Winners: National Post columnist Janathan Kay and NB blogger Micheal Spinks for bringing the issue of Heather Mallick's column to light. Let's just say, their efforts prompted thousands of Canadians taxpayers to issue complaints to the CBC regarding Mallick's "hateful" and "shameful" attacks on Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. I know both gentlemen above to be strong advocates of free speech, however, in the case of Mallick's column, I suspect they were more appalled by the fact that such a barrage of vitriol took place on a “government-owned” website, and felt that her views had no place on an outlet funded by the public. I agree, and I'm glad to see CBC ombudsman Vince Carlin agrees as well. Although, I see Kay is still damanding the column be pulled from their CBC.ca website.
Winner: Dion strategists for finally realizing that their boss is an anglophone nightmare when he's in front of a teleprompter. Will this change be enough? Well, it better be for the Grits sake, b/c he [Dion] has put himself and his party in a huge hole after just two weeks. So much so, it really is difficult to imagine him digging his way out of it.
Local loser: The sleuth section of the Times & Transcript for trying their darnedest to cast a well run, positive campaign in a bad light. As someone who has run a few campaigns in his day, I will tell you, when all is said and done, win or lose the Daniel Allain campaign will be one that many will look back on as a model for the future. Not only have they used technology (Twitter, Youtube and Facebook) to their advantage, they have organized a strong mix of both youthful and experienced campaign workers who are hungry for change. Change, in a province that desperately needs to forget the past and focus on the future.
Loser: Former Paul Martin strategist Scott Reid for offering up advice to a well run Tory campaign. Honestly folks, that's like me, as a male, offering up advice to a pregnant lady on the dos and don'ts of child birth. Although, in his defense, I'm sure he's a pro on what doesn't actually work in a general election campaign. Much like his colleague David Herle.
Losing argument: Stéphane Dion for taking the advice of former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien (who criticized the Tories as poor fiscal managers). Since the release of his party's platform this past week, Mr. Dion has been stumping in many towns and cities across the country on the argument that the Harper Conservatives shouldn't be trusted as fiscal managers because they have squandered the surplus. Now that the numbers show otherwise, I wonder where Mr. Dion will go from here? Back to the drawing board I suppose.
Best line: Says the anarchist at a Dion media scrum: "This meeting is being hijacked by these...media people!!" That's hilarious. I love it. [H/T Le Politico]
Day 22: Sunday Update & Quick Hitters
Loser: Jack Layton for getting way too far ahead of himself. There's no question yours truly has been very impressed with the dippers campaign thus far (even giving them a few hat tips in the first half of the campaign). However, yesterday was definitely the exception to the rule as Jack declared he and his party "the saviour of the Canadian family." Clearly, if these guys want to replace the Liberals as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, they've got to stick to the game plan as acting like a bunch of swelled headed left-wingers will get them right back where they started. Although, in Jackos defense, his rally was held at the Commodore club in downtown Vancouver, so maybe a few drinks were had after discussing the polls and before hitting the stage. Ooops, wrong guy in the link, but you get the drift.
Winner: Stephen Harper for attending his high school reunion. As someone who has never been to a single one of my high school reunions, I can only imagine the awkwardness he had to go through. lol But give Stephen credit, he not only had to drag the press gallery around all night, he had to own up to losing in the first round of the game show Reach for the Top. A true humbling experience for the PM.
Which leads me to this...
Best line: Harper: "I guess you are wondering what happened to me after high school. Look, things have turned out pretty well. I just thought I'd have a permanent job by now."
I have reincarnated this old blog and will be following both the national as well as the local developments in the New Brunswick region leading up to the 2011 federal election.
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24 comments:
Mallick left the Globe & Mail at the beginning of December after a disagreement with her editor over a column concerning the Chomsky/Srebrenica controversy.
Need I say more of why she is so loved by the C-ommunist-BC.
Teleprompter or not, Dion is in a difficult position and his organizers know it. Forget liberal, conservative, or NDP, at this point, he's trying to convince people to vote for him. Period. End of story.
So if he can't do this during the two debates, put a fork in him. He's done.
You say that the Tories have "a well run campaign". If by that, you mean the absolute extreme in hypocrisy and bullsh*t, then I guess you're right. They dump all over the other parties for the foilbles of their candidates but refuse to apply the same standard to themselves. They're positioning Harper as a caring politician when in reality the only thing he cares about is looking good on camera and to George W. Bush. If that's a well-run campaign, then I guess we deserve what we get.
Hey fred, with the NDP in 2nd place in B.C., Quebec; I would be more worried about the well run campaign that's pushing your Grits down to the cellar with the greens.
One you figure out that one, give us a call.
re: Malick: It was a poor attempt at satire that fell flat. However, if the CBC is to exist as an independent public broadcaster, we can't expect to control columnist opinion. Bill Maher has been ripping Palin for being an unqualified lightweight, in much harsher terms than Malick; would he also be unwelcome on the CBC?
re The Sleuth: Just like the editorials, these columns should have a name attached. Most of the time, the column reads like a political Page Six, with updates on Shawn Graham's concert attendance, or Frank McKenna's golf rounds. It is what it is: gossip. We do deserve better.
re: Dion's language skills. You have to give him credit for even attempting what he's done. He's trying to sell an unpopular policy in his second language. I know how well I'd do in francophone media, so I do have respect for what Stephane Dion has been doing.
anonymous 7:38 - wrong call there pal. Liberals are a lost cause as far as I'm concerned. I think I could form my own political party and do as well as these clowns are doing so far - all of them! :-)
A regular read of Mallick's columns make it clear that's not satire (as even the CBC Ombudsman pointed out or at least it wasn't labelled as such), since she writes this type of stuff all the time. Mallick's a self proclaimed activist who gets paid by the taxpayer funded CBC for columns laced with vitriol. She finally went too far, got called on it and the facts are now out there that only the most left-winged partisan couldn't see. The CBC espouses left-winged views with no counter balance.
Frankly, Mallick has done us all a service by forcing the CBC Ombudsman to say it. I still expect zero to change though.
Any strategy would be good for Dion.
According to CTV's Graham Richardson, the Liberals are going to step up the reverse coattails strategy ---where the leader will ride the momentum of star candidates like Rae, Iggy, Kennedy and Brison --- in an attept to keep seats in Ontario. Their only strength.
Scroll through any of the links on the mainstream media sites and you notice that they are in overdrive trying to make this race closer.
Which is why I, myself, will be ignoring the mudslinging being covered by the msm in the last week -- which you know a down and out Liberal party will be slinging.
The Liberal secret on how to get elected is out on the street. Folks Michael Ignatieff is telling you that you have to vote Liberal because the NDP & Greens have no hope of forming the government. Great plan Mike.
You're absolutely right about the real problem with Mallick: that her screeds are taxpayer-funded.
She has every right to her opinions, and to write whatever she wants. Her editors and publishers have every right to help her distribute those opinions. Anyone who wants to listen has every right to do so.
What none of those people have is the slightest right to make me or anyone else pay one thin dime toward it.
Should we listen to anybody who truly believes that mediums that promote human expression and interaction, like facebook, are teaching our young geberation how to fail. This women is off her rocker.
NDP official opposition?? No chance. First off, traditionally the NDP has always been a party that peaks early and midway through a campaign only to see there numbers peter out come crunch time, usually to around the mid teens. Second off, the NDP has little room to grow vote-wise. Simply put, their policies are designed to appeal to union bosses, tweedy professors and left-wing special interest groups. Hardly pragmatic in the eyes of most Canadians.
I was leaning toward a NDP vote, simply because Dion's platform is even worse for the average Canadian, especially the cross-the-board carbon tax point. With the unveiling of this platform, I was hoping to see a level headed, restrained approach given the current International economy. Big business will only pass the costs of increased taxes on to the consumer/average taxpayer and effectively lose any gains from social benefits. You can't win by beating the people you hope to speak for and represent. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see where the votes will go on this one! I sadly must now reconsider my vote to back a opposition with more realistic economic outlooks. This might have worked in a burgeoning economy, but falls flat and possibly even creates fear in a world economy that needs to see fiscal responsibility.
Stephane Dion has displayed some of the most irresponsible behaviour of a Canadian political leader than most of us have ever seen. He has senior members of the Liberal Party taking shots at him and even one BC candidate boasting that Ignatieff would make the better leader at this point.
Ummm...
You know that while you dudes were blogging away about the Palin comments, the United States turned a disturbing shade of socialist, don't you?
http://qslspolitics.blogspot.com/2008/09/united-states-under-marshall-law.html.
As a 'right-wing' blogger shouldn't you be discussing these sort of REAL ISSUES???
Canadian (neo)conservative bloggers must be living in the same lala land we watched the Americans thrash about in as their elections were corrupted, their treasure stolen and their good name destroyed.
Sarah Palin is only the latest sad political incarnation of the American disaster.
"As a 'right-wing' blogger shouldn't you be discussing these sort of REAL ISSUES???"
Gee, Dan, what we're discussing are real issues to us ... but I can understand how, from the European perspective, you might see things differently. LOL
Dan likes to defend undemocratic-fascist-religious-regimes from the comfort of his free democratic home.
Said definition of a hypocrite or as we like to call it "a canary in the mindshaft of freedom."
How would my comment be any more or less true if I posted it from one of the third-world dictatorships the US and Canada were propping up?
If I was blogging this from Haiti during a food riot as the latest kleptocracy was being instated, would it be any more accurate?
It is this sort of idiotic nationalistic thinking that got us into this War on Terror mess in the first place.
Talk about how we've killed, injured and displaced millions of people in the middle-east and still haven't 'caught' bin-laden?
Of course not - not when we can just stare at Sarah Palin's breasts, let ourselves be soothed by her false talking-points and then demand that anyone who dares to criticize her be fired.
Nice democracy you're 'protecting' there guys.
Gee, Danny, I hadn't thought of Sarah's breasts until now. Been fixating on them have ya? You should get out more bud. LOL
I wasn't the only one, Fred:
Venus de Wassila
They didn't exactly nominate her for her religious tolerance now, did they?
Dan, I think they would have been better off posing her with a hockey stick! :-) Have you seen the video clip "Head of Skate"? It's a good one. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461
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