Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Out-of-touch, elitist communists try to tell us what to think!

by Aaron Wherry on Sunday, May 17, 2009 6:54pm - 31 Comments

The Globe and Mail, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Toronto Sun and Calgary Sun endorsed Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in the last election. The Guelph Mercury suggested its readers vote for Conservative Michael Chong. And Mr. Persichilli is no great enemy of Mr. Harper.

In case you were wondering.

Tags: Angelo Persichilli, attack ads, Stephen Harper, Stephen Taylor

More by Aaron Wherry

Daryl

Is that what you think was that the substance of Stephens blog post Aaron? I don’t think it was.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Do tell, Daryl.
http://myblahg.com Robert McClelland

Stephen’s blog post had substance?!?! Wow, who knew.

Aaron Wherry

Last line edited. Shouldn’t have personalized it as such. The concern has been raised by others here.
Anon

Mark Carney — is he qualified to be Governor of the Bank of Canada? Didn’t he get all his experience and education at ghastly foreign places too?
Jarrid

Aaron, did you read Persichilli’s column beyond the title of it (no doubt given to us courtesy of the Toronto Star’s editiors)?

If you had, you’d have seen that Persichilli bemoans the current negative campaigning but unlike certain media types who I’ll tactfully not name, his criticism isn’t limited to one particular political party. Indeed he criticizes the Liberal Party of Canada for starting all this negative advertising during the Chretien years. He says the Conservatives are now doing payback.

Who directed the Liberal’s negative campaigning during this time? Warren Kinsella.

Who has Michael Ignatieff hand-picked to run the Liberal Party of Canada warroom in the next election campaign? Warren Kinsella.

So Aaron, you may want to temper your selective moral outrage.

There is oodles of irony in the Liberals complaining of the Conservatives’ negative advertising while putting the guy who literally wrote the book on negativing advertising in charge of their election campaign advertising.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

But, Jarrid, there haven’t been any negative Liberal ads “this time.” When they arrive, we can all get upset then. Right now there are only scurrilous Tory ads, so we are getting upset at the scurrilous Tories. At least pretend to be non-partisan, for God’s sake.

Jarrid

“When they arrive, we can all get upset then.”

I wish that were true but I highly doubt it. I’ve observed that the outrage is highly selective.

“At least pretend to be non-partisan, for God’s sake”

My complaint is with the hypocrisy of certain media who single out negative advertising when the Conservatives do it. When the Liberals do it the reaction is “hey that’s politics”. I would be raking my lawn right now or watching the Penguins if the media were all fair-minded like Persichilli.

If commenters here were consistent and non-partisan they’d condemn the ads AND ask that Michael Ignatieff fire his negative advertising maestro, Warren Kinsella.

How about it folks?

gary

OK, look, the Libs have done negative ads in the past. Nobody is denying that. But please remember that the infamous “soldiers in the street” ad WAS criticized by the media. But regardless, that was during a campaign.

However what the Conservatives are doing now is putting out just petty ads taking some quotes out of context and insulting a LOT of Canadians.

Jarrid

Look I think Persichilli has a point, maybe there should be a general cease-fire on negative advertising.

None of the political parties seem ready to go in that direction however.

And a party that puts Warren Kinsella in charge of its election warroom is not a party that has turned the page on negative advertising. Far from it.

It looks like Michael Ignatieff wants to return to the previous Liberal administrations where their negative advertising was particularly egregious. We can fully expect the Liberals to go on a major negative advertising offensive with Kinsella at the helm. No ands, ifs or buts.
Lord Kitchener’s Own

Jarrid, you’re so upset over ads that don’t even exist yet that I fear for your health once the Liberal ads actually, you know, exist.

I hope you’re stealing yourself somehow. If just the THOUGHT of hypothetical negative Liberal ads appearing at some time in the future has got you so incensed, I fear you may have an aneurysm if (OK, fair enough, when) we ever actually see any.

Douglass

Your obsessed with Kinsella. Virtually all you have to say these days is about him. Yet there are still no Liberal endorsed ads.

So who here is being overtly partisan?
http://farnwide.blogspot.com/ SteveV

And, the best part, when he hits back we now have moral cover. Unless of course you guys are actually pathetic enough to think some little you tube videos constitutes the first salvo. Wait, sorry, you did reference that incredibly lame justification in one of your ads. Never mind….

These attacks now= we’re losing. Don’t get mad if people notice the obvious. Not everyone gets the kool aid delivered by the SKID like yourself.

Jarrid

“And, the best part, when [kinsella] hits back [the Liberals] now have moral cover.”

All you need to know about the mindset of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Moral cover for Warren Kinsella’s anticipated amoral antics.

Read Persichilli’s article Steve, and then read it again. One of the reasons the Liberals are where they are today (77 seats in Parliament) is because of their arrogant “the ends justifies the means” manner of governing. Where’s the fresh approach for the Liberals?

http://www.maple-leaf-forever.com Lord Bob

To be fair, have you looked at this government recently? There’s nothing incompatible between being an out-of-touch communist and a big-c Conservative!
http://farnwide.blogspot.com/ SteveV

When you have no where to turn, use the imported American “liberal media” to soothe. I wonder if these characters have every done any research on just who owns what in this country, in terms of the media filter? Oh well, why destroy a good conspiracy theory with factual basis, sort of like what you presented above.

BTW, if anyone enjoys a good laugh, a re read of the Globe and Mail editorial endorsement of Harper in the last election is a keeper.
john g

Aaron, are you seriously suggesting that the Globe’s endorsement of the Conservatives makes them a neutral or Consevative friendly paper? Seriously? For God’s sake, Maclean’s endorsed the Conservatives (as did every major daily except the Star). Shall I count you among the Conservative friendly as well?

I’m led to believe that the Harper Conservatives are the first government you’ve ever covered. How long have you been in this business? Long enough to know, I would hope, that the endorsement of an editorial board has absolutely nothing to do with the slant of the news that runs in the paper (or in Macleans case the blogs of its reporters).

Even Wells has been caught openly mocking the Globe for their pro-Liberal coverage. From May 2005, an Inkless Wells post predicting the next 4 days of Globe headlines in response to the Globe’s coverage of the Gurmont Grewal taping incident:

Globe headlines, Wednesday to Saturday

June 1, lead editorial:
MR. GREWAL’S ODD TAPING FETISH

June 2, banner head:
‘SCARY’ CONSERVATIVES REFUSE TO BANISH GREWAL

June 3, banner head:
OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST VOTE LIBERAL

June 4, Page 2 column:
HOW ‘SCARY’ CONSERVATIVES SNUCK REFERENCE TO GOD ONTO OUR FRONT PAGE

dan in van

So you thought Grewal’s taping fetish was perfectly prudent? And not a fetish? Where is he now, besides some dark CON hole working on some dark CON conspiracy, I suppose…

Loraine Lamontagne

Grewal tapes? The one that were released by Harper’s office with lots of bits missing one day, less bits missing the next, and so on? Small wonder Harper has a sickly obsession with doctored (or doctoring) tapes. If there was a true sign of things to come, it had to be the release by the Conservatives of tapes doctored by the Conservatives, and the firing by the Conservatives of the ethics commissionner who was looking into the incident.

As for negative advertising, how can one forget the Conservatives TV ads using the image of a private citizen they knew had been cleared of wrongdoings by two different independent organizations hired to look into his conduct – and finally, once in government settling with him, with taxpayers’ money, in a deal that has remained secret to this day?
Matt Ferg

Funny how then Conservatives holler for head of whatever journalist has criticized them at that point in time. Yes, the concept of a free press just goes right over their heads, and is really funny coming from a group that continually sends out nothing but criticism.

Yet they are awfully quiet about reporters that consistently praise them, with Bob Fife and John Ivison coming to mind.

William

I don`t think any of us expect the political leanings of any particular group will be reflective of the larger Canadian electorate, but it would be better for the citizens if there was more objectivity in the media, and you name a couple media people who sometimes show they are in favour of the present gov`t. And I can think of a few more, mainly in talk radio, who would probably vote Conservative if there was an election tomorrow.
But, Please, if 38% of the voters are Conservative, you would be hard pressed to find 5% of all those in the Media who would cast a ballot for the Conservatives——if you don`t know that then you are not paying attention, So, accept the fact that you have a tremendous advantage, especially when the media are getting THEIR message out to those groups that have little interest or knowledge about politics.
Conservatives would argue that the paid commercials they are now airing is only countering the free negative advertising Liberals benefit from in almost all media.

Matt Ferg

I think you are expecting some of them to be “Conservatives” — that is, no matter what, they support your party. I don’t think it works that way. Nor does it work for the Liberals or NDP. I bet not a lot of reporters, like a lot of Canadians, voted Liberal in the last election.

Some advice? When commenting on a certain reporter, outlet or columnist, base your opinion on more than their last story. For example, one of the biggest critics of the Chretien government, and the Martin one, was the Calgary Herald’s Don Martin. However, he is now one of the biggest critics of the Harper government. So when I see one of your buddies say Don Martin is a Liberal, I along with a lot of others just know how deep of a media watcher is commenting. About as deep as a puddle.

William

And some advice for you:
It was you who chose to name two media people as Conservative. I could have named thousands of others that would never vote Conservative. There are whole buildings in Toronto ( CBC—Torstar) where you could search for days and never find a Conservative vote.
My point is this—-the media are overwhelmingly anti-conservative——-Canadians have shown they want a Conservative gov`t——therefore the media do not reflect the people.
If you can`t see this then you are being naive or intentionally evasive.
By the way anybody who has seen that pie-face of Don Martin`s light up when he is delivering a smackdown should know he loves being a $hi!-disturber—-he likes to give it to the man in charge, no matter who, and for that I like anything he writes.

MattyFerg

‘it was you who chose to name two media people as Conservative.”

Well done William. That’s why I prefaced it with “For example”.

kody

The notion that Harper may actually be doing a good job, and that Dion was no where near providing a viable alternative,

doesn’t enter the equation. They must be “pro conservative”, right?

Also, you’re confusing the prinicpal editor’s selection, with general leanings of the staff, writers, and industry in general. Any honest discussion among journalists would include an admission by virtually all, that they consider themselves liberal leaning.

This affects their world view, their basic premises, how they report, what they report and what they leave out.

Example out of thousands: the “tea party” protesters, who numbered in the hundreds of thousands, were given little coverage and otherwise derided or belittled. Acorn funded protesters bussed in to protest AIG execs (a couple of dozen) were given wall to wall coverage. The coverage of Obama compared to Bush is embarrasing, the examples are obvious. The “Little Guy From Shwaningan” had more than a few ethical/conflict issues that we could be dredging up, but we go back almost two decades to flog Mulroney. Every story about a problem in our society is premised on what goverment should be doing to fix it. The use of Cartoon birds in a goofy campaign ad by conservative back room goofs got more derision in the media than the prospect of a pampered MP practically slave trading (how quick did the focus turn to conspiracies it was a conservative set-up with zero evidence to back that up).

So, so many to mention, so little time.

MattyFerg

the tea baggers, uh sorry partiers probably received the coverage they did because of the Republican party’s successful tactics in the Florida vote counting mess where the ‘riot” that got a ton of coverage later turned out to be entirely consisting of GOP staffers…

Fool me once…

kody

How many average non-political folk learned for the first time from a conservative ad over the past weekend that Iggy spent most of his adult life living abroad? It’s a startling fact that’s obviously important. (at least as important as the pooping bird [sarc].)

A conservative would have been derided in the press endelessly if they elected someone who arrived on a plane after decades in the US.

A Liberal: the press leaves the issue alone, then editorializes about the lack of propriety of even discussing it.
avr

I’m still curious why, in having to lay off someone from the blog division several months back, management chose Chris Selley instead.
Sisyphus

Yeah,well, what can ya do, eh. Every once in a while things go right.
Matt Ferg

I can’t believe the Grewal tapes are being used as an example of anti Tory bias.

Thanks for bringing that reminder out again John G. A glorious memory for your party no doubt.
john g

Take it up with Wells, Matt. It was his post, not mine; I only remembered the “For the love of God, just vote Liberal” part; I couldn’t remember what he wrote it about without googling it.