"I agree with this. Big time."

Things were not always so happy in Liberal land.

Warren Kinsella wrote on his blog October 11, 2006. "I agree with this. Big time." (Note: Link is now dead)


And what is "this"?

October 11, 2006

Mr. Michael Ignatieff, M.P.
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Dear Mr. Ignatieff:
On behalf of the Canada-Israel Committee, I am writing to express profound concern about your comments over the weekend regarding the recent conflict in Lebanon. In what appears to be very straightforward language, you accused Israel of having committed war crimes in Qa’na – an assertion you explicitly anchored in your expertise in the area of international law and the conduct of war. Notwithstanding attempts by your campaign team to provide a different context for the remarks, we remain troubled by them and what it may suggest about your overall orientation to the Middle East, Israel’s values as a vibrant democracy and the challenges Israel faces from those determined to destroy the Jewish state.
If your intentions were not to accuse Israel of having committed war crimes in Qa’na, we would ask that you issue an immediate clarification – in both official languages – that clearly sets out your view of the issue and unambiguously rejects the suggestion that Israel is guilty of any such conduct. Should you choose to offer such a clarification, we will undertake to circulate it widely within the pro-Israel community. Should you choose not to issue a statement, we would feel obliged to convey that message to our constituency as well.
Sincerely,
Marc Gold, National Chair

-------------

Related: More blasts from the Liberal Past:

Thomas Hubert, Vice President of Communications for the Young Liberal of Canada (B.C.), wrote the following on his blog:

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter ... History will remember Hezbollah as an organization that stood up to the most vile ‘nation’ in human history.”

And this from the comment section on another Liberal Blog



BigCityLib had some thoughts on the "monster" within here.


A run down of Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj quotes can be found here. (Worth reading)

And finally back to Warren again who wrote the following: August 20, 2006 – Why is the author of this blog (deadlink to thelongwalk.ca) a putative supporter of Gerard Kennedy, and claiming to be a member of the Liberal Party of Canada’s executive in BC, writing things like this on Cherniak’s blog?(see photo above) Is anything going to be done about this? If Bill Graham and Denis Coderre have any say in the matter, I doubt it. And people still ask me why I don’t feel comfortable in the Liberal Party of Canada anymore. It’s rather self-evident, I’d say.


and for an added bonus this on

August 22, 2006 - By the by, some folks are asking why Jason and I are now paying attention to the likes of the (for now) anonymous "Big City Lib" and, in Jason's case, Martha's anti-Israel communications guy. It's a fair question.

My grandmother, God rest her eternal soul, had the best view on situations like this one. "Once you've decided to clean out one toilet," said she, "you may as well clean out all the toilets."

Well, she didn't actually say that, but I can see her saying that. And it makes sense, don't it?

Pass the Brillo pads.

August 21, 2006 - Just received this, late, from the Kennedy campaign. Good statement, albeit late. It should have mentioned Hubert, however.

Now - does anyone know who is behind "Big City Lib"? Say this much for Thomas: he at least used his real name when spewing hate. Big City Lib lacks the courage of his convictions, it seems.

***

Those Liberals. One big happy bunch.

The facts on the Liberals spin on Durban1, and as you may have guessed the facts get in the way again.

From the Stupid files..

From the stupid files: Hedy Fry shows us just how desperate the Liberals are with this bit of stupidity from today.



Hedy, the only embarrassing example of crass politics in all of this is your obvious attempt to treat Canadians as fools by trying to gain political advantage over this non issue.


From stupid files part 2: The National Post actually put this on their website.
Hey Kelly, does Mr. Jedras perhaps have some compromising pictures or something, because putting crap like this up makes no sense what so ever.

----------------------------------

Update: In what may be the marketing gimmick of the year HBC has tried to take advantage of anyone foolish enough to believe the Liberal spin on this by making a special offer available for gullible Liberals.

Order your gear before Midnight Sunday and each Olympic sweater/jacket will come with a communion wafer in the pocket at no extra charge. Industry analysts are saying that because of this offer sales of Olympic Wear in the GTA are expected to skyrocket.



From a Canadian athlete on the stupidity of the Liberal accusation: " (link now dead. Try this)

We can't even peacefully unveil the Olympic '‘uniform' that the Canadians will wear without political upheaval from our government's opposition and their accusations that the logo was a devious scheme of the conservatives as part of "cheap partisan politics."

Well I'm not much into politics but if the conservatives need me, I'll vouch for them. I was part of the athlete panel who voted on the final logo and I assure you, I wasn't in cahoots with Steven Harper"

The Lib Blogs are revolting.

Well at least some of them are.



Cherniak may have stopped blogging, but his touch lives on.

Thanks Jack

Anyone remember this? It made it onto more than a couple of Liberal friendly websites. I wonder if they will make him a new one for his role in the coalition.






Jack will also be proud of this decision.

Late night post election thoughts.

Call Ripley's : The electoral record of the Green Party of Canada now sits at negative 1 after having lost the seat that they never won in the first place.

Dion is in trouble as leader, but his party is going to be in it even worse. A blogging goldmine I tells ya.

Garth Turner gets tossed in a big way. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Some other notable Liberal losses: Dan Boudria, Karen Redman, Omar Alghabra, Robert Thibault, Paul Zed, Ken Boshcoff.

Cherniak is leaving blogging to go behind the scenes with the LPC.

Dion is not a big fan of CTV. "The last one I want to speak first is CTV. Understand that?" Note how tough guy Dion gives CTV reporter Roger Smith a little push after Dion's security has already made the point.

PM Harper in his speech tonight commented that he has been elected 4 times in the last 6 years. It will take some large stones on the part of the 3 leaders of the opposition parties to bring this government down anytime soon.

Locally Mike Lake was re elected in Edmonton Millwoods Beaumont with over 60% of the vote. Meanwhile in the parking lot of his campaign office some mysterious woman was taking pictures of people leaving the party ???

Rahim Jaffer losses to Linda Duncan of the NDP in Edmonton. Someone representing a party that wants to shut down the oil sands. Hey, Edmonton Strathcona voters; any guesses as to where the funding for that world class hospital and large university campus in the center of your riding comes from?

Tomorrow we start taking down the signs.

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)

Dion incorporates Cherniak manufactured spin into Liberal policy.

Stephane Dion, the so called intellectual, the one who called for honest debate, and the one who decries low brow politics has contradicted all of the above by allowing an already dis proven, deliberately taken out of context, partisan driven and manufactured smear to be used in the official Liberal policy document regarding the Green shift. So much for taking the high road Mr. Dion.

I am referring to the following quote taken from page 15 of the Green Shift document.

"Sadly, Stephen Harper - who as Prime Minister has referred to what he terms “so-called greenhouse gases” -...."


The quote, or rather out context quote, has an interesting history and is a classic example of the Liberal spin machine in action; read on and see for yourself to what depths the Liberals will go in their efforts to smear the PM.


FYI the original words as spoken by PM Harper Dec 14 2006 in an end of year interview on CBC: "As we implement our clean-air agenda, the focus is a little different than the other parties. They focus only on so-called greenhouse gases and ignored smog entirely."

The spin campaign:

Jason Cherniak December 14th 2006 (Be sure to read the comments for good lesson on Liberal spin) "Stephen Harper just referred to "so called greenhouse gasses" during his end of session press conference! Apparently, the other parties pay too much attention to them."

Not one to let a little thing like the truth or facts get in the way of a smear; Cherniak ignored the reality of the"quote" as pointed out in other blogs or even in his own comment section and continued with his campaign to heavily promote the smear with the following email to all members of Liblogs.

The Email:
From Jason Cherniak (Thu, 14 Dec 2006 23:43:25):

Hi all,

In his final press conference of the year, Harper referred to "so
called
greenhouse gasses". 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.

Blogger Support Services: a non-profit corporation operating as
<http://www.libBSblogs.ca/> Liblogs
per: Jason R. Cherniak
President

Did you catch that? "Force" the media to pick up on the story. A story about a quote that Cherniak knew full well was taken completely out of context but still wanted to promote for his partisan purposes.

December 15th, 2006 Jason goes even farther with his campaign and he posts a conveniently edited video. (Note that he again gets eaten alive for this in the comments but still continues with the smear attempt and lies)

December 21, 2006 a proud Jason Cherniak proclaims his smear campaign a success when it gets picked up by some in the MSM who like Dion himself apparently could not be bothered with some simple fact checking.

"Finally, Harper's slip of the tongue where he referred to "so called" greenhouse gases has been reported in the main stream media.

I first reported this as it happened one week ago. Other Liberal bloggers quickly picked up thestory. We then highlighted the posts on Liblogs news. It was not long before somebody posted a video clip on YouTube, which has now been viewed over 900 times.

Conservatives have two responses to this Freudian slip:

1) It is no big deal because "so called" is the proper way to describe greenhouse gases; and

2) It is no big deal because the rest of Harper's statement supposedly makes it clear that he accepts the science behind global warming.

Neither of these arguments are particularly persuasive. First of all, if it is no big deal then why doesn't Harper 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 greenhouse gases" unless you have a reason for saying it. My suspicion is that Harper 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 Harper 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.

I know that Tories will do everything they can to attack this story. They absolutely hate it when anybody reports facts that happen to counteract their hard sold message that Harper has changed his mind on a number of issues. Before they do it, though, I hope they consider one thing. If Stéphane Dion were to briefly refer to the United States as our "so called ally", nobody would let it slip by.

I can't wait to see the clip on TV.

UPDATE

Little did I know that the Halifax Chronicle Herald already mentioned this. I can't find the date of the article."


Unbelievable, but even more unbelievable is that now Stephane Dion is using this type of crap in official Liberal Party of Canada policy.

I am not sure if Dion is deliberately trying to mislead Canadians with this or if he isn't smart enough to have done his own homework on the words he himself is quoting and actually believes this ridiculous manufactured spin. Either way these are not the characteristics that I would ever want in a Canadian PM.


As I await the usual suspects to arrive and try to defend Dion's use of the quote, or even Cherniak's smear campaign, I will be preparing a follow up post that really shows just how dumb this entire thing is.

Stay tuned.

Just a normal day in Dion Land.

It just keeps getting worse for troubled Liberal leader Stephane Dion. First this poll comes out showing that Dion is about as popular ants at a picnic, then more knives come out calling for his replacement as leader. Wow!

The left side of the blogosphere is full of comment on Dion's carbon tax along with the political ramifications of running with this type of policy, and some of it isn't pretty. Take this example between Kinsella and Cherniak. Both are at odds with each other over Dion's tax and it has gotten even more bizarre with each new post. To quickly bring you up to speed; Kinsella posted his opinion on Dion's tax. Cherniak, being the ever true Dion supporter that he is, posted his response by saying Kinsella is biased because of his client list. Kinsella rips into Jason for his post, with a little bit of libel thrown in for good measure, and Cherniak responds by playing the race card.

I somehow doubt that this little battle is ending there, so stay tuned as this is sure to be very entertaining to follow and well worth the price of admission.

Cherniak channels JFK

Shorter Jason Cherniak: Ask not what the Liberal Party have done for you, ask what you have done for the Liberal Party.

Jason wants Libloggers to tow the party line and thinks that all of this whining is not good for the Liberal party, not that anyone is really paying attention mind you, but if they are, this is not helping.

Some select quotes:

"Liberals in Ottawa tell us we're not ready for an election yet. What does that mean? Nobody except the decision makers can be sure. However, as I argued yesterday, I don't think that should matter to a grassroots Liberal."

"Liberal bloggers need to add one more question to that mix. Is your blog helping the cause or hurting it? If you want an election, are you more likely to get it by complaining in public? Or are you more likely to get it by showing your support for Stéphane Dion?"

"The media have reported often enough that Mr. Dion wants an election, so why not support his apparent preference? First and foremost, has Mr. Dion ever said that he wants an election? Or is the media basing their reports on anonymous sources who might have ulterior motives?"

and lastly he has this little gem to finish his post with. "If you want an election, then do what you can to help make our party ready. Don't moan and whine while you sit at home on your computer. That simply isn't helping."

Ouch, I think there may be a lot of hurt feelings in parents basements all over Canada from that last comment.


Update: at least 1 Liblogger has called it quits while some others are speaking out on the idea of towing the line for Dion.

Liberal Strategists where are you?

Can someone from the Liberal side of the spectrum please explain to me just what the Liberal motion of non confidence in the Bloc and NDP is, or was, intended to do? I have looked at this motion in the current circumstances and have no idea how this motion helps the LPC cause in anyway what so ever.

The reaction from the sometimes loyal to a fault Libloggers is not even mixed; it is, at the point of writing this, 100% opposed and or confused by this little example of LPC strategy under the so called leadership of Stephane Dion. That in itself says something when even the most loyal members of your base think this is a stupid idea.

You can read for yourself some of the Libloggers views on this motion which can be found at these links. A few more links added.

Correction: As pointed out in the comments: Idealistic Pragmatist is not a Liblogs member. I have corrected my error and do apologize to IP for labeling her* as a Liberal. Sorry IP, I know being called a Liberal was a low blow and not deserved.

* It looks like I screwed up again. Correction made.

Now that the crow has been served lets get back to my original question. Any Liberals out there have an idea what this motion is intended to do?

Friends of Denis Coderre

No, this post is not about Denis' Facebook buddy list, but rather a list of what some of his others friends recently had to say about Denis.

Fuddle Duddle, The Sir Robert Bond Papers, and at least 1 of the Maple Three, are not happy with Denis and have some thoughts on his future in the Liberal Party of Canada. It is nice to see them all come together under the unifying leadership of Stephane Dion for such a good cause.

Speaking of the ongoing Coderre/Doan fiasco, our old friend Garth speaks out here, and Cerberus has some thoughts on how bad the politics of this reflects on the Liberals.

And to think some Liberal supporters have said that last week had been their best week in opposition. I would hate to have seen a bad week.

And what post on the friends of Denis Coderre would be complete without a reference to his pal Marc Yvan Coté of adscam fame; whom both Coderre and Dion want to let back into the Liberal Party even after Coté admitted that he had received $120,000 in $100 bills from the executive director of the party's Quebec wing and distributed that money to 12 Liberal candidates in the 1997 federal election. Who were those candidates anyway?




Al

Libloggers review the new LPC Quebec ads.

Dion and the The Liberals have released 3 radio ads in Quebec to help bolster the sagging hopes of Stephane Dion and the LPC. Below are the reviews from a couple of prominent Liberal bloggers on the subject.

Antonio from Fuddle Duddle has his take here. A couple of notable quotes: "Did we just witness the same election in Quebec as Stephane Dion? I think the message Quebecers sent is that they want to get rid of the federalist/sovereigntist debate, not elect the poster boy for one of the sides, nor the poster boy (Gilles Duceppe) for the other…"

"“If Stephane Dion and the Liberals are attacking Stephen Harper, is it because they are afraid of something? Afraid that Harper has delivered on his promise to Quebec to fix the fiscal imbalance? Afraid that Harper delivered on UNESCO? Afraid that Harper affirmed the status of Quebec as a nation within Canada? Afraid…to stay out of power?"

Be sure to check out the comments, in what has already been a very bad week for Jason Cherniak continues as Antonio smacks him around a bit more.

Jason Cherniak a dit...

Your criticisms of the ads might be fair, but your complete obstinancy on this stupid "fiscal imbalance" thing makes it difficult to know for sure.

Try to at least think about the other side of the argument.

4/05/2007 12:22 PM

Antonio a dit...

remember Jason, these ads are aired in French...in QUEBEC, where the population does not believe the fiscal imbalance to be a myth.

Also, Harper promised to fix it...

You heard Flaherty. It's fixed!

Maxime Bernier C'est fini!

La Presse "Le dossier est réglé"

everybody and their dog believed the fiscal imbalance existed here in Quebec.

well except one person...and his dog too...

4/05/2007 12:31 PM

Jason Cherniak a dit...

And why don't they believe it's a myth? Maybe because no provincial federalist party made the effort to show that the separatists were lying?

Accept the premise of your opponent's argument and you will always lose.

4/05/2007 2:34 PM

Antonio a dit...

jason by that logic, your opponent can never be right...which proves your logic to be that of a partisan hack.

It means your thinking is governed not by your own morality, but by that of the party's...

4/05/2007 2:57 PM

Ouch!!

Calgary Grit gives his opinion here on the ad campaign.

My favorite quote from CG: "I'm sympathetic to the fact that most of the people who used to handle our Quebec ads are in jail these days but surely there's someone in the province who could have done better than this?"

Driving supporters Away.

Censorship, strong arm tactics, general stupidity, and cover up. What a great week it must have been to be a supporter of the Dion led Liberal Party of Canada.

The Mark ( consequences) Holland and Marlene (Let Marc Yvan Coté back into the LPC) Jennings saga continues as the Liberal Party (the only ones who can claim copyright on the video) had a video removed for copyright violations from youtube. The video shed some much needed light on those famous boxes the Liberals had somehow 'acquired' and kept for the last 14 months. While they had these boxes in their possession some Liberals also decided that it would be a good idea to look at what was inside those boxes and have some of the information copied.


WTF is going on within the Liberal Party of Canada? Or perhaps a better question would be how the hell can anyone still support these clowns?

Come on all you Liberal supporters and bloggers out there; please try to make a case for having Liberal staffers not only sort through, but also copy some of this private information while they kept these boxes in their possession over the last 14 months. Please feel free to add to this already pathetic display of how Dion's Liberals operate, because so far the silence on this, as well as the incident yesterday at a Dion news scrum where the Liberals had a couple of CPC staffers removed from a PUBLIC area by HOC security staff, has been deafening.

Is it any wonder that Liberal support is heading south if even the Kool-Aid™ crowd of hardcore Libs are silent on these stories; what do you think the thoughts of the public are about what is going on in the LPC?

I am betting there are many liberals out there right now having some very deep thoughts about the reasons they continue to support the LPC, and as I noted yesterday, it must be getting hard to look into the mirror for those that try to spin kind of crap.




Al

Editing at Liblogs. Including "the list"

A couple of recent edits from our friends at Liblogs.

First, the List of Libloggers that were in on the famous conference call. A list that has been deleted from JC's blog, but with the wonders of the internet is brought back to life here for your viewing pleasure.

Michelle Oliel
Scott Tribe
Cerberus
Jeff Jedras
The Sir Robert Bond Papers
Calgary Grit
A View from the Left
Tonton Coquillage
Rolling Back the Tide of Extremism, One Post at a Time
Apply-Liberally
Rob's Random Thoughts
Nottawa
Daveberta
Gaultlet.ca
Red Tory
The Dan Report
Woman at Mile 0

A couple of questions. Do these now represent official Liberal policy in their writings? Is it just me or did most if not all the people on this list support Dion in the leadership race?

Update:
To be fair to those that took the time to reply in the comments I will answer my own questions from above.

Do these now represent official Liberal policy in their writings?

No, I never did think that the call was anything, pure rhetoric on my part to push a point about how it looks.

Is it just me or did most if not all the people on this list support Dion in the leadership race?

I guess it was just me. Ok I fess up. I knew that many were supporting other candidates from reading them during the race. I was just fishing.

----------------------------------------

Another edit, perhaps for a different reason this time. This one courtesy of another Liberal blog foottothefire. The post found below has been deleted from the blog as of the time of this posting.

"Posted at/Publié sur foottothefire on/à 2007-03-28 20:55 EST

Stephen And The Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Is there anyone in Canada who actually believed the Wheat Board Vote wouldn't be cooked by Stephen Hitler?
Trudeau warned that there was no other democracy more vulnerable to takeover by a dictator than our own; the devil has arrived.
This is what an Alberta conservative can do for your country..........
http://www.liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?id=12621"

Tolerance, thy name is Liberal.