Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Stephane Dion - A "so called" Denier.

As promised yesterday; a follow up post. (please read yesterdays post for some context)

Stephane Dion does not believe that the left wing of the political spectrum exists in Canada.

Yes really, he said so himself and it can be seen here on CTV's Question Period . (video below)

Sorry NDP, Communists, Socialists, 3/4 of what remains of Liberal Party supporters, Marxists, and other various lefties everywhere; but Dion does not think you exist.




See for yourself. No editing and taken 100% in context.





Denying the existence of the left wing;this is big!

There is a chance that Dion really could be hurt in the polls with this and I think I should get out an email to fellow Blogging Tories ASAP.

To all Blogging Tories

Hi all,

On
CTV's Question Period, Dion referred to the "so
called
left; left wing". I don't know about you, but I believe that this is
a
big screw up on his part.

If you agree, please mention it. It is the sort of thing that the
MSM
should be forced to pick up.

A
Ardvark

Let's force those MSM lackeys to run with what has to be the biggest story of the year, and please try to ignore the Liberals who are trying to spin this; so far they have two responses to this Freudian slip.

First of all, if it is no big deal then why doesn't Dion say it all the time? Clearly he knows that this is not something Canadians would appreciate. Yes, it is similar to when journalists refer to the "so called war on terror". They are not saying there is no war on terror, but neither are they saying that there is a "war on terror". "So called" clearly suggests a certain cynicism about the subject under discussion.

The second excuse is even worse. You don't go around saying "so called left wing" unless you have a reason for saying it. My suspicion is that Dion often says this in private and made a mistake by saying it in public. That is why he did not and likely will never repeat the phrase. There is no doubt in my mind that Dion recognized almost immediately that he said something he should not have said. The fact that he tried to cover up his error does not change the fact that he gave us a momentary glimpse into his psyche.


Wouldn't it be great if I could get the PM to include this quote into an official government document somehow? But I doubt that it would be an easy task, because what type of a moron would use spin like this without checking out the facts first? (edit: Link to Stephane Dion removed)



17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I await Jason's bobbing and weaving as to how Dion's "so called" was "different" than Harper's "so called"

Anonymous said...

This should be interesting to watch.

That is if anyone dares to comment

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on a good catch and parody of the Cherniak call to action.

In that same interview, Dion said at least twice "when he [PM Harper] said Liberals are crazy ..."

The PM said the Liberals' plan is "insane"; he did NOT say the Liberals themselves are "crazy."
Mr. Dion should get his "quotes" straight.

If I may suggest, though, the use of less muscular language to refer to the opposition leader. Referring to him as a moron doesn't add to your argument, IMHO.

Anonymous said...

"Congratulations on a good catch"

that's all i seem to read from the blogging tories, "catching" things. you people try to fish out any little thing against any other party because you have no substance of your own. it is sad how a party (the conservatives) exists to only bash other parties and does not exist to come up with original substance. time to grow up conservatives, we are not on the playground anymore.

Ardvark said...

AG, I think you might be waiting for a long time as Jason and the rest of the cheerleaders seem to be AWOL.

Gabby, I think you are right about the moron comment, it does go too far. I was a bit hot under the collar after again going over how the Libs spun the story originally and my emotion found its way into the post. Point taken.

Anon2, judging from your reply I take it the irony of your comment escapes you.

Anonymous said...

Ok you win. I got sucked in by yesterday's teaser and came back today. Now I see that like some movies, the teaser is better than the actual movie.

All this hinges on the meaning of "so called"? Please, please run with this! But, there's got to be someone within the CPC or BTs smart enough to realize how silly this is, so I might as well explain it anyway.


"So called" is something you say to refer to something by a name that you disagree with. You disagree with the name. Get it? You disagree with the thing being referred to being called what others call it. You are not denying the existence of the thing being referred to, just the name give to it (though that was good for a laugh when you actually said that).

In your 10 seconds of what you call context (so called context, because we really have little idea what the conversation was about) Dion is talking about building a coalition. He wants the so called left as part of it. Since he is trying to build a broad spectrum, "left" is a term he disagrees with when applied to such a huge portion of the political spectrum. He already owns the centre, but the CPC tries to claim you must be a bad person (i.e. leftist) to support him. He's really trying to get the support of everyone the CPC hates. That is everyone who is left of Attila the Hun, and a lot of people are tired of being told they are leftists simply because they don't agree with the CPC radical right view.

So those people, the middle of the road that the CPC calls leftist to shame them into supporting the CPC, are the so called leftists. Dion refers to them as "so called", because he disagrees with them being called leftists. And he's correct in that view.

Harper says "so called" because he disagrees with certain gases being called greenhouse gases because that implies there really is a greenhouse effect that is causing an increase in the global average temperature, which leads to changes in the climate.



So, as you can see, Dion's "so called" and Harper's "so called" are not different at all. Both are disagreeing with the words used to describe something.

Harper disagrees with the view that the gases should be called greenhouse gases as defined by scientists.

Dion disagrees with the view that anyone left of the CPC should be called a leftist.

Both show their disagreement by use of "so called".

Simple, no?

Anonymous said...

Oh oh! I see another battle of semantics looming.
Anonymous at 03:58:00 PM objects to the use of "catch", saying: "that's all i seem to read from the blogging tories, "catching" things."

Maybe Anonymous should consult an online dictionary to see the various meanings the offending word can have.
(S)he will be able to see the myriad definitions of “catch.”
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/catch
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/catch

Surely one of those definitions is innocuous enough to soothe Anonymous' sensibility, for which see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sensibility

As for the "so called/so-called" dispute, I’m sure Ardvark can defend himself without any help from me, but just a reminder to Anonymous at 06:00:00 PM that words can sometimes have more than one meaning, even contradictory ones.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/so%20called
1. called or designated thus: the so-called Southern bloc. [supposed]
2. incorrectly called or styled thus: so-called intellectuals. [alleged]

Maybe Mr. Cherniak should also be apprised of Anonymous’ “simple” reasoning.

Ardvark said...

This is getting too funny.

Of course it is ridiculous for myself to claim that Dion does not believe in the left, just as it was for Cherniak et al to make the claim re GHG and the PM.

That is the point.

Both claims are silly, but I have said that from day 1. Remember that it was Cherniak and Co who ran with this nutty claim (just read the comments on the previous post), but now hide when their spin gets exposed for what it is.

I really can not blame them for avoiding this now because every argument that was used to justify the claim against the PM can easily be used to justify my claim against Dion, and it is hard to argue that everything you had previously stated is nothing more than crap.

Anonymous said...

Of course it is ridiculous for myself to claim that Dion does not believe in the left,
Yes.

just as it was for Cherniak et al to make the claim re GHG and the PM.
No.

That is the point.
You failed to make the point.

Both claims are silly
One obviously is. One is probably not.

I really can not blame them for avoiding this now because every argument that was used to justify the claim against the PM can easily be used to justify my claim against Dion,
Only if you are retarded.

and it is hard to argue that everything you had previously stated is nothing more than crap.
But there is no need to do that.

You have failed to prove anything at all You have failed to prove that Harper was not indicating very clearly that he does not accept the climate change theory.

Anonymous said...

You have failed to prove anything at all. You have failed to prove that Dion was not indicating very clearly that he does not accept that there is a left wing in Canada's political spectrum.

Ardvark said...

Someone pointed out that my characterization of Dion not believing in the left wing might not be as ridiculous as I first thought. His logic: Dion realizes that he himself is so far over to the left that he cannot acknowledge there being anyone else to the left of himself.

Makes sense in a Cherniak kind of way, no?

Anonymous said...

Your tortured logic still does not change the fact that Stephen Harper does not care about the environment.

Not surprising, from the Torture Party of Canada.

Ardvark said...

"Fact"? Just because you keep repeating something does not make it the truth, or "fact". You are aware that David Suzuki has used the term "so called greenhouse gases" before? I guess he is a denier as well now.

Why do you even bother to try to debate this nonsense instead of trying to defend Dion's green shift plan? Might it be that the green shift is not really an environment plan at all and even you realize this to be true?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ardvark said...

Sorry anon, but your BS is getting tiresome.

Anonymous said...

Sorry anon, but your BS is getting tiresome.
If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. You clearly lost this discussion, but you are too big a coward to admit it.

So delete away, asshole!!!

Anonymous said...

You clearly lost this discussion, but you are too big a coward to admit it.

Are you for real Anonymous, or just playing dumb because you are on the Liberal payroll?