Friday, September 26, 2008

The Ignoble Mr. Harper

Stephane Dion was in St. Thomas today making general announcements and announcements that will affect agriculture specifically.

He was introduced by Gerrard Kennedy, as the man he is. A man who has fought for the unity of this country and has remained in politics only to contribute to making the country stronger.

When he approached the podium, there was something a little different that I couldn't put my finger on. He seemed to cast aside his notes and certainly wasn't encumbered by a tele-prompter in the middle of a field. Very quickly, he re-capped why he entered politics then referred to Mr. Harper and the style, (if you can call it that), he adopts against his opponents.

He reminded us with a hint of disbelief of how, when Dion asked about the treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan, Harper called him a Taliban sympathiser. He went on to say, with justifiable resentment in his voice, that he thought Harper couldn't go any lower after suggesting that his Action Plan would divide the country. He then shared with us Harper's latest insult that I presume he uses to fire up his base and that is, 'Stephen Harper has now said that I am virtually cheering for a recession'. He didn't disguise his anger or his incredulity.

Harper, a man who is so driven to gain more power, he resorts to attacking the character and motivation of an honourable opponent, without any regard for the consequences is leading this country people and is asking for a blank cheque to continue.

Well, if today was any indication, I can tell you Dion is not going to take the barrage of lies and insults ling down. My words, not his, were enough is enough and I suspect those who saw Dion speak today could hear them too.

I saw the speech on CTV. It was also on CPAC, but the CBC in their infinite wisdom chose not to carry it. I don't know if you've noticed, but this is not the first time. It' also common for them to break into a Dion speech, in order to cut to Harper. If there is a company out there that is tracking exposure for these leaders, I'd be really interested in the numbers.

As an aside, this morning Dion spoke at a seniors residence that Gerrard Kennedy had arranged. It was not a grand affair, and the speech certainly wasn't as fiery, but it was fine. Immediately following the speech, the seniors themselves were given an opportunity to ask questions. A few did then it went to the scrum. After a couple of questions from the press about the Liberal candidate in Winnipeg, a senior stood and said, 'We don't care about that stuff. I thought this was for us!" Dion took his question, then it was back to the anointed story tellers, (am I getting cynical?), and more irrelevant questions, which got the whole crowd yelling at the media. I confess it made me laugh out loud.

Dion was in a tough spot, but being who he is, he said he was not Stephen Harper and we must respect the freedom of the press. What do you suppose Harper would have done in the same circumstance?

I later heard Susan Bonner describe the incident and she was quite indignant, saying she'd never seen anything like it. In other words, how could those people have done that to the press! She of course missed their message and what most of the country is saying.

We don't care about the trivial bits you are feeding us because it amounts to the level of debate we get from Harper. Mean spirited and meaningless. We're interested in the issues!

Note to Dion handlers: Let Dion speak as himself. Throw away the tele-prompter and speeches whenever possible.

25 comments:

Northern PoV said...

"the CBC ...chose not to carry it. I don't know if you've noticed"

Yes we've noticed.

Yet every Harper routine candidate introduction and robo-Con speech seems to get live coverage, even (as you pointed out) when breaking into a substantive policy speech or unscripted Q&A being made by Dion.

Meanwhile on the National last night, Mansbridge introduced a rather positive report on Dion's Quebec City speech with a total Non Sequitur headline: "Dion upstaged by his campaign".

ottlib said...

Maybe now Mr. Dion will realize that that only taking the high road is a recipe for failure.

It is a sad fact of political life but there it is.

The Conservatives have a brutal record of bad decisions, broken promises and scandals in their 2+ years in power and we have heard nada about it.

For the love of crimany begin pointing those out. I know the Liberals have footage of the RCMP raid on Conservative Party HQ. Use it dammit.

They also have a recording of Mr. Harper mentioning "financial considerations" in Mr. Harper's own words in the Cadman affair.

Use it, although very carefully. Mr. Harper asked for an injunction against using that recording but he called an election before the request could be heard and then delayed that hearing afterwards. So, legally that recording is fair game.

Using that recording and the footage of the RCMP raid may also get Mr. Harper mad, which is what the Liberals should be trying to do at every opportunity. Mr. Harper got a little hot under the collar with the questioning on the arts cuts and look at the egg he laid then. Get him really mad and he could say things that not even this media could ignore or downplay.

It is a sad fact of politics that nice guys finish last. It is time to take the gloves off.

RuralSandi said...

Something just hit me on the head out of the blue....watching shows discussing Sarah Palin at the UN doing her quick study course, there was discussion about a portion of the UN meetings designated to "women"....speeches, etc. about women around the world, their issues in poor areas to do with child birth, etc. Who attended?

Gordon Brown's wife.
Female leaders of various countries.
Wifes of leaders of various countries.
Martha Stewart, Whoopie Goldberg, and many others.

But NO "Loreen"....tacky or what. Ya, they're in an election, but so is the US and many ladies were there including Palin or course.

The UN meetings are only a couple of days. Why wasn't Loreen there representing Canadian women?

Tootrusting said...

ottlib

Very well said we can only hope some one is listening.

I'm fed up of Dion being the nice guy, you can't play nice with a scum bag and expect to win.

Anonymous said...

I thought Harper's comments were right on the money. Dion has been saying Canada's economy is on the brink of deficit and on the edge of a recession for the last few weeks. I was quite happy to see Harper call him on it.

As the U.S. economy slipped deeper into financial turmoil Monday, Dion cast the Conservative economic plan as an anchor that has dragged Canadians to the brink of recession.

Winnipeg Free Press

Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has mismanaged the economy, bringing Canada to the brink of recession with the worst two economic quarters in almost two decades, said Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion.

Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty continue to talk about how good the ‘fundamentals’ are in Canada in spite of the fact that by any economic definition Canada is slumping.


Liberal.ca WebSite

What is the Reality Check?

The federal government reported a surplus of $1.7 billion in July, boosted by higher income and excise taxes and duties, the Department of Finance said in its monthly report, released Friday.

That big jump pushed the surplus for the first four months of the fiscal year to an estimated $2.9 billion. That's already more than Finance Minister Jim Flaherty projected in the February budget, when he called for a surplus of $2.3 billion for the full year ending March 31, 2009.


CBC Today

penlan said...

CBC's time is done. Get rid of all the old-timers - Mansbridge, Newman, Bonner, et al, & bring in new, younger, blood. CBC needs a big shakeup. They are no different than CTV now. Time to either get rid of CBC or do that shakeup.

Loreen doesn't like being in the public eye, etc. Probably the reason she isn't at the U.N. Plus Steve wouldn't let her go anyway.

If the Cons win this election watch the media go nuts once all the secret dealings that the Cons will do to decimate this country are revealed. And the press will have a BIG hand in having allowed that to happen with their lack of unbiased reporting in this election & their complete focus on Harper & lack of honest reporting on Dion.

Karen said...

Thanks nothern pov. I didn't see the National and will look it up on line.

Anonymous said...

I hate how Dion keeps getting introduced by all the other leadership candidates... Ignatieff, Rae, Kennedy... All it does is remind me how good the Liberal party COULD have been if one of them was running it right now...

Karen said...

ottlib, I doubt we'll see the use of the raid tape, because you know precisely how the con's would react and what they would bring up.

The tape, maybe, but I'd hold out for a time when it doesn't look like a non sequitur.

His record and the way he responded today? Absolutely. He really was strong and actually, as I heard it in French, he did say, enough is enough, can we now have an debate among adults?

It doesn't sound like much written here, but he was forceful and this position will stand him in good stead.

Even Fife was blown away.

Sadly though, you're right about being too nice. It's bizarre to me, it truly is, but I do accept the reality of it.

Karen said...

Sandi, there will be elite there after all. Can't be cozying up with them now can she?

Karen said...

tootrusting, I hope he plays smart and that includes taking Harper on.

Karen said...

ottlib, I completely agree btw about getting Harper mad.

Carrie said...

I've been watching mostly CTV and CPAC because CBC hasn't been covering much of Dion at all. I have seen, on at least two occasions, CTV cut from Harper speaking to Dion speaking somewhere. I laughed both times.

The news reported that the media is all rather impressed with Dion now because he's not giving "dry speeches" and he's so much more effective. Of course they had to counter that - Marci Ien or Ian at CTV - with "but no mention of the green shift". It's completely unfair and twisting the news.

There was someone on Mike Duffy tonight who said what he is hearing from his riding is nothing like the polls. I've also read the same iteration from liberal bloggers working campaigns. So I think the polls are not accurate.

Lastly, CBC had Naomi Wolf on today. I can't find a clip of her interview online but she said essentially what she wrote in HuffPo. And she pleaded with Canadians to help the USA stand up to their bad government and to take a lesson from them and not let it happen here. She sees the same thing for Canada ahead if we keep going this way. So do I.
Here's her column at HuffPo.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/the-battle-plan-ii-sarah_b_128393.html

Karen said...

Anon. What a shock that you think Harper was right.

What you and your juvenile leader fail to realise is that this is a race about who is going to lead the country and one in which there should debateabout policy and ideas. It is not a forum to denigrate a person's character and accuse him of wanting to see the country he loves go to ruin.

As for the modest surplus, hooray. Sadly, most of it can be accounted for due to inflation.

Karen said...

penlan, sadly the media will never admit their role.

That said, let's keep Dion going on the way he did today and you just don't know what might happen.

ottlib said...

knb:

I want Mr. Harper to react and react angrily.

He has had absolutely no pressure placed upon him in this campaign. The media are not going to do it so the Liberals have to.

Both the RCMP raid footage and the Cadman tape got Mr. Harper hopping mad during the last sitting of the House and he was revealed to be the bully he is.

The Liberals have to bring that out of him again. The media has taken the "sweater vest" Harper to heart so the Liberals have to force them out of that narrative.

The Liberals should have those ads in the hopper and should release them now. It would make for some interesting times in the upcoming debates.

Of course, I believe that they do not have these ads in the hopper. It seems to me that Mr. Dion is honest, honourable, and sincere TO A FAULT.

I do admire that in him but in politics you need at least a little bit of the killer instinct and Mr. Dion has not displayed that to date.

Again, I hope that today's latest statements from Mr. Harper will convince Mr. Dion of the folly of continually turning the other cheek. Considering how much he has taken from Mr. Harper during the campaign nobody could blame him from striking back.

As well, the media may be cheerleading for the Conservatives now but if a slugfest develops between the two that very same media will eat it up and they would probably encourage it some more by giving Mr. Dion some positive coverage.

Nothing sells newspapers or increases TV ratings than a good old fashioned political slugfest.

Perverse I know but a reality and the Liberals should acknowledge that and work with it.

Karen said...

pete, you and others who still pine at this late date for a different outcome of the leadership race, I think are deluding yourself.

Don't you think they had a year long attack prepared for Ignatieff and Rae? Don't you think they would have been denigrated and painted as people they are not?

Dion had a stellar reputation, still does, but a strong image as well before the Rovian attack strategy went into high gear.

Believe me, Ignatieff and Rae would have been attacked and portrayed differently, but a similar thing would have happened. It just would have been a different dynamic in that another stereotype would have been chosen for them, one that the Con's could still play against the image of their guy.

ottlib said...

In actual fact senior Conservatives have acknowledged that they had their attack lines prepared after either an Ignatieff or Rae win.

The election of Mr. Dion took them by surprise.

They certainly adapted but in between Mr. Dion's election and the first attack ads against him the Liberals lost an opportunity to introduce and define Mr. Dion before the Conservatives could.

Karen said...

Thanks for that carrie. Naomi can be out there on some issues and of course she is a NDP supporter, but overall, she has a really good sense of what has gone on in the States and understands who Harper is.

The person you referred to on CTV is Bryon Wilfert and his comments are inline with what I'm hearing too.

ottlib said...

Here is a little good news.

I live in Ottawa West-Nepean, the riding held by John Baird. *shudder*

His Liberal opponent is David Pratt, who has deep roots in the riding, worked for years as a city councellor and was Defence Minister in the Chretien government until he lost to Pierre Poilivre *shudder some more* in Nepean-Carleton, just south of mine.

At any rate, I have been hearing that Mr. Baird is in some trouble. I bus to work through the riding and the number of David Pratt signs up on peoples lawns would seem to bare that out somewhat. There is one stretch of road, a major artery in Ottawa, where their are Pratt signs on every lawn, on both sides of the street, for two solid blocks. As well, looking up sidestreets you can see many more.

I think it is a very close race so both Mr. Pratt and Mr. Baird will be fighting hard for the remainder of the campaign.

If the national campaign can get some traction and the NDP supporters take Mr. Rae's advice, delivered at Mr. Pratt's campaign HQ, Mr. Baird could be looking for his first real job on October 15.

Karen said...

Oh, wouldn't that be something, ottlib.

If there is another all candidates debate and you can make it, I'd be interested in your take.

I heard that Pratt was a bit negative at the last one, though I don't know how you couldn't be facing Baird.

Anyway, here's hoping.

ottlib said...

I stopped going to all-candidate debates a long time ago.

In most cases they are overrun by partisans from all of the parties equally turning off the half-a-dozen or so undecideds that might have actually come out to hear what the candidates have to say.

RuralSandi said...

I'm sorry to cut and paste and I know it's long, but it is IMPORTANT re: media bias:

With Canwest/Rogers Cable/CTV Globemedia/Reuters & Thompson gaining huge from the CRTC Harper controlled ruling in favor of larger market share for the above named media (which is cross owned, I’ll explain with links below), Harper gets pieced off with a majority as a reward and if Harper gets rid of the CBC, he gets another majority for even further market share of essentially two corporate entities (Can West/Reuter & Thompson). The links below remind viewers of the dangers to media concentration and media oligarchies in Canada.

http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2007/09/17/BigMe

http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2007/07/16/Canad

The fix is in. Media has got this election rigged but to see just how rigged it is and who benefits, one has to follow the ownership/power/money trail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuters

Its important to read Reuters history and Thompsons, to get a feel for where media is going.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thomson_Corp

This second link has this information, a list of directors that is the “who’s who” in the old boys room. A clip:

Members of the last board of directors of Thomson were: David K.R. Thomson (chairman of the board since 2002), W. Geoffrey Beattie, Richard Harrington, Ron Barbaro, Mary Cirillo, Robert Daleo, Steven Denning, Maureen Darkes, Roger Martin, Vance Opperman, John M. Thompson, Peter Thomson, Richard Thomson, and John A. Tory.

The Thomson family owned 70 percent of the company.[3]

When Kenneth Thomson died in June 2006, control of the family fortune passed on to David K.R. Thomson under a plan put together decades earlier by company founder Roy Thomson.[3]

The Thomson family controlled The Thomson Corporation through a family-owned entity, The Woodbridge Company, based in Toronto. (Along with 70 percent of Thomson Corporation, Woodbridge also owns a 40 percent stake in CTVglobemedia, which now owns The Globe and Mail daily newspaper in Toronto and CTV, Canada’s largest commercial TV network.) David K.R. Thomson and his brother, Peter J. Thomson, became co-chairmen of Woodbridge on their father’s death.[3]

The question… you should all be asking is… “who is John Tory”?

Does “Tory” ring a bell? You know, “the Tories as in the Conservatives?”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Tory

He is the father of Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leader John H. Tory.

Considering the bias media coming from the Woodbridge company that Reuters/Thomson now owns…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woodbridge_C

A clip:

The Woodbridge Company Limited is a Canadian private holding company and the principal and controlling shareholder (53 percent) of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters was formed in 2008 when The Thomson Corporation, a world leader in providing integrated information solutions, acquired Reuters.

Woodbridge is the primary investment vehicle for members of the family of the late Roy Thomson, the first Lord Thomson of Fleet.

Woodbridge also owns the largest (40 percent) interest in CTVglobemedia, a Canadian multimedia company with ownership of CTV and The Globe and Mail. CTV owns and operates 27 conventional stations, with interests in 35 specialty channels, including TSN. CTVglobemedia also owns the CHUM Radio Division, which operates 35 radio stations throughout Canada. Other CTVglobemedia investments include an interest in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre.

We are seeing an almalgamation of media ownership here that is now global. Reuters is world wide. Even FOX news, the U.S. Republican channel, is part owned through what has become one of the largest if not thee largest media outlet in the world. (Reuters/Thompson profited 7 billion last year)

They could very well now be one of the three largest media giants in the world and their view is a Conservative one, all the way.

So is the fix in? CTV, Rogers Cable, the globe and mail… not to mention the Lenard Aspers favoring of Harper with every speech he’s ever made in this nation, now we can include Can West Global:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CanWest

And who is Can West?
Publishing:

National Post
St. John’s Telegram
Montreal Gazette
Ottawa Citizen
Windsor Star
Regina Leader Post
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
Calgary Herald
Edmonton Journal
Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Province
Victoria Times-Colonist
Other Publications
The Van Net Newspaper Group
The Vancouver Island Newspaper Group
Windsor-Essex Community Papers

Television:
Global Television Network
CH Hamilton
CH Vancouver Island
CH in Montreal
CHBC - Kelowna, British Columbia
CKRD - Red Deer, Alberta
Prime TV
Men TV
Mystery
DejaView
Lonestar
Fox Sportsworld Canada
Xtreme Sports

If anyone ever took the time to read these links, they would easily see why the fix is in and why Harper wants the CBC gone from existence in a big bad way (and why he labels the oppostion as anti-semites and favored the Israili position with the Israeli/Lebanon conflict so unashamedly).

Harper is a media puppet, a big oil puppet, the last people he serves is the average Canadian.

What can I say? The media fix is in and it shows with crank polls and ugly media bias coverage where damaging news to the Conservative brand gets buried, opposition to Harper gets bad press and opinion pieces reveal pure bias in favor of Harpers “Tories”.

The media fix is in.

Jaw dropping, isn’t it?

This one should be spammed over, and over… and over… and over…

By brain on 09.26.08 11:49 pm

.....you can check it out on Garth's blog - Brain is one of the "intelligent" responders to his blog.

KNB - I know you've been bothered by the obvious conservative bias...even if the right wing try to claim otherwise...so I thought it important for you to read.

Karen said...

I've been more than bothered Sandi, so thank you.

I've known it to be true but haven't found the time to do this kind of work.

What he/she has written explains the over reach, tentacles as it were, but it still leaves some things unanswered.

How can so many employees be willing to relinquish their dedication to journalism in order to promote a corp. agenda?

How do so many in this country seemingly 'buy' the narrative? Have we become a nation of non-thinkers or is it a case of only ever being exposed to one message?

The CBC has been more than willing to follow the false narrative than they have provided an objective view point. Is that from fear of appearing bias?

While there are still some unanswered questions for me, I know that what we are seeing is not only untrue, it's really harming our democracy.

Thanks for the link. It raises all sorts of emotions doesn't it?

Dame said...

the other big part of the scheme is the damned POLLS ..

who are these “ Poll Gods???

I always thought they are false and grossly and knowingly misleading ..
Here are a little tidbits how they “work”

- 'as many as eight out of 10 people (pollsters) try to contact either screen out the call or hang up'
- 'Internet panels are even less representative, tilting toward young, urban and conservative men'
- 'most Canadian pollsters now follow their US counterparts and no longer report on undecided voters in their 'horse race' polling. "We don't think undecideds are all that important, because, frankly, they don't vote," says Tim Woolstencroft, managing partner of the Strategic Counsel, which conducts surveys for the Globe and Mail and CTV.'

marta