Lowering the bar

Lawrence Martin writes that several prominent Cons are pushing for their party to aim for a "low key" and "good management" philosophy now that a spring or summer election looks unlikely. And in light of Harper's well-known message micromanagement, it seems virtually certain that the number of Cons willing to go public with the idea means that Harper himself plans to try to sell the message as well.

But while "low key" and "good management" are positive enough concepts on their own (if in combination with at least some underlying principle), there's been precious little indication that anybody within the Cons can count either as a strength - and ample reason to believe that even under the thumb of an extremely controlling leader, the Cons simply don't have the self-restraint to avoid making negative headlines. Which means that the Cons are in severe danger of falling well short of even their own lowered expectations.