Ottawa Citizen (via Bourques Voy forum);
Elie Betito is known in political circles as the chief spokesman for generic drug company Apotex, and can often be seen on the Hill helping the company in its ongoing campaign for changes to patent drug rules. But Mr. Betito got a splash of ink this week for something entirely different over an e-mail he sent to Stacey Cherwonak, a sport shooter and forensic firearms expert with the RCMP in Ottawa.As a volunteer on Liberal candidate Bonnie Brown's campaign in Oakville, Mr. Betito fielded Mr. Cherwonak's angry e- mail last week over the Liberal announcement about further restrictions on handguns. He closed his e-mail with, "you lying bastards."
Mr. Betito e-mailed back: "take your NRA , GUN LOVING ASS BACK TO THE U.S. WHERE YOU BELONG, E. BETITO."
Mr. Betito admits the e-mail was written in "a moment of insanity," and says he was provoked into the foolish move by the tone of Mr. Cherwonak's message and his concerns about the Dodge City environment in the Toronto 'burbs. He has resigned from Ms. Brown's campaign and apologized to Mr. Cherwonak.
But Mr. Betito says he now feels like he's the one in the crosshairs. Once his e-mail was posted on a blog, it spread rapidly among the guns 'n' ammo set across North America. He says he has received hundreds of e-mails from the U.S. and Canada, many threatening in tone.
"I have been bombarded," he said. "I got concerned about my welfare. I never knew the reach and breadth of these groups." Mr. Betito says some e-mails are suggesting a boycott of Apotex's drugs and others were sent to his bosses to demand he be fired.
One message confused his gender and began with the salutation, "You Liberal slut." One website posted his home address. 'This is the greatest level of intimidation I have ever seen,' Mr. Betito said, and that's something coming from someone who regularly picks fights with the most powerful industry in the world -- the brand-name drug companies.
And Take Your Beer and Popcorn With You
Meanwhile, Mr. Cherwonak is giving some serious consideration to taking Mr. Betito's advice. "I may be taking my gun- loving ass to the U.S. after all," he said. He is reconsidering his future in Canada because of the Liberal approach to gun control. He calls Liberal leader Paul Martin's proposal on new handgun restrictions "a grub for votes in Toronto," that may force him to relocate if he wants to continue competitive sport shooting.
The message from Mr. Betito did not surprise him, he said, given the party's past position on guns. It was one of only a few replies he received after blanketing Ontario Liberal MPs with his e-mailed message of protest.
One reply from a Liberal campaign worker came with a suggestion: "It said you better practise because Harper's going to send you to Iraq," he said.
There was a time when a citizen like Stacey Cherwonak wouldn't have had his complaint heard unless a friendly media outlet chose to voice it for him. When the message is pro-gun, the likelihood of finding such an outlet is slim.
Those days are over. Within hours of posting the exchange, the information had been read here by thousands of Canadians, and through the multilayered network of blogs, lists and forums, to thousands more before the first dead tree story went to print.
Welcome to the brave new world of filter-free politics.
(More here on the blogosphere angle.)
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Sorry, but there's one thing I can't seem to shake off:
Stacey is a guy?
Elie is a guy?
WTF?
Posted by: Doug at December 21, 2005 3:28 PMWelcome to the brave new world of thug tactics and mob mentality as well.
And yes, Stacey/Stacy is a man's name. See, for example, Stacy Keach.
Posted by: Brad at December 21, 2005 3:33 PMI am finding the power of the blog to be incredible.
My 22 year old eastern university-educated, MSM-influenced,NDP/Jack Layton-loving son moved to Alberta to join me (BTW -he got a job within a day of his first phone call, and started the day after).
Via introductions to information from blog sites like SDA, he's a Conservative now. Also, seeing Robert McClelland's continually yappy postings helped to turn him off of the NDP
Posted by: John at December 21, 2005 3:33 PMAlthough the email back to Stacey is nasty, I think the biggest problem is a paid lobbyist working on a government members campaign. Lobbyist rules currently state that a government Minister cannot quit gov't and then lobby the gov't for at least 2 years after their term as Minister has expired. Why shouldn't that work both ways?
A lobbyist performing work for a government's election campaign, whether paid or volunteer, is still a very questionable practice.
I've always just rolled my eyes at the Lefties who constantly harp about gov't being in the pockets of Big Business (and especially the Big Drug Co.s), but stories like this certainly shed some validity on those claims.
When you've got a solid link like this, you're not talking Conspiracy anymore, you're talking about reality!
Someone should correct the Ottawa Citizen: Betito was not merely a "volunteer", he was presedent of the Liberal riding association and campaign manager. As such, his intemperete comments taint Bonnie Brown, and the Citizen is still letting them get away with that much.
Posted by: bushman at December 21, 2005 3:54 PMIf Elie's comments are true and there seems to conclusive evidence that they are. He should have his sorry ass kicked into the Ottawa river. This guy is a loose cannon law breaker. The Liberal party doesn't need him around anyhow.
Posted by: Ron at December 21, 2005 3:59 PM"Welcome to the brave new world of thug tactics and mob mentality as well."
Unfortunate that the "guns n ammo" set purportedly went heavy with the email. The knee-kerk reactionary hate mail only helps the "NRA gun-loving" perceptions which folks like Betito are only too happy to foster.
Just my 2-cents...
Posted by: MacAdam at December 21, 2005 3:59 PMkeeep you keyboards ready & your mouse sharpened
. . . the way the Lieberal campaign is going off the rails they will be lashing out even more tha usual and there will lots more opportunity to "out" them for what they are and to defend ordinary, honest, hard working Canadian taxpayers from their holier than thou "Liberal values are Canadian values" crap.
This a marathon, not a sprint . . . stay tuned , stay sharp.
Posted by: Fred at December 21, 2005 4:01 PMI'm certain that everyone will accept that, regardless of your political allignment, people with very little control over their actions will volunteer to aid in a political campaign; this is because the more fanatical elements will always be the first to volunteer.
Now the question is, who in their right mind would allow someone with so little tact to be involved in communicating with the public?
It's a fact that every political figure will have dozens (to potentially thousands) of angry Letters/Emails a day that are reasonably offensive; these are not hard to reply to, and you don't have to be super-polite, but you must maintain professionalism. A responce like "We understand your concern but we will not be changing our stance on this issue" takes 2 seconds to write and completely elliminates any potential problems.
Posted by: NoOne at December 21, 2005 4:13 PMZat so? >>>>
"While the Betito e-mail is one small example of the power blogs have, bloggers haven't been able to influence the federal election, said Sandford Borins, professor of public management at the University of Toronto.
"I don't think bloggers have had that impact," he said. "Basically, the campaign is reasonably short and the candidates hold the peoples' attention through sort of their campaigns and media advertising."
Campaigns are driven by party leaders and major announcements and there isn't as much room for outsiders to have a major stake in how events unfold, he said. Bloggers in the U.S. were able to play a bigger role during the 2004 presidential election because there, campaigns are much longer.
"At the early stages (in the U.S.), in the party primaries, there's a lot of room for outsiders in a way that our campaigns are short and there isnŐt a lot of room for outsiders," he said." >>>
http://www.rapp.org/url/?M3DRRM5B
As linked in post above. >>>
Instalanche?
Will Martin ban blogs and the internet next? We have proven we don't need guns to get them--words and knowledge are powerful weapons and Kate wields both so effectively. The only ones shooting these days are the Liberals, and they are shooting themselves in the foot with every shot. Good work Kate.
Posted by: George at December 21, 2005 4:32 PMLove the title, "Don"t Bring an Email to a Blog Fight".
I ALMOST feel sorry for the guy.
Posted by: concrete at December 21, 2005 4:46 PMSandford Borins seems to have missed the fact that his hero PMPM has given us a very long election run. There is lots of time for Kate to blog a stake through the Liberal beast.
Posted by: rebarbarian at December 21, 2005 4:52 PMKate
Bourque Newswatch has picked up and running with the story under the title.
GENERIC DRUGMAKER SPOKESPERSON SUGGESTS DEPORTING GUN OWNERS
So much for Martin's attempt at positive spin on a hand gun ban.
Posted by: Glen at December 21, 2005 5:04 PMI saw that headline too. Bourque has a sense of humour.
Posted by: Kate at December 21, 2005 5:07 PMBorins has impeccable NDP/socialist credentials... see his input re statist socialist governments in Saskatchewan. Such stuff scholars indulge in; the curse of the sociologists visited upon humanity. Borins: La jalousie lives. >>>
http://www.innovation.cc/books/chapter10.htm
I've added to this story:
http://TorontoTory.blogspot.com.
Remeber a man with a gun is a citizen, a man with out a gun is a subject.
Posted by: FREE at December 21, 2005 5:30 PMI think Elie should move to BC and volunteer in Svend Robinson's campaign office. He and Svend are of kindred spirits: Both have used the "i-did-it-in-a-moment-of-insanity" excuse.
In the time that it took to type the reply to Mr. Cherwonaks email, Mr. Betito didn't have enough mental wherewithall to realize it was an inappropriate response???
Posted by: sooz at December 21, 2005 5:48 PM"Don't bring an e-mail to a blog fight" gotta love that quote. I bet Kevin Potvin wishes he had heeded those words before he tried to "enlighten" those so called conservative Christians that skulk around here. That was truly an interesting thread yesterday.
Posted by: Texas Canuck at December 21, 2005 6:02 PMJohn, it sounds like your son had a 'coming of age' experience. One of those, "If you're not a socialist by 20, you have no heart; if you're still one by 40, you have no brain" experiences. Congratulate him on finding his wits. ;)
Posted by: Shane O. at December 21, 2005 6:04 PMKate, thanks to you and other bloggers. Can you imagine the tenor of this campaign if the MSM controlled and filtered all news? This incident, along with the Income Trust issue and others, has forced the MSM to deal with views not their own. I believe the blogging reality is one of the factors that has mellowed the press v.v Harper and the CPC. Of course, this is Harper's second campaign and the villainization is getting old.
Bloggers are going to be very valuable, when the Liberals do their inevitable sneer and smear in the New Year.
AGAIN GREAT JOB KATE, AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Posted by: Phil at December 21, 2005 6:44 PMJust for the record, I linked this story to my website: www.LookUpConservative.com - and I also tipped Nealenews so that he linked to sda as well.
This is a great story in that it deprives the Liberals of a riding president and campaign manager, brings the Liberal attitude to the attention of the public, and keeps the Librano$ off balance and running off message.
Posted by: Jim Pook at December 21, 2005 6:51 PMFree...come on, are you telling me a loaded gun is good for people?
Kate has a power here and has a responsibility to consider the outcome.
Posted by: steve at December 21, 2005 9:45 PMAn other one bites the dust.... Happiness is a warm gun.
Posted by: Bernie at December 21, 2005 11:02 PMHurtfull,smallminded full of bigotry comments are on the rise in this country, why?. Because we have allowed this to happen beginning right at the top. It is time to get back to the basics, people will say in the heat of a campaign words that they will later regret, History has proven that.
Posted by: bryan at December 23, 2005 1:24 PM