CHAPDISC: HBP1, The Other Minister

[hitchyker42]

No: HPFGUIDX 141852


> SSSusan earlier:
*snip*
>  With Scrimgeour, I guess where I find myself questioning his 
> competence is later on... when, not only does he fail to bring Harry 
> aboard [and he really *does* muck those attempts up -- Harry sees 
> right through him], but also when he makes arrests just in order to 
> be making arrests.  He seems to be not only failing to make much 
> progress, but he's engaging in really inappropriate action in 
> arresting and *keeping* detained people whom he really should not.  
> 
> I definitely class that as a form of incompetence, though perhaps 
> there is a more appropriate word than that?

Collin:
I think you're absolutely right about this.  Harry very pointedly
brings up the subject of Stan Shunpike at his first meeting with
Scrimgeour, and Scrimgeour reacts condescendingly to the idea that
Harry has actual opinions about what should be done.  He dismisses the
possibility that Harry actually has an important role to play in the
fight against LV.  That, I think can be overlooked the first time, but
at their second meeting, once Scrimgeour has had his opportunity to
assess the situation with Harry, he hasn't changed his approach.  He
could have used Stan Shunpike's release as an act of diplomacy toward
Harry in an attempt to sway him, but he persists instead with an
approach that already failed once. (And this time he does it at
Dumbledore's  *funeral*!)  That, I think, is clearly incompetence.  If
he can't compromise, he's not a very good politician, and his
unwavering insistence that he is right in the face of all evidence
contrary is very much like Fudge.

So basically, Scrimgeour has a cool and capable coating, but a soft
Fudgy center! :)

Collin