Hey Wells, Wake Up

Bob Tarantino delivers a well deserved reality slap to Paul Wells.

If I can be so bold as to identify a new iron-clad rule for Canadian political coverage: there is nothing the Liberals can do which is so substantively grievous that its importance cannot be outweighed by minor tactical dithering by the Conservatives.

Mr. Wells – as much as most of us like you, Tarantino has properly nailed you on this one.
Blogger or not, those in professional media have a responsibility to keep their eye on the ball when events of this magnitude occur. Deflecting readers from the core issue – the threat to our democracy, and possible criminality suggested by the content of the tapes – with petty criticisms of the opposition is not responsible journalism.
A signficant number of those in media visit this site. I really want to know – what is your explanation for what is happening? Editorial firewalls? Laziness? Denial? You can use the comments anonymously, or send me an email privately.
What irony there is in the disclosure of the identity of Deep Throat against this backdrop. Contrast the general level of professionalism and quality of commentary in the Canadian mainstream over the mounting scandals of this government, with the dogged pursuit of Richard Nixon by two rookie reporters at the Washington Post – and tell me why Canadians shouldn’t be utterly disgusted with you.
There has to be a logical explanation as to why so many of you are flushing your journalistic integrity down the toilet to provide cover for this government.

98 Replies to “Hey Wells, Wake Up”

  1. Where are the Journalists that investigated and told us the story. Not their political view of what is happening. I think Canadians are a little more intelligent then 50 years ago. Let us make up our own minds.
    Rick Mercer does better reporting of incidents with his Wand and TV then most of the main stream does now. He shows the people involved, He shows the events, He draws some connections and then let�s the viewer make up his mind on the matter.
    Make a list with two columns. One with what the Liberals allegedly have done illegally and immorally and in the other place the same for the conservatives.
    So why are the media bashing the Conservatives??

  2. I see you’re kind enough to cut far more slack to the narcissistic GTA scribbling clique than I am Kate. Having moved here ( Ontario) from Alberta I am constantly amazed at the irresponsible reporting, spn and eltist chiding these centralist media types reflexively hand out to anything that appears to be not status quo. The CPC and Harper have been targets for ALL of them since they hit town.
    Wells is much like the rest…staus quo and always on a one sided attack mode ( although much more subtle).
    Hey GTA: Keep drinking that stus quo politically neurotic Kool aid your media spews…it will eventually supply the more radical political solutionists the spark they need to disolve association with a Central Canada they deem too self interested and neurotic to run things for the rest of the country.
    I’m almost at a point where I’m hoping that the eastern media schmucks continue to unjustly smear the CPC and Harper…so we can get on with the final reactionary stage of western alienation.

  3. Kate you put it so well!
    This morning I’m composing my mail to Mike Duffy. Last year I sent him a note sharing my opinions of Paul Celluci, the MDA and the liberal scandals surrounding Desmarais, Oil for Fraud, HRDC, Adscam, etc. He responded to me indicating agreement with my views. To watch him now taking the exact opposite position is utterly perplexing.
    As you said Kate, why are they covering for this illegitimate, corrupt and incompetent government? WHY??

  4. The Paul Martin Liberal tactics in a nutshell:
    No one knew that we were doing it and this is the proof that we can do it,” Murphy tells Grewal cryptically in one excerpt.
    Noone knew. And the media Liberal apologists are helping the Liberals make sure noone knows. Imagine if the Conservatives get elected and audit the books.
    There are many secrets here folks – and AdScam is small potatoes.
    As long as this cloud of suspicion hangs over Paul Martin’s Liberals we will never have a functional parliament.
    They are consumed with secrecy and hiding the truth from Canadians. And, they lie with impunity and the media does not even question the lies – they make headlines out of them.
    Truly a disgrace.
    We need 1,000 deep throats…and even two honest principaled investigative reporters and at least one major media outlet to break through this code of liberal silence before we can begin to call ourselves a democracy.

  5. “Shoot the messenger. Admit it, the Tories have problems.”
    Not THAT many problems. I know that Wells isn’t incompetent, so I’m just going to assume that he’s dishonest. How else can you account for the crap that he’s been spewing lately?

  6. Good points, we’ll see if there are any takers from the media. Glad to see someone else taking up the same point.
    However, commentators such as Mr Wells also have a responsibility and right to comment on the oppositions’, government in waitings, abilities to organize an argument and execute a strategy. I share Wells’ criticism that the CPC leadership has apparently been unable to get a message out.
    Kate, I am trying, I really am trying to find a coherent strategy on this one. I see Liberal talking points and I see Liberal Talkig Heads all over the media today. We saw the Liberal points coming last night, I noted in posts elsewhere. But nary a CPC spokesperson to be seen today, were they all at Hy’s?
    IF the CPC are pitching and being blocked by Liberal leaning reporters or editors then the full shame should be there. But I dont see the CPC trying. Perhaps your invite should be extended to CPC spokepeople who have tried and failed to get a message across, i doubt there will be any takers.
    That being said, my complaint about the media is they are waiting for each side to pitch their stories and the media defence is the tories are just bad at getting their message out.
    Kate, this is where I join you in full disgust mode. This is NOT a policy debate, these issues (Adscam and the “Grewaltape letters”) cuts to criminality, corruption and the lack of moral compass at the heart of the Liberal Party. These are strong echoes of all of the points mentioned regarding Watergate. This is about how government functions and is conducted not about who is governing or how well one side is spinning and playing the media game.
    Scott reid’s comments saying this is the game, “We arent morons” is correct only to the extent that this is a game. Richard Nixon, Liddy and the others werent morons either. They were actually quite clever but they were out of the norm in terms of their morality, self defined as being the only possible choice of good versus evil democrats, hence everything was possible.
    The Canadian 4th estate suffers from a severe case of client capture and Ottawa induced numbness that they are unable to seperate the offensive and unethical from the illegal. If it isnt illegal then it is correct, according to Liberal spin. Hence the media’s blindness to breaking of constituional conventions, conventions arent written so you cant point to an actual borken rule.
    Lazy media fall back on who has pitched me best to help me meet my deadline….good reporters see the real story, despite the spin, despite the pitch and despite friendships…..if they want to call themselves “professionals”, which the media dearly wish to do, then media in this country have the story of a lifetime to capture here. For goodness sakes Woodward was a Republican but that didnt stop him from doing his job!
    I am not holding my breath for any media confessionals, anonymous or not. I hope I am wrong and kudos to you for making the offer.
    What a difference a border and 30 years make.

  7. A number of commenters in the U.S. (e.g., Glenn Reynolds) have pointed out that the strong lefty bias in the mainstream media has worked to the advantage of conservatives and disadvantage of the Democrats. The conservatives faced regular, even constant criticism, so that if their ideas were not clearly expressed, or the logic of their argument was not strong, they could get that feedback and improve. Meanwhile, the Dems enjoyed the chorus of MSM approval, and lost the discipline that political combat induces. Having lost the ability to do politics, the lefties use the courts to get the policies they want, which tends to make them even less popular, politically.
    So, theoretically, the same thing should happen here – conservatives should respond to criticism of their ideas, where appropriate, by improving those ideas or their exposition. The Liberals, meanwhile, will continue to show no interest in the idea that they should get better at what they do. So long as the CPC does get better, and the message gets out in spite of the MSM, good things will result.
    Of course, that may not work in Canada even though it works in the U.S., because Canada is fundamentally a less grown-up country than the U.S. is. But one can hope!

  8. Kate – these are EXACTLY the questions I want answers to, as well. What justification can be offered which would allow us to believe anything other than that our media has completely abrogated any claim to merit or integrity???
    If what we are seeing is the only level of journalism they can rise to, please stick to covering Hollywood gossip and leave political journalism to those who are prepared to give it the attention, integrity, effort and honesty it deserves in a democracy!

  9. If you’re not terribly bright, and those publicizing your ideas aren’t terribly bright, you end up sending out a stupid message. And the populace, being significantly brighter than the politicos or the media, gets the message you’re an idiot. Well, 51% of them anyway.
    “There has to be a logical explanation . . .”
    Obviously dogma outranks integrity to some people.

  10. Its so simple. The MSM is funded largely by the lieberals in many ways. They will never bite the hand that feeds them.

  11. The cliche “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” surely applies in most instances re the so-called journalist’s down on their knees attitude to their employers, i.e, the MSM. The power of a regular pay cheque trumps integrity and critical thinking.
    The servitude evidenced by the the chokehold of the MSM on their writers is appalling; we do not live in the days of Hearst & etc. Welles’s Citizen Kane is the best story ever of the rise/fall of a MSM empire.
    There are pundits (journalists) to which this does not apply. They may have been granted “freedom of speech” in the contracts they have entered into with the MSM.
    The rest must write as their editors (MSM owners) dictate, as the Russian word has it: diktat, or else you are out, fired, gonzo, history, hit-the-road,Jake, & etc.
    Writers in the Sun chain do have freedom of speech.
    The MSM demands dhimitude; on your knees, brothers and sisters; on your knees, infidels; or, it’s off with your hands. (We already have your tongues removed, heh, heh.)
    CBC, CTV, are now state-run propaganda mouthpieces for the Liberal/NDP/National Socialist regime in Ottawa/Toronto/Montreal.
    The blogs/bloggers/commenters have broken the hegemony of the MSM.
    Power to the blogs.
    Long live freedom and democracy and free speech.

  12. to call wells, ibbitson, simpson, wente and the rest of the hacks that make up the canadian MSM “journalists” is a slap in the face of all of the members of this profession that have tried to make a difference.
    the problem with most of the canadian “journalists” is that they all seem to be legends in their own minds. wells in particular strikes me as being so full of himself that i would hate to be a mirror in his house.
    irrespective of what MSM says, it was infinitely better to wait for two weeks to release the tapes. two weeks later, the issue is still here, and not muddled in the confidence vote/belinda, as the libs would have wanted.
    now it’s standalone and everyone talks about it! take that wells!

  13. I’m starting to hear the rightous indignation that I’m so looking for in Bruce Cheadle’s article “Martin was fully briefed on negotiations to poach Tory MP, transcripts show”.
    http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=56fed95d-3594-4bd1-a383-515cf48c5366
    Over at the Globe and Mail, Blatchford and Ibbitson seem to agree that Grewalgate is too stinky to warrant closer examination. No deep analysis, colour commentary only.

  14. Bravo! Kate!- Essential comment. Well said and well placed!
    The Conservatives and Stephen Harper have an uphill battle because every word they utter is so constantly put down, suppressed and belittled.
    While the press and msm are doing that they are consistently skewing polls and ignoring the indignation that HAS to be in their inboxes. Along with every major newspapers and television stations in the country.
    I do NOT believe that ordinary Canadians are not outraged by this.
    The admiration I now feel for Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc is not because they are avowed separatists but because they are outraged Canadians. AND they say so.
    The NDP and the Independents, ( even Kilgour, who was willing to send Canadian troops to certain death to sell HIS vote and only changed his mind when he didn’t get what he wanted) have sold their souls for profit.
    Adscam proves how the Liberals operate.
    It shows without doubt they do not belong in Ottawa as a party. They should be de-registered and then prosecuted. AS SOON as POSSIBLE.
    Unless and until we electorate get that mad and make it known without doubt that we will NOT tolerate this outrage it will not stop.
    They will stop at nothing and will buy everything with our money to keep themselves in power.
    We will deserve them as our masters if we don’t turf them out and turf them out now.
    The ONLY vehicles to do so are the Conservatives and the Bloc.
    While we are impressing our outrage on the Liberals and the media we should be contacting our brothers in Quebec ( never thought I’d say THAT!) and let them know how much we share their outrage and also determination to rid ourselves of this putrid mess the liberal party has become.

  15. GallaPlacidia that would be the same globe and mail that says the majority of canadians shouldn’t be involved in the political process because they are Christian?
    Hope you’re still getting more hits than Wells Kate.
    Yeah they don’t want to look at it because the PM should step down, Reg Alcock should step down, and the comfy rug guys Ujjal Dosanjh & Tim Murphy too.
    Course they won’t for this is Kanuckistan. No depravity is too low to be unacceptable and if Harper is upset that martin spent billions well then all of gomery is his fault too.
    Paul Wells deserves all the credit of any blogger who refuses to let people comment on his posts.

  16. BTW…why is Coyne so quiet…very few updates since he stopped taking comments? It has become a very slow page. Any insight anyone?

  17. Stephen posted
    I share Wells’ criticism that the CPC leadership has apparently been unable to get a message out.
    Interesting that the MSM has been able to pick up the CPC “hidden agenda” at a critical juncture. There seemed to be little problem in getting that message out. Although it was rather lacking in details.

  18. Stephen, Coyne’s article “You can almost hear them winking” is excellent. I actually subscribed to the Post just to read it. His blog just hasn’t been the same since he removed the peanut gallery.

  19. ward,
    The hidden agenda item is just journalists being lazy and following liberal talking points and not thinking any deeper than what to have for lunch and how long do they have till deadline.
    Someone pointed out jane Taber said essentially the same story as Warren kinsella about Chretien…and Ibbitson talked in almost the same terms as Stan Keyes, just drop it, it is doing harm to the system ( To be fair, I doubt Ibbitson is a Liberal toady so maybe Keyes heard him earlier and stole his line)
    We are in violent agreement that the media doesnt naturally take the CPC side. My point is that apparently the CPC isnt trying very hard right now. More than enough blame for everyone involved.

  20. Paul Martin’s recommendation to Stephen Harper yesterday to read what the media were saying about the tapes pretty much sums up life in Canada. The Libs can do what they want without fear of being called to account. Harper was good at today’s press conference, pretty much pointing out that the media’s handling of Inky Mark’s announcement was what prompted Grewal to tape things. And he also pointed out that had Grewal been serious about a deal, there would be no tapes. Can’t understand why the media are having such a hard time recognizing this. I think it has more to do with not wanting to believe that their adored Libs could really be so sleazy. They’re as dumb as the electorate.

  21. I truly hope Alberta and other western provinces threat to separate. It’s seems to matter little anymore that the french province wants to break up, so maybe Ontario will wake up if the english west wants out.
    Yes, the irresponsible MSM are a lot to blame, but if you and I can read through the lines and truly see what’s happening to the democracy of this country, then one would think that there’s an awful lot of citizens in this country, because of their apathy that maybe do not deserve to live in a free country.
    Time for drastic measures.
    Make some noise ALBERTA!

  22. In the same manner that Gomery got legs after going to Montreal, the CPC strategy has provided legs to the Grewal tapes by releasing them when BS (the person, not what we are being fed) is not front and centre.
    MSM is clearly getting concerned despite all evidence to the contrary. Listened to the national at 8 MST on Newsworld, thought “here we go again spin, spin spin” Because I missed the start I watched it at 10. In the category of a picture is worth a thousand words, the look an Keith Boag’s face said it all.
    There was no giggling last night, no “Bad day for the Conservatives”. Maybe I am being hopeful or naive or both, but I think Harper may have learned his lesson, if the Natural Governing Party is going to implode on itself get out of the way and let it happen rather than push them.

  23. Paul Wells used to take a fair amount of abuse from certain of Andrew Coyne’s readers in Coyne’s now sadly defunct comments section. Perhaps the reason people get irked by Wells is precisely that he’s not an “MSM hack”, but rather that he’s one of the very few Canadian journalists who clearly has the ability to think for himself, even if he doesn’t always do so. When Jeffrey Simpson, Margaret Wente, Roy Macgregor, Lawrence Martin, or that living exemplar of raw intellectual ability Edward Greenspon publish things that sound like they were simply taking dictation from the PMO, no one really expects them to do any differently. Nor, frankly, do any of them ever demonstrate that they could do any differently, that they could think their way out of a GTA Liberal wet paper bag, so to speak. (I know, I know, how do they get jobs? We’ll leave that for another day.) But Wells is clearly different. Much of his stuff is very good, which is why I’m still among those boosting the hit counts of his blog, despite that one piece in four of his that sounds like Liberal Party spin. No one’s saying you have to be a cheerleader for the CPC, Paul, but you can do better. And how about a comments section on your blog?

  24. Jane–“I don’t have no Deep Throat”–Taber’s next column:
    “Grewal a secret evangelical Christian
    High-level Liberal insiders say…”
    Mark
    Ottawa

  25. As Edmund Burke once said, “No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” If you dig under all the reasons put forward for the revolting show of MSM groupthink, I think you’ll find fear. This fear takes many forms, but fear of change is one of the biggies.
    Re Watergate: I think that U.S. history has resulted in Americans being made of sterner stuff than Canadians. It wasn’t always so. When Trudeau forced a wedding between the French republic and the Westminster systems of government and socialized all he could get his hands on, he all but guaranteed the future complacency of the populace. Once the government becomes the ‘giver of all good things’ — especially our ‘rights’ — it’s game over.

  26. Actually, Galla I disagree about Blatchford-while she’s disgusted by all parties, she seems to want some answers.

  27. The media and the Liberals are one…..they are de facto members of the ruling party, and they aren’t going to give up their rightful place as our betters and rulers, are they?

  28. I liked Stephen Harper’s comments today about taping conversations:
    “All Parliamentarians should conduct business as at all times as if everything they say and do is on the record.”
    AMEN

  29. Wait until King Ralph retires (next year or so). I think then there will be potential for noise to be made. For all the good that Ralph has done in his time, federally speaking, he’s too much like the guy who’s always buying the round of drinks in the bar — we’re all be good buddies together, right? Hey, let me get this one! If Ted Morton becomes our new premier, things might be different. (Ted was one of the authors of the Alberta Firewall proposal.)

  30. Howie Meeker wrote
    “and they aren’t going to give up their rightful place as our betters and rulers, are they?”
    as Scott reid said “we arent morons”. I think the proper answer to your question Howie is No.
    So as Churchill said “Nag, Bite and Gouge” Its the only way to get rid of them. But then again thats the Official Opposition’s job.
    Changing topic slightly, if Harper indicated that he supported Germat because of the media reactions to Inky Mark’s statements….i.e. howls for proof….then I think he hit the target.
    You wanted proof, well here is proof.
    BTW, is it wrong for Germat to tape this and ok for the citizen who taped his conversation with the police OK? (according to the media) Or should the man who taped an apparent incident of DWB (Driving while Black) also be exorcated for recording a conversation.
    One final question, does all of this mean that the Liberals think Germat is higher up the “gene pool” than Inky? Certainly it means Belinda is in their opinion.

  31. The CBC, Toronto Star, Macleans magazine with all and sundry of its “troops” are nothing more than EXTENSIONS of the government.
    Same thing in the US.
    The so-called msm are branches of the government…always have been.
    Nothing new here my naive friends.

  32. Kate;
    Adscam could never have happened if there were an Canadian equivalent of FOX News in Canada. Canadians should still be concerned about the Liberal government simply watching the spin given the Grewal story and not to mention the shrugging attitude toward the corruption involved in Adscam.
    ” Everyone does it” . . . .”The public will have forgtten about it by elction time” . . . blah . . blah . . blah . .

  33. “Same thing in the US”? If our MSM is an extension of the government, why are they so anti-government?

  34. Your media is bought and paid for. Where do you suppose those ad agencies placed their ads with your stolen money? Who owns your media outlets? Whose party card do you think is in the wallets of the vast majority of your media managers and staff? Not to mention your state press. Their complicity has been bought and paid for with your own money. Linda has probably tied up the loose ends, those not owned by the Liberal party are intimidated by their lawyers. I do hope this is gotten to the bottom of. I would bet the complicity and collusion runs deeper than you imagine.

  35. In watching The National last night, I heard Senator Peter Mansbridge, when talking to Keith Boag, say, “And what does this say about Grewal?”
    WHAAAT?
    Another classic example of the Liberal owned CBC trying to protect the Liberals.

  36. Um, folks, has anyone seen Wells LATEST comments?
    I’ll admit, P-Dub can be maddening, and he may have missed the BIG reason the tapes took so long to hit the press (the GG-UD convos had to be translated from Punjab to English), but his admittedly correct comments on the Tories’ tactical blunders has not distracted him from the real problem.
    Par example: his posts SINCE his criticism of the Tory handling of the tapes:
    2:33 PM 5/31
    Everything I’ve said about the manner of the Tories’ rolling out the Grewal tapes still obtains. It could hardly be a more complete schmozzle. The tapes and transcripts, however, are now public, and here is one of the key moments.
    The Conservative Party says this excerpt comes from a meeting among Grewal, Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy on Tuesday, May 17 (I have minimally cleaned up the punctuation to make this excerpt more comprehensible):
    Murphy: Absolutely, I�m sorry, I didn�t mean to preclude that if obviously you have to feel where you are comfortable doing and where your personal stake is and what holds you and your wife, let me make it absolutely clear that we are a
    welcoming party; we will do everything we can. Obviously for us continuing to expand our base in BC and in prominent communities in this country is a political priority for us. It is a welcoming mat that has a lot of nice comfy fur on it.
    (Laughs.)
    Dosanjh: I think what Tim is saying about trust is that most of these things do have our trust and you have to feel comfortable with that. And at the end, of course if Chief of Staff say that certain conduct ought to be rewarded in due time, that trust is kept 99.9% of the times. Sometimes you can�t do it � circumstances will kill you. I told him about my conversation with the PM.
    �������������
    Fun game: try to find Grewal refusing to take ‘No’ for an answer in this excerpt. There is no truth to the rumour that Liberal election placards in British Columbia will read, “A Welcoming Mat With a Lot of Nice Comfy Fur.”
    Seven hours later (tell me he doesn’t have the G&M pegged):
    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
    I’ve read Wells for well over 5 years. His main beat was the Parliament, so tactics mean more to him than most, but he has hit the bullseye on the reaction of the Canadian people.
    I might also add that when it does come to policy, he is one of the few willing to say Canada needs private health care (which Andrew Coyne refuses to admit) and was one of Reform’s most consistent defenders outside of Western Canada.
    Don’t confuse his criticism of the Tories’ campaign tactics with acceptance of the Grit party line. I’m 1500 miles from Canadian territory, and even I’VE seen Kinsella rip after him several times, and that was when the PM was someone WK liked.

  37. Keith Boag is the worst actor CBC has had thus far as a Parliamentary correspondent. The look on his face last night was priceless. It screamed “are they really gonna buy this load of crap I’m offering”?

  38. Sorry Candace, but I won’t let Blatchford off the hook today. She needs to get her hands dirty in this sordid mess. From the first line in her column “Let us get this one thing straight: Gurmant Grewal is not the story” one would assume that a good tongue lashing was on the way for “Team Martin”. But Grewal seems to get the worst of it leading me to speculate that perhaps the story really is about him after all.
    “The Conservative MP for the British Columbia riding of Newton-North Delta emerges as a slippery, self-aggrandizing weasel.” That’s a wollip. Or how about:
    “In fact, so transparently loathsome is Mr. G. that you would have thought that Mr. Murphy would have seized any pretext — “Excuse me, sir, but I am in keen need of a shower” — and run for the hills, leaving Mr. Dosanjh, who after all is a fellow British Columbian and also an Indo-Canadian and who arguably owed Mr. Grewal some greater courtesy, to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
    Although she is critical of Murphy and Dosanjh, they seem to escape the personal insults that that “dreadful fellow” warranted.
    Hey, what’s a little backbencher to do to bring down Goliath?

  39. so what would happen if Grewal subjected himself to a lie detector test and came out to be telling the truth about the whole thing? What awould happen if the same test was done to the Liberal side? The questions of course would be. Did you approach first? did you intend to offer/accept a deal?

  40. Maybe the MSM will be retooled when they realize that if the Libs are removed from Govt. there will be thousands of hours of breaking news storys about how Canada has been Hoodwinked for years.
    Then they will be stumbling all over each other trying to scoop the other.
    Go figure, no don’t, “Figures don’t LIE but LIERS sure can FIGURE”

  41. The closest news source that “canada” has to compare to FOX News would be The Western Standard.

  42. Good to see such a diversity of opinion in this comment thread (I’m being sincere here, for once). One assumes my critics, especially the ones who have a hard time spelling, won’t change their minds soon, and that’s fine. As for those who ask why I don’t have a comment board, you might have your answer if you read Coyne explaining why he abandoned his.
    A gentle answer to Kate: In 2000 and 2001 and 2002 and 2003, when I had colleagues getting *fired* because they dared to criticize the Paul Martin regime-in-embryo, I gently suggested to Martin Liberals what I have been gently suggesting to Conservatives this week: you may well get the big job � certainly I will have zero influence on whether that happens, whatever wild paranoid theories you may entertain ��but your flaws will surely bring you down, *especially* if you refuse to recognize you have any.
    Martin’s flaws were incoherence, secrecy, inability to improvise, and a bullying streak a mile wide. Harper’s, today, include insularity and a serene conviction that his organizational catastrophe is the fault of anyone who dares to notice it. Insularity: It is a bit rich to complain about accusations of a hidden agenda when you’re hiding your agenda. Organizational catastrophe: the 13 days we just lived through.
    Harper has his choice about when to fix his flaws. He can do it now, or he can do it in the middle of catastrophe because he hasn’t bothered to fix them before stumbling into power. At the risk of offending some of you with a flash of my legendary ego, I’ve covered about 30 new governments in various provinces, at the federal level, and overseas in the past decade. Their problems were *never* a surprise to anyone who had been paying attention, and it wasn’t their various amen corners that had done them any favours by blowing sunshine up their asses until the moment trouble hit. Their critics did a lot more to toughen their hides — or would if any of them had had the strength of character to address valid criticism. Paul Martin never did. Stephen Harper may well. One thing’s for sure: if he only ever listens to his cheerleading squad, he’ll never get the big job, and it sure as hell won’t be my fault.

  43. Paul – thanks for your comments, and as one other person pointed out, you’re hardly a one trick Liberal pony which is why I still actually bother reading what others write about you.
    There is a saying that- “not everyone who criticizes you is an enemy, and not everyone who flatters you is your friend.”
    The problem in Canada is that our news reporters seem to have forgotten that it is not their job to provide either criticism or flattery.
    All we ask for are the facts, and if opinions are required (on legal issues, for example), get us someone whose opinion means something.
    Back in the 80’s after Mulroney won his massive majority, someone in major media (I forget who) said in an interview, that, in the face of such a weakened opposition, it was up to the media to assume that role.
    It really wasn’t about opposition to government though – it was opposition to party. Today, in the face of a weakened government, they have assumed the role of apologist and protector.
    They were Liberals then, they are Liberals now. When Liberals are out of government, the media are out of government. It’s really that simple.

  44. I dont know if Paul will come back to read the follow up….if not then no answer is expected, and even if he does, well probably no answer expected :-> but I am going to ask a couple anyway.
    1) My apologies Paul I dont know your career, were the fired colleagues at MacLeans? A conservative like Ted allowing that? Mind you they have him over a CRTC barrel dont they?
    2)You indicate organizational issues within the CPC. Is it too many chiefs with different visions or is it too centralized and SH needs to make all of the decisions.
    3) Do you think the agenda is hidden or non existent?
    I will say I have been amazed by the absolute artlessness of the CPC on this issue, this should have been “shooting fish in a barrel” time. I feel the way I do when the Leafs have a 5 on 3 and the other team scores a goal. We see the symptoms whats the cause, personalities or things indicated in # 2

  45. Stephen: (1) No, not at Maclean’s.
    Kate: You may ask for facts, but I’m paid for my opinion. Any facts in my journalism got there by mistake and will be quickly eliminated as a matter of policy.
    As for those who *are* paid for facts, they include Daniel Leblanc and Campbell Clark, who worked on this story, in Daniel’s case from 1999, long before Sheila Fraser had ever heard of any of it. It never ceases to stun me how often the vaunted blogosphere forgets this.
    Ah, but they were all alone, poor lads: Can anyone seriously claim a political story in Canada has had *one-tenth* as much page-one space in *any* Canadian newspaper as Adscam has had since Feb. 10, 2004? I spent a month at Gomery: there are 30 reporters in the media room all day, every day. I write 10 snarky lines on a blog that, as Kate gleefully pointed out here, gets half her traffic, and she swoons dead away like a Merchant Ivory character. It’s a bit rich.

  46. I wasn’t including you, as a columnist in my comments about news reporting. Nor was I speaking specifically of you in the last couple of paragraphs of the original post, but of the general quality of reporting – I thought that was self evident, but I apologize if it confused you.
    But here’s the problem – when someone like me can spot a documentable lie by Paul Martin in a clip from Question Period, only to listen to a so-called “political analyist” allows it go by unquestioned, something is _wrong_.
    I’m speaking as a general consumer of news, who listens to my national newscasts and feeds to local radio and compares what I hear to what I read in transcripts.
    If there were 30 reporters in the room during hearings, then pray tell, why do 95% of them select the same brief portions of testimony, the same 7 second sound bites, the same talking points in their coverage every night?
    Why did ANY of them choose the Chretien golf ball stunt as the highlight of his testimony? Much less _all_ of them.
    And the blogosphere is accused of being an echo chamber….?

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