Well sort of.
He caves, alright, but the dear old fellow will:
1. insist there was no change; and
2. this is the same position as the one he took all along.
I can see him in court now:
"Yes, M'Lud, while the forensic evidence clearly shows my client was in three houses illegally and stole a quality of jewelry in excess of $5, 000 value, he insists that in fact he is a small pink pussycat and even if he isn't a small pink pussycat, my client insists he was at home with his wife at the time the crimes were committed.
Yes, M'Lud, I acknowledge that his wife has given evidence that she was in fact at bingo that night and yes, I am aware of the three witnesses who were at home at the time and took photographs of my client in their homes at the time alleged holding the jewelry and climbing out a window, but in fact M'Lud, the price of tea in China is extremely high right now and my client is victim of a massive, evil liberal conspiracy of which you, M'Lud, are a part, and...
Look over there!
A purple dinosaur."
Distraction, obfuscation, even flat-out denials don't change the facts - on child care, Liam O'Brien is now advocating that Stephen Harper's:
"focus should remain on maximizing the size of the transfer of funding to parents and let them decide how to spend their money in order to care for their children."
To see how dramatic a shift this is, understand that initially O'Brien insisted that $2.30 cents a day gave choice in child care. That's right. My wife and I could keep one of us at home to raise our child on $2.30 a day. Now, according to Liam, Harper needs to maximize that amount.
This is the guy who quoted American right-wing political lobbyists and presented them as child care experts to bolster his case that $2.30 a day gave choice in child care.
This is the guy who howled when I pointed out, as a parent, that $2.30 was choice, my foot.
In his verbose reply, he said this:
"Ed, you fail to offer a very simple answer: if your problem is with the amount of funding offered, why aren't you advocating a system that does indeed put fund in the hands of parents?"
Of course, it wasn't my plan to fix. I have another idea I think is better.
But after a month, Liam has seen the error of his ways.
Or maybe, just maybe, Liam realized that all his rantings against the non-existent "nanny state" looked kinda dumb, since his own leader has always advocated a minimal amount for subsidized daycare. It's part of the strategy to appear more Liberal than Liberal, emphasis on the word "appear".
Either way, Liam will insist that everything is the same as it always was.
The way Liam insists change is the same, and now likely that a tax increase is a tax decrease, the next thing he'll do is headline a post: "Harper: Double Plus Good!"