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Stephen Harper is a scrapper. The guy cut his teeth on the bloody fields of the Reform grassroots revolution and worked his way to power in the pugilistic role of underdog opposition within the sphere of the then all-powerful Liberals. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the purest incarnation of partisan politics. The fact that he can't abandon the role to serve the larger benefit of the country should take no one by surprise.

The machine he has built is simply a purer refinement of the "attack dog" mentality he brought so effectively to the benches of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Opponents are vilified and eliminated with a combination of innuendo, grassroots appeal and high-handed gestures. It worked on Martin and Dion, and it will work (perhaps less effectively) on Iggy. Why should it change?

In unraveling the Wafergate "scandal", one simply has to look at the coverage. An admittedly minor possible incident (against a background of colossal errors in judgment and various legal actions) had a brief flash, then vanished. The presumably more liberally-inclined media has a tough time sustaining outrage against this administration's fumbles. However, the Conservative machine is expert. I have heard far more about Wafergate as a Liberal conspiracy than I ever did about it being an affront to the Catholic Church.

Whether or not the PM pocketed the wafer is immaterial by this point. It is ignored. Instead, a mid-level Liberal player will be outed as asking a favour of (or simply encouraging) a businessman he knows and the politico's career will be over. The Tories will be vindicated, and the example will be used to bludgeon Iggy over "backroom politics" or his inability to run a tight ship.

Would it be too much to hope for another YouTube clip to surface, from another point of view? There had to be more than one camera there, no? If it does, expect the issue to be dropped in a terse Friday afternoon press release and another crisis or celebratory announcement to surface by Monday.

The tools of my profession can be used for a number of purposes. I'm not proud of some of them.