Excuses, excuses

As an update to this post, you know the Cons recognize they've screwed up when they start reciting random, inconsistent excuses this quickly:

“Suffice to say, (Foreign Affairs officials) don't feel the timing is right,” Mr. Del Mastro said Tuesday.

“They don't object to the trip, they don't object to the initiatives of the trip, they don't object to the agenda of the trip, it's just the timing of the trip.

“It's not the best time for that type of agenda I suppose. I'm going to respect their opinion.”

However, Mazen Chouaib, executive director of the National Council of Canada-Arab Relations, said Mr. Del Mastro had a different story when he called to cancel Monday evening.

Mr. Chouaib said the MP told him the Prime Minister's Office had security concerns about the trip and asked him to withdraw.

Mr. Chouaib said he didn't buy that explanation.

Now, if Del Mastro actually planned to stick with the new justification, one would think he'd at least mention what about the timing would justify putting off the trip. But it appears more likely that Del Mastro wants to leave open the option of spinning the Cons' Wheel of Specious Excuses again tomorrow rather than pretending there's an explanation worth sticking with. Which only highlights the pointlessness of the original decision, as there obviously wasn't enough thought put into it to allow Del Mastro to have a tenable reason for it now.