interest even in what are supposed to be their core issues. After years of being told that Afghanistan reflected a battle for civilization itself, we now have compelling evidence that they see it too as nothing more than a game, with Canada's actual mission to be shoved aside on a moment's notice for the amusement of a politically-friendly celebrity guest star. And it's well worth wondering whether voters may start to tell them they should play government on their own time and money.

Update: Thwap adds a must-read post on the subject.