Flailing around

For someone trying to present a blue-sweater image of calm and confident leadership, Stephen Harper is swinging a little wild.
He announces, out of the blue, that Canada is leaving Afghanistan -- a reversal of eight years of knee-jerk support which will be seen by the military and by the Conservative base as a betrayal. (Not surprisingly, the Conservatives look like they are now trying to withdraw the withdrawal.)
Then he flips out over the screw-up of one of his most loyal staffers (remember this? And this? And this?) And I ask again, how many incompetents have the Conservatives hired this time?
Well, obviously there are a few others, because somebody advised him to hide behind Jack Layton on the Elizabeth May issue, apparently not anticipating how frail a reed that would turn out to be.
Then he tries to float the argument that the Green Shift will provoke Quebec separatism.
Then he thinks he's going to stimulate the economy by cutting diesel taxes, even though this won't actually make much difference. Oh, and WWII veterans benefits are going to be reinstated. Big wow -- I guess that wraps up the 90-year-old vote.
And its only been six days since the election was called. Is there any kind of a plan here?
As some conservative blogger apparently said: "Dear Tory war room: you guys still want Harper to win, right?"