What planet are these people on?

Liberal MPs fear scathing auditor's report could hurt election chances:

OTTAWA (CP) - Liberal MPs say they fear an explosive auditor general's report Tuesday could erase a decade's worth of credibility on fiscal issues and put the party on fragile footing on the eve of an expected federal election. Quebec MP Nick Discepola said Sheila Fraser's long-awaited report on the federal sponsorship and advertising scandal could have an immeasurable impact, and the mood among MPs is one of "great apprehension." "The anticipation is that it will be a very scathing report attacking the credibility that it took us 10 years to build." "Up until this point, we've always been perceived by the Canadian public as very sound prudent administrators."

This is what Liberal MPs said before the last damning A-G's report. And the one before that. It's what they said after the HRDC mess, the gun registry fiasco, the multiple exploding scandals surrounding the Prime Minister's riding... The list is endless. And now they're worried it will hurt their image as "sound prudent administrators"? The report isn't even out yet, and it's being spun within an inch of its life. Liberals have been filling the airwaves and newspages talking up how awful it's going to be. Not only is this a transparent effort to ramp up expecations beyond anything the report could deliver ("gee, it wasn't as bad as all that"), but it fits with the general strategy of pretending that all of this went on under a different government. Listen to Liberal MPs talk: It's as if this was something that was happening to them -- as if the issue raised by the report wasn't what the hell they've been doing all these years when they should have been minding the public purse, but what it means for "the credibility that it took us 10 years to build." As if it were some sort of unforseeable natural disaster, a fire, or a flood, and they were worried it would ruin the family business. If only.