Cerberus asks the million reader question;
It seems that, during the election, Liberal bloggers pretty much got their butts kicked by a much larger, much more determined, much broader and much more widely read (both by John Q. Public and media interlopers) conservative blogs. We started to catch on only in the last 2 weeks or so as more Liberals, out of desperation, suddenly “got it” about blogs. So what can we do to maximize the blogosphere for the next one? The same thing happened to the Democrats in the US and they paid for it and still are.
[…]
What do Liberal bloggers need to do to “catch up” to Blogging Tories or American bloggers and have a bigger impact on the leadership race and on political discourse in Canada?
While there are ways that bloggers on the left could improve readership and “impact” that I could share … I’m not going to. Figure it out for yourselves. Ha!
I don’t think it would help much, anyway. The primary reason that liberal/left bloggers in both Canada and the US have so much more difficulty gaining traction in the way the conservative-shere has isn’t really a mystery – they compete with the majority of voices in mainstream media for their readers – and we don’t.
I don’t know how you fix that, Ted.
Further thoughts – here’s a piece of advice I will offer. As I scanned “progressive” blog aggregators during the months leading up to the election, it was fascinating to watch the escalation of personal attacks on myself and other conservative bloggers. Sometimes just sideswipe name calling and ad hominem, sometimes entire posts were devoted to responding to, ridiculing or ranting about something written here at SDA.
Now, I would suggest that you lefties who have been pondering your own irrelevance think hard about something – how often do you see me attacking any of you?
Call it a clue.
Kate,
Conservative bloggers and commenters may have had the edge during the last election, but, to me, today’s million dollar question is: Were we wrong to believe in Stephen Harper?
There catching on Kate:…Old Squid!Time will tell eh!
“What do Liberal bloggers need to do to “catch up” to Blogging Tories or American bloggers and have a bigger impact on the leadership race and on political discourse in Canada?”
simple . they need to remove their collective heads from their collective anal tracts, fess up that they are full of crap and get with the program by becoming CONSERVATIVES !!!!!
Its the only way forward . . .
Old Squid, I look at Mr. Harper and I see a man smartly and irreversibly bringing about his agenda. An agenda he has been pretty public about.
I haven’t seen him do anything that has eroded my trust in him.
Don’t change the subject squid.
You want another answer to the question?
Style Guide for Liberal Blog Posters
Progressive-blog, sounds more like a loose bowel disease!
Regarding the Lib’s blogging. I think that they had the same “almighty” attitude, the same attitude that the past PM and party held. Before they will be able to catch Kate, they will have to do alot of soul searching!
Kate, you hit the nail on the head with your last sentence: Liblogs have to compete with the CBC for readers whereas conservatives have no voice in TV and a very limited voice in hardcopy media (National Post is marginal, Western Standard fairly small). It’s virtually the same in the U.S.. Down there the conservatives “own” Talk Radio, magazines and the blogosphere whereas the Left “own” TV and all the major circulation newspapers. There are exceptions (Fox TV for conservatives, Kos for Leftoids), but generally that seems to be the way the world works. I can’t explain it, but that’s the way it is.
Old Squid, i think it should be a question asked a year or two from now, when the five priorities have been completed and another election has provided a conservative majority.
Best advice I would give it for the left bloggers to include a small helping of sanity with their fare.
At least that is the perception in the US when you have left extremist dragging the rest further off center then the mainstream is willing to accept.
Problem is, they’re still trying to catch up and fight the last election, we’re already ahead and working towards improving for the next.
If you read the comments section in the link, you’ll notice the Swifties mentioned – in the context of “they were a Republican propoganda tool”.
How many of them wrote posts on Kerry’s oft-repeated claim that
“I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared — seared — in me.”
He claimed that president was Richard Nixon.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27211-2004Aug23.html
The inability to accept that their guy was caught in a lie, and acknowledge that the Swifties might have had a legitimate case underscores why they’ve had difficulty making inroads beyond appealing to other true believers.
Well put, Kate. I’ve only had a kumpyooter since last May, and after being alerted to your site by Coyne’s referrals I kept coming back not just because of your personal flair and your perserverance and courage but also because you covered the important topics and angles which the MSM would never touch, including issues of Liberal malfeasance.
Obviously, the best way for those on the liberal/left to gain traction and have an effect on political discourse — and I hope I’m not giving away the game plan — is for them to build up a monolithic, conservative media in this country until there are hardly any dissenting Liberal voices. At that point, their constituents will have to turn to blogs to find what they are looking for. I suggest they get started right away.
BTW Squid, the answer to your question is “Nope”.
Don’t get impatient.
Lee,
You are an optimist. How are we going to believe Harper will complete the five priorities after his latest boondoggle….appointing Sandra Buckler as his Chief of Spin.? According to a BC blogger, Buckler is in a relationship with James Moore, Parl. Sec. to Michael Fortier, Min. of PWGSC. Buckler was the chief lobbyist for Royal LePage, the same lobbyist who cajoled the Public Accounts Committee into not calling in the Auditor General on the government relocation contract. Even on this site, people have complained about this contract. How can we now, after this appointment, expect the transparency in government that Harper talks about? Will Moore encourage his boss to investigate the contract that was ruled against by the Federal Court, or, will Sandra’s loyalty to her old client win the day. As Harper said, transparency in government must not only be transparent, it must be SEEN to be transparent. I say, PROVE IT!
Could it be, that more of us Canadians are conservative in nature, and tend to look for reading material more to our belief systems?
Maybe those blogs are just better reads…
Canadian High Court Slams Door On ‘Libel Tourism’
By E&P Staff
Published: February 21, 2006 11:36 AM ET
CHICAGO Ruling in a case involving The Washington Post’s Web site, the Supreme Court of Canada served notice that the nation is not open for “libel tourism,” the practice of filing a defamation suit in a country with more favorable legal standards for libel.
Without explanation, the high court on Feb. 16 refused to hear the appeal of Cheickh Bangoura, a former United Nations official. The refusal upholds a decision last September by a three-judge appellate court panel that threw out Bangoura’s suit. The lawsuit was the topic of an Americas Extra column in E&P at the time.
Bangoura was working in Kenya in 1997 when the Post published two articles about his conduct while he was with the UN in the Ivory Coast. More than six years later, Bangoura, who was by then living in Canada, filed suit in Canada against the Post and three of its reporters, arguing that the articles were still available on the Post’s Web site, and could be read on the Web by Canadians.
Bangoura demanded C$5 million in damages for “intentional interference with prospective economic advantage,” another C$1 million for “intentional infliction of mental anguish,” a further C$1 million, plus C$1 million for the Post’s refusal to post retractions. On top of that, he asked for C$2 million in punitive damages.
The Post argued that the complaint should be dismissed because it had no meaningful circulation in Canada. But a Superior Court of Justice judge rejected the newspaper’s motion, and allowed the case to proceed.
In a Globe and Mail article about the Supreme Court’s decision, media reporter Richard Blackwell noted the lower court’s decision alarmed free-press organizations who saw it as a “dangerous precedent that could damage freedom of expression.” The Globe and Mail was among 50 news organizations that filed friend-of-the-court briefs when the case went to the Ontario Court of Appeal last year.
The Globe and Mail quoted Bangoura as saying he had been denied justice in the nation where he lives. “A newspaper should not be able to destroy the reputation of a person based on lies,” he said.
Toronto attorney Ryder Gilliland, who represented the Post, told the Globe and Mail the decision was a victory for the news media that “cuts out libel tourism. +
http://www.rapp.org/url/?CXFLCSD
editorandpublisher.com
Maz2..I ran a google search on that address and it came up blank.
Hmmm “What do Liberal bloggers need to do to “catch up” to Blogging Tories or American bloggers and have a bigger impact on the leadership race and on political discourse in Canada?”
1 Try truth and honesty instead of lies and whitewash
2 Turn down the volume, the rhetoric hurts peoples ears
3 Discuss something meaningful
4 Look inward, anyone can crticize his opponent
5 Clean up the language… cursing and swearing only helps to reveal true character
6 Acknowlege the corruption, mistakes, and problems and become a part of the solution
7 Foster debate and discussion about things that matter to real people who earn a wage
8 Focus on the positive…eliminate the negative
9 Find your own voice…Turn off the MSM so that you are not constantly regurgitating
10 Whatever Kate says…take the contrary position…it’ll be the road less travelled
Daniel
The answer is simple.
People don’t read liberal-leaning blogs because they come up with dumb campaign slogans like “Canada is working. Don’t let the Tories wreck it again! Donate now!” (It’s the not-to-be-missed button on the right-hand side of Cerberus’ blog)
That, in a nutshell, expresses everything that is wrong with the way the left operate.
I’m sort of along Kates track… I think the main reason is it is incomparably difficult to spend your time defending the indefensable, not too mention dishearting. People are creatures of habit, and it’s very human to give up when your arguing a point that is just too stacked against you.
I can’t count how many times I’ve been on the Red Tory, or CalgaryGrit site, and they will often change (not necessarily outright) their stance on a particular topic if the logic is undefeatable.
In the Conservative camp, one simply has to sit back on the known facts, present them in a reasonable manner, and it’s hard to disagree.
Harper will make mistakes, and the Liblogs will jump on them, just as we “Tory” blogs, jumped on every mistake the Liberals made.
The difference is we had 13 years of fuck-ups, general incompetence, and outright lies to play with, while the Liberals had to rely on speculation, and outright lies about our guys to support their side.
Tough to do, and hard to support.
In the end, only the Cherniaks of the world, the fanatics, freaks, and “damn the torpedo” types held with their positions on the Liberal side. They would have held on even as the ship sank.
Most of these are the illiterate, idiot bunch. Some of them are simply fanatics, others just didn’t bother to really look at the senario and do their homework.
Being Conservative means your alway’s questioning because there is always something about authority to call bullshit on, and it usually doesn’t matter what side of politics your on, Cons will rape you if you put your foot in it.
Being Tory, and being vocally Tory, means your probably some sort of student of history to some degree. At the very least, you probably read the newspaper and watch the news.
Most Liberals are not what one would call “current event” enthusiasts.
Liberals are just what the name implies “Idealists”, therefore they always look for the good in the situation even when it is manifestly clear they are losing the position.
Thats why such shit legislation gets through under liberal gov’ts, it’s idealistic, generally ahead of it’s time, and generally a better thought than application.
It’s not that Liberals aren’t needed, it’s just that when they have a good idea, it’s probably better left to someone who actually knows how to get things done.
Look at the history of the nation. The Tories always get in when the shit is hitting the fan the most, and the Liberals always get in when the Tories have fixed the major damage done by the Liberals.
You can’t credit Liberal thought with practical management. You can credit Liberal thought with interesting ideas. They just never really know what the end of the tunnel looks like, and the tories are generally left holding the bag.
It goes to speak to why the Liberals have been in power most of the last 100 or so years…
people in general like to be wowed by ideas that sound good. Most of them either don’t think about the idea the next day, or are to busy nursing their hangovers from celebrating their genius the next day, that they fail to see just how much their newest “brainchild” has committed them to bite off… and by that time they are committed, and will look stupid if they don’t try.
Name one Liberal concept that has actually worked the way it was supposed to, within the budget initially designed for it, within the time frame alotted.
Good luck.
Conservatives don’t plan to fail, they plan to succeed because they are conservative by nature. Liberals plan for plannings sake, and worry about success of the plan only when there is no choice but too actually pay attention to benchmarks.
Not to worry though, in 6 to 8 years, there will be the inevitable pile of screw-ups on the Tory side, and people will look and say “Everything is good, and we are short changing (put special interest group here). We should be doing more for the (put special interest group here) by spending money on (put stupid scheme here), and vote the Tories out so we can move on to becoming the most enlightened peoples in the world, and share our enlighted ways with everyone”.
Sorry for the spelling. I’m doing several things at once, in the hopes that one of those things will achieve the greater good, and end world (place problem here)… Ha ha.
Actually, I should be fair. How to catch up really isn’t that simple. But it is certainly true that the fact that they even ask “how do we catch up?” is a part of the problem. It shows a lack of understanding of how like minds coalesce to form a group online. “Carrie’s” comment in Cerb’s post shows the left’s inability to handle criticism.
If I were to sit down and write a list of everything the left blogging community has done wrong, it would be huge!
Try a little humility and raising the debate above attacking conservatives personally. Most lefty blogs attack conservatives with the same old cliches without ever debating the substance of the issues. Name calling will never advance an agenda.
I think there are a number of factors:
-conservative bloggers are not mindlessly ideological;
-conservative bloggers have some respect for, and interest in, facts;
-conservative bloggers have a liking for intellectual inquiry and discussion;
-conservative bloggers have a wide range of interests;
-conservative bloggers have wit;
-conservative bloggers are even sometimes funny (h/t Kate);
-conservative bloggers do not result to foul language at the drop of a key;
-in other words, conservative bloggers are–comparatively speaking–well-rounded individuals.
Mark
Ottawa
Here’s my advice to liberal bloggers.
1. Every morning when you get up, you should look in the mirror and ask,
“Have I become a useful idiot yet?”
2. Get the Bonanno organized crime family to help you knock out a new strategy.
The main thing that amuses (and saddens) me about people like “old squid” is that they (1) immediately jump off the ship (assuming they were ever a passenger) when they come to the realization that every possible change promised isn’t fullly implemented within the first 3 weeks of the new government, and (2) they make stupid assertions bordering on conspiracy theories.
FerChrissakes, squid…who gives a rat’s ass what she did before her current appointment, as long as it was legal?? And who cares who she may be dating?? If her client got the contract, maybe that’s a sign that she is half-assed competent and deserves her new position. If there were irregularities in the way the Royal Lepage contract was managed, does that mean the she herself is complicit? And that my second-cousin who’s a realtor with the company is also involved?
In case you haven’t noticed, squid, Parliament isn’t yet in session…maybe you should wait another couple of months for Harper to complete his agenda and completely restructures government…better yet, post your mailing address and I’ll send you a free tinfoil hat…
Kate:
The Swift boat propaganda comment related to more than just a factoid of correctness. They went after his medals, his decision to enter into war and go into combat, etc. etc. I’m sure there was some elements of truth they uncovered. It was standard blogger fare writ large: mix a bit of truth with a bit of fiction, sautee it with some partisan personalities, add in a dash of hyperbole, raise the cash and let it run. Propaganda does not mean untruth: “Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions of people, rather than impartially providing information. In some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired a strong negative connotation.“*
My point was that there was not an effective response by centrist bloggers or left-leaning bloggers to Swiftboats or to income trust. When Democrats and Liberals try similar tactics, the conservative bloggers and commenters are right there right away on every issue in your face. Our side of the fence still treats it kind of as an interesting past-time for geeks and thereby allows conservatives to shape the online conventional wisdom and language.
Some good discussion here though. Thanks, folks. Although it behooves the partisan in me to point out that there are a lot of black pots here and even some commenters practicing the same kind of self-congratulatory arrogance it took Liberals 13 years to acquire. But none of it is taken personally by me and I hope you will find, if you visit Cerberus, a lot of fair and civil comment and discussion.
For me, liberal vs conservative blogging is partly about party politics and definitely about ideology, but it is also a bit about democracy. There are liberal-minded Canadians, your average Canadian families not your politicos, whose voices are, despite the cries of conservatives, simply not being voiced or heard either. And that is the power, energy and excitement of the internet in my view: a lot of direct democracy in action.
Feel free to come by and comment on our burgeoning discussion thread. All are welcome and you may even get a little surprise here or there.
Cheers.
Ted
Cerberus
William MacDonnel “I think the main reason is it is incomparably difficult to spend your time defending the indefensable, not too mention dishearting”
Ha! As the resident leftie I’d beg to differ with that. I’ll take you all on and I’ll have a great time doing it.
[on the left] “They just never really know what the end of the tunnel looks like”
Dude we are the tunnel. Yesterday’s leftie ideas are now mainstream culture that even you now take for granted.
Let’s get one thing straight. When I say I’m a leftie its only in the crudest sense. I’m a secular humanist. I’m not addicted to the idea of a big state. There are for example a few tools in the “right” box that we find useful. Sometimes we even steal them. We don’t carry what box the tool came from only that it works.
For example I’m for family choice for education. The state has a role in education, it should be providing resources not dictating curriculum. I’d go even further, I think students should be able to make their own decisions about what kind of education they’re are getting throughout their teenage years. Heck I don’t even care if they choose to opt into schools that choose to practice archaic religons and teach Intelligent Design.
Secular Humanism is ready to take on all comers. And you never know the real winner might be neither of us but the ninety pound transhumanists sitting quietly in the corner:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism
Simply put, there’s nothing at all the leftist bloggers can do to improve their readership.
Why? Because they cannot hope to one-up the leftist MSM monolith.
If the MSM was all conservative, then the situation between leftist and conservative bloggers would naturally be reversed.
We conbloggers fill a massive void left by the refusal of the MSM to be rational, truthful and relevant.
I doubt, however, if the existing MSM outlets can change their spots. Too much inertia.
In the long run, current leftist MSMers will find themselves increasingly having to deal with the advent of conservative MSM outlets. Yes, it’s possible and it’s coming… because there’s a demand for it (how else does one account for the popularity of news and views coming from perfect nobodies sitting around in pajamas or naked?)…
After all, who was it who yesterday was breaking the information that there’s a terrorist compound inside of Canada? Lots of conbloggers, very quickly following myself. Of course, the MSM is dead to the world; not a peep out of them save for FOX 5 NY.
BTW, thanks, Kate, for posting the same info. It brings the facts to a much larger audience. And the visitors to TCS! 🙂
How can liberal bloggers catch up?
Kate of Small Dead Animals links to a Liberal Blogger who wonders what their side can do to catch up with Tory Bloggers. According to the Liberal Blogger, the Tory Bloggers had more impact and a larger readership than any
1. As Kate says, the MSM is already left wing and has been for 50 years; therefore everything�s already been said publicly about socialism that can be said.
2. Conservatives champion individualism, Liberals champion the collective. Bullhorn, soapbox, groupthink of the MSM suits the collectivists. But interactive blogs are perfect for individualism.
3. Conservatives thrive on dissent and argument interacted on Blogs. Conservatives distrust the MSM. Liberals love to be told what they should be thinking from the MSM pundits and polls.
4. Liberals don�t have a philosophy to Blog about. They stand for nothing. They just do polls, to find out what the locus of opinion is at the moment, and then they use the MSM propaganda machine to reinforce it.
5. The Liberals and the MSM and Academia (ask Larry Summers at Harvard) are all Politically Correct. Conservatives are the antitheses of PC (to our detriment sometimes). Blogs are perfect for being anti-PC.
BTW, just because I criticize Liberals doesn�t mean I don�t �respect� them, some of my best friends are Liberals but I just wouldn�t want my sister to marry one of them … ;>)
Ted said, “The Swift boat propaganda comment related to more than just a factoid of correctness. They went after his medals, his decision to enter into war and go into combat, etc. etc.”
Ted I am a VietNam vet (as old-timers on this blog know if they were around during the 2004 campaign).
VietNam vets were acutely aware of the fact that Kerry’s claim to medals and heroism needed to be repudiated. When the Swift Boater made their case, it did not take those of us with experience 2 seconds to see the truth quite distinctly.
Regrettably, in ‘Nam it was not unusual for an officer to get in a Huey, fly over a hot zone on the way to his duty station, and then put himself in for a bronze star.
Kerry was in-country for such a short period of time that it is absurd to think that one lieutenant with a movie camera could walk out of the jungle with more medals than Sgt York and Audi Murphy combined. Pappa Boynton and Chesty Puller would have wondered where on earth they went wrong.
I won’t belabor this point any longer, but simply say it was easy to rouse veterans against Kerry because it was clear as sunlight to us.
Hey wait a second I just checked Technocrati’s ten most popular blogs
1. Boing Boing. lefty
4. Daily Kos. lefty
5. Huffington Post lefty
6. Thought Mechanics lefty
9 Michelle Malkin- in a twist about something
Those lefties have a lot of catching up to do!
Nomdenet: “Liberals don�t have a philosophy to Blog about. They stand for nothing. They just do polls, to find out what the locus of opinion is at the moment, and then they use the MSM propaganda machine to reinforce it.”
Absolutely correct!
Ted you have a long road ahead of you. although I can’t honestly say I’ve seen your site, if it is anything like your comments over here then you probably have a bit of a handle on it already. Unlike most left/lib/dem sites and commentors, you actually have some valid points and can put them across without swearing or drive-by trolling. most conservatives like myself tend to agree on most things but do not follow blindly without thinking it out first and making up our own mind. At the risk of sounding too fatherly, a lot of it is about growing up
BTW: Old Squid, patience my lad. You cannot change the inefficient juggerknot’s direction in 3 short weeks after it has been sailing full steam into oblivion for the last 12 years.
Jose, I’ve barely heard of half of those blogs and virtually never read them. Are they from “The United States Of America”? How relevant are they to our country and our blogsphere? I see you’re going on about Intelligent Design: is that even an issue in Canadian schools, or just a convenient bogeyman for American-obsessed Canadian Liberal bloggers who have nothing on Harper and the CPC?
You can’t polish a turd, nor can you sell a turd, and the Liberal Party (and more broadly The Left’s Agenda) is a turd. That, to me, is the biggest problem Liberal bloggers face, that they have to defend the indefensible.
Another question is talent. Sheila Copps wrote an insightful article in the Sun about how the culture of cutthroat politics in the Liberal party and an absence of morality pretty much excludes everyone but the Mike Klanders and the Scott Reids, two guys with few if any redeeming qualities if one is to judge by their public actions.
And the policies…ugh. Unambiguously bad, garbage. Based on lies, and a perverse self-loathing that assumes Canadians are a bunch of racist sexist bigots who need the courts to keep them in line and who love paying taxes.
You have to question the character of somebody who supports what many describe as a criminal orgainzation to begin with. Garbage in, garbage out.
I think “nomdenet” at 6.16 pm sums it up fairly well, for my 2 cents, I’d like to add that it’s one thing to spin a few stories in BIG media, quite another to spin so many small stories in small media, like “blog media”.
I had read some time ago, of the hundreds of small radio stations in the rural USA that don’t subscribe to the CNN, CBS, NY Times ect… way of thinking, that their shit just doesn’t fly down on the farm.
Maybe there’s a connection between small town radio, small town blog… ?
how often do you see me attacking any of you?
So when you scream about the evil left exactly who are you referring to?
I believe that Liberals will never get to the level of blogging that conservatives do because they truly believe that the fact they lost the election was a mistake that will be rectified soon and then they can get back to life as “it should be”. So they spend their blogging time trashing everything the conservatives do and warning that the conservatives will soon enough by out. It is like the school bully who got caught and suspended and knows that once he gets back into school, those that ratted on him will get it.
Conservatives on the other hand have – for the most part – discussions of ideas and happenings in the political world – good or bad. We are not afraid to be critical and in doing so present and are presented with varying opinions. Often it presents another point of view that provides food for thought.
The liberals on the other hand get most of their ideas and thoughts from the MSM and believe these sound bytes and headlines reflect the views of the majority of Canadians.
I watched Duffy today with David Akin and as did Jane last week – it was so painfully obvious that he was trying to point out any kind of shortcomings to the Harper government so far. Of course the NDP and Liberals jumped on board. If it weren’t for blogs like this one, we would be all alone in our impressions of the unfair slant that was provided. With Conservative blogs, we know that others think the same way and perhaps the MSM – should they decide to check – will take a lesson from these comments.
Liberals see nothing wrong with this and therefore will continue to rant about how unfair it was they lost and just wait till we are back in power………
Ananologue “I see you’re going on about Intelligent Design”
I’m not bothered by Intelligent Design. I was just stating that I’m willing to tolerate its presence in our education system if a student wanted to opt in to being educated on such a subject.
“You can’t polish a turd, nor can you sell a turd, and the Liberal Party (and more broadly The Left’s Agenda) is a turd.”
Hardly. Lefty blogs and alternative media vigorously attack Democrats, Liberals and Labour. The Right are the party faithful. You won’t find much divergence between Karl Rove’s spin and what’s coming out of people’s mouths over here.
The left is an unruly bunch of freethinkers who are all over the place and are just as likely to attack their own leaders as support them.
“I’ve barely heard of half of those blogs and virtually never read them. Are they from “The United States Of America”?
Or Canada yes. It’s a top ten most popular blogs as rated by most number of link in the past six months. I left out no. 10 http://www.beppegrillo.it/english.php also a big lefty because he happens to be Italian. I reckon most people here would prefer to ignore any political thought that emanates from Europe since they’re all Stalinist Robots incapable of thinking for themselves.
You guys are hosting some kind of Emperor-has-no-clothes victory party for your domination of the blogosphere. Well I hate to break it to you but the left dominates.
Not that I think an ideologies worth is measured strictly by the number of its adherents anyway.
Thought about Cerberus’s question as I shopped around my riding of Vancouver Center; a left of center riding that Svend could have won (hell, I would have voted for him but for the fact that I’m an American/Republican. I think most internet savvy conservatives know the answer but lack the ability/commication skills to convey it to liberals in a manner that would be understood. That said, I choose a riddle: liberal bloggers, riddle me why a disproportionate number of North American military and retired professional jocks are conservative. A genuinely correct answer will reveal that which you seek. Hint: if you could correctly answer the riddle, and I don’t think you can, you wouldn’t need to seek the answer. Can’t make it more clear than that. BTW, I’ve lived in Canada for over 40 years and most of my friends and family are liberal, socialist and communist
Texas Canuck,
I haven’t been patient for the 12 years we’ve been sailing around in the fog without radar.
I’m like the hungry buzzard, “Patience my ass, I’m gonna kill something”. Remember that one?
What I want killed is the government relocation contract.I want 66,000 Realtors who don’t have a Royal LePage business card to have a fair crack at getting government relocation business. Do we really think that sitting Michael Fortier in the Senate next to Senator Eyton, boss of Brascan, parent company to Royal LePage, is going to get that job done. Not likely. I don’t like the idea of Royal LePage’s number one lobbyist sitting smack dab in the middle of Harper’s office. James Moore is not going to risk his girlfriend’s job by doing anything about it,either. And by the time Fortier gets his office staffed, it’ll be election time again and we’re back with the same Liberal crap as we put up with for the past 12 years. I’m wondering if we didn’t exchange one cycle of corruption for another one of a different color.
Man (or woman) will always let you down, including PMSH. That’s a sure fact.
But it’s the general direction they’re going that’s important. So long as they list to the right, we’re okay.
It’s an incremental battle.
ol hoss,
You don’t go into any battle deliberately tieing the laces of your combat boots together. That’s what Harper has done four times now. Lace Fortier to lace Emmerson to lace Buckler to lace-Liberal-approved-judges. He’d better catch his balance before his caucus starts migrating to the NDP while it’s still legal to do so.
Jose: The post deals with a question raised by Cerberus, a progressive blogger. And McClueless, I just can’t count the number of times Kate has left an inane drive by smear on your blog.
I’m not a Tory, and I’ve tried reading Liberal blogs. Overall they suck (notable exception; Calgary Grit). So what are the differences? (Standby for gross generalizations)
1. Tory bloggers use less rhetoric. This will be news to lefties, but as a non-partisan observer, I assure you that Liberal blogs are long on rhetoric and short on facts
2. Tory bloggers do their homework. Take a look at Blue Blogging Soapbox and his list of Liberal scandals. It took time and energy to write. It caught on because he put in more work than the MSM would ever commit to such a project. Another example; Stephen Taylor’s research into political contributions by Saskatchewan judges took work. The revelations were stunning. Of course the judiciary are non partisan in Canada, so his point was lost on some people 🙂
3. Tory bloggers are less self centred. Look at Kate’s style. Pulls in a lot of news items and thread from across the internet, arranges the plate and adds a modest garnish of her own views. You don’t have to agree with her views, but note that there is no ranting or name calling. Say what you have to say and get off the stage.
4. Many Liberal bloggers will not permit comments from anyone who is not a blogger. That’s a bit like being invited to a pub and not being allowed to drink. Pointless.
5. If you want to deconstruct the policies of another party, do not resort to any argument that includes the phrases “Canadian Values”, “American Style” or “people don’t want this”. Prove your points, don’t state them.
Liberals are idiots, period. By the time there’s another election, just how many Liberals will be facing jail time?
Craig: This should go; dropping it into Mozilla works here.
Omitted the “1” at the end when pasting.
http://www.rapp.org/url/?CXFLCSD1
Actually he’s laced the Liberal’s combat boots together.
Just put it on the shelf and wait for the results;)
Like I was saying, the general direction is good.
From the Prime Minister’s Web Site (http://www.pm.gc.ca/)
Prime Minister reaffirms commitment to reducing patient wait times
February 21, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today reiterated the Government�s plan to negotiate a Patient Wait Times Guarantee with the provinces and in doing so commended the Quebec�s plan to ensure patients receive timely access to vital services.
Speaking of Quebec�s announcement that it will now provide public funds for private treatment, where needed, the Prime Minster noted, �We welcome this innovative approach as a starting point and it is our hope that the Government of Canada will be able to collaborate with all of its provincial and territorial government partners to develop a national Patient Wait Times Guarantee.�
Mirroring the Government of Canada�s approach, the Quebec proposal would allow those residents who cannot receive timely treatment in their own area to receive treatment in another jurisdiction or at a private clinic with costs being paid for by public insurance.
�Care must be there when Canadians need it � which is why a Patient�s Wait Times Guarantee will be one of the top priorities of this Government.�