A funny type of friendship

One more sign that if PMPM doesn't like the reality he's in, he has no qualms about making one up:

Martin panned Layton's "new-found friendship" with Stephen Harper, even as Layton was denouncing the Conservative leader's "offside" views elsewhere on the campaign trail...

(Said Martin), "for the better part of this campaign, (Layton) has been out there publicly saying, 'I'm with Stephen Harper.'"

Let's check the smell test on this one. What has Layton had to say about Harper since the campaign started?

From January 3:

When you vote Liberal, bad things happen. Sometimes it means you get a Liberal. Bad enough! But in Oshawa it got worse – it meant getting a Conservative.

From January 2:

Can you name anything the Conservatives accomplished? Under whatever name they’ve been calling themselves.

From December 22:

If you voted Conservative or Reform or Alliance in the past because you thought their MPs would fight to clean up government – to make it accountable. But found they didn’t and they won’t.

From December 20:

I just came back from the West. People there told me about all their do-nothing Conservative MPs – the ones who came to Ottawa, but forgot Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

People in Saskatchewan and British Columbia told me there is nothing more unproductive than a Conservative MP.

From December 18:

Conservatives don’t deliver. It’s a two-party race here, and the Conservative who’s running this time is just as ineffective and he won’t get the job done either. People know that a vote for Alex Atamanenko and the NDP is a vote to defeat do-nothing Conservatives...

You saw Stephen Harper in the debates. Wrong on the issues. Out of touch with Canadians’ values. Stephen Harper, the Leader of 22 do-nothing BC Conservative MPs, who have been sitting comfortably in Ottawa for years and have absolutely nothing to show for it – because they aren’t very good at their jobs...

Let’s call it as we see it about Stephen Harper. Stephen Harper and his do-nothing Conservative caucus. They want to roll back human rights in Canada. Does that deserve a vote in BC? They’ve been sitting in Ottawa for twelve years. Did they accomplish anything for BC? Do twelve years of Conservative do-nothings in
Ottawa deserve a vote in BC? I don’t think so either.

If any Lib supporters would like to try to find a comparable number of pro-Harper comments out of Layton's mouth, feel free. Here's a hint: it'll be a waste of your time - just like trying to defend PMPM.

Now, if this is Martin's idea of a friendship, there's plenty of reason to wonder just how Martin maintains any friends of his own. But considering how Martin has treated some of his supposed political friends in the past, and the fact that the next Libs in line are doing their best to push their "friend" PMPM overboard, maybe the relationship between Harper and Layton would pass for friendship in the Liberal Party.

The problem for Martin is that since the same standard wouldn't apply for anybody else on the face of the planet, voters won't give him the benefit of the doubt when he gets the definitions of "friendship" mixed up. And he's not getting any closer to being in touch with Canadians by being so far off the mark.