Sacrificed

The Cons are now back to parroting talking points from on high. But a few responses in the wake of this week's failed brinksmanship show that the pieces in Harper's chess game were less than pleasantly surprised to learn their leader considered them so expendable.

First, there are the ones who were so convinced of Harper's strategic genius that it didn't even occur to them that the opposition parties might actually be able to do anything in response:

Tory MPs seemed thunderstruck late Thursday by the possibility that their second term might come to a sudden end. As some of them piled onto a parliamentary shuttle bus, they were heard incredulously asking opposition MPs if they're serious about a coalition.

But more importantly, there's also been plenty of question from within the Cons about whether Harper really thought out the consequences of his actions to begin with. And that sentiment comes from both the party's braintrust...:

(W)hile the Tories remained outwardly feisty, there were several examples of internal nervousness. One Conservative official said it was unfathomable that the government might be heading for a cliff.

“I thought it was ‘The economy, stupid,'” one strategist said.

...and from the MPs who are now regretting staking their political careers on Harper's judgment:

Many Conservatives had been gleeful about the "poison pill" item in the update: the plan to slash $30 billion in taxpayer subsidies for political parties. But as the political fallout takes hold, Harper's move is widely seen as a terrible political miscalculation.

A Conservative government source said yesterday the idea was Harper's.

Sources said "most" of the Conservative caucus is perplexed why the government moved to put such controversial measures in now. "It makes no sense," said one.

"To date, Harper has been a master at dividing and conquering his opponents," said Conservative author Bob Plamondon.

"But by moving to end the subsidy to all political parties, he has given the three opposition parties unity and purpose. It is a rare strategic blunder for Harper and a miscalculation not seen since (former PC prime minister Joe) Clark toppled himself in 1979."

Conservative insiders across the country were flabbergasted.

"It is 1979 bravado with 1985 facts," said one plugged-in Tory, referring to Clark's bungled confidence vote in 1979 and the 1985 Liberal-NDP accord that ended 42 years of Tory rule at Queen's Park. "The government will fall," he lamented.

All of which offers a strong indication that Deficit Jim's train wreck of a fiscal update - complete with Harper's own interference - could prove to be no less significant a turning point within the Cons as within an opposition which has now put aside partisan differences to present a united front. And whether or not the heirs to the Conservative throne are indeed getting ready to start an all-out internal battle for Harper's position, this looks to be a watershed moment in breaking Harper's hold over his party.

Update: Impolitical has more.