Warren “Harry Potter Is not a documentary*” Kinsella sees dark spirits at work on the interweb;
“Viral campaign” is a phrase coined, approximately a decade ago, by New York City artist and designer Tim Nolan. A pioneer of what he called “guerrilla art,” Nolan used the Internet as a platform to spread stories, which spread like a computer virus. Nolan promoted his artistic installations using the Web’s social networks — e-mail, Web sites and so on — and created a rhetorical artistic “buzz.” Before long, the marketers were in on the act, promoting brand awareness; naturally, the political consultants weren’t far behind. In the U.S. 2006 mid-term election, we all read many news features about politicians making use of You Tube or the online “encyclopedia” called Wikipedia to promote themselves and denigrate their opponents. That is viral marketing: indirect, insidious, sometimes injurious.
The Stephane Dion dual citizenship story first appeared immediately after the conclusion of the Liberal leadership convention. My friend Ezra Levant, a long-time conservative (and Conservative) activist, revealed the “news.” Wrote he in the Calgary Sun: “When it comes to making decisions about the war on terror, and Canada’s role in Afghanistan, will Dion be unduly influenced by France, a country that has taken up the role of lawyer and arms dealer for every terrorist state in the world, even defending Saddam Hussein until the eve of his overthrow?”
It was vintage Ezra — lots of partisan bombast and hyperbole, but essentially harmless. In a sane world, it would have remained there, but then — inexplicably, abruptly[1]– another friend, Pierre Bourque, devoted the main page of his much-read Bourque Newswatch to Levant’s story. Day after day, Bourque ridiculed Dion, even on one occasion asking respondents to participate in an easily manipulated (and therefore completely unscientific) online “poll.” Conservative bloggers — most of whom couldn’t be counted upon to recite the lyrics of O Canada without professional help — then took up the refrain, regurgitating the anti- Dion talking points with glee.
At that point, the so-called mainstream media had no option but to cover the story, and force Dion to respond.
“Day after day” … until the “mainstream media had no option”.
Like so many experts in 20th century communications, Warren has yet to learn the first axiom of blogging – “Google is your friend”.
On September 6th, Dion’s French citizenship was discussed at some length in a Globe & Mail profile.
On October 11th – six weeks before the convention – Paul Knowles in the New Hamburg Independent wrote a piece that looked primarily at the flaws of Michael Ignatieff. Nearer the bottom, there’s a single line noting a Dion problem;
“Stéphane Dion – it has not been widely reported – holds dual Canadian and French citizenship.”
This was the source noted on October 13th, when it first appeared in the comments here at SDA, submitted by perennial commentor “Maz2”.
Over the next few weeks, Dion’s dual citizenship was mentioned in the comments often enough that most regular readers were well aware of it. As I wasn’t following the Liberal leadership very closely, it remained just a factoid I filed away.
Dec.2 – My first mention liveblogging the Liberal convention;
“The new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, and citizen of France… Mr. Anybody But”
So, that was probably the first post-convention blog mention. Truth be told, I just thought it was funny. I didn’t know it was a secret.
Ezra Levant’s Calgary Sun column appeared on Dec.4. I emailed Ezra this evening to ask if he remembered where he first heard about it;
I can’t recall where I first saw it. I heard the rumour somewhere, on the blogosphere I think, on the day he was chosen. I must have visited a dozen sites that day. I used the Google blog search to find a source, but couldn’t. So then I checked the Infomart archives, and found confirmation in an interview he did a few years ago with Montreal Gazette.
Kinsella misunderstands the nature of viruses — that they are natural. Uninteresting ideas don’t catch on, even if they’re forced, while hot news — or interesting revelations — spread spontaneously. This didn’t spread because of Tory black ops. It spread because it was startling news, and then it spread more because of how Dion mishandled it. And now it spreads further because of Kinsella.
Indeed.
By the time other blogs took the matter to their front page, talk radio and mainstream media already had the ball rolling. CBC reported it on the 5th, the Globe & Mail on December 6.
The rest is, as they say, revisionist history.
The Dion dual citizenship story followed no more “viral” a route to the public domain than any other political controversy. And in this case, the path turns out to be a lot more easily traced than the columns and “news” items that originate in the time-honoured journalistic tradition – between drinks (or bed sheets) with party operatives.
Footnote:
[1] The words “inexplictably, abruptly” are hinting at an allegation that appeared at eFrank.ca alleging that Pierre Bourque sells his headline services to whatever party hack is willing to pay the promotional fee. If the figures mentioned were true, someone takes his advertised traffic stats far too seriously.
anti- Bourque whisper campaign update – Why, it looks like TDH Strategies got the same email I did. Don’t you love the way these Liberals try to look as though they’ve just stumbled over these things on their own?
nomdenet:
You are correct about the trans nationalism issue. Wasn’t it PET’s son who recently suggested that nationalism is a parochial ‘small minded concept’.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061026/trudeau_nationalism_061026?s_name=&no_ads=
Justin Trudeau has weighed in on the Quebec political debate, calling nationalism a small, old idea “from the 19th century” that has no relevance today.
Nationalism “builds up barriers between peoples” and has “nothing to do with the Canada we should be building,” the eldest son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau said Thursday on Canada AM.
Therefore Canada as a political construct, a nation, is also ‘dead notion’? We should tear down the ‘maple leaf’ instead? The last of the iconoclasts.
Hence the title of the latest book on Trudeau “Citizen of the World”.
Well now that we have torn everything down, exactly what would one like to build. So we should swear allegiance to nothingness? Thank you for this intellectual cul de sac.
The Quebecois are a nation, so Parliament and most of LIEberaldom has informed us. There are some 640 First Nations in Canada. Thus we are a political nation of many nations it would appear.
As Justin Trudeau would have it, the Canadian identity is to have no identity. From obscurity into irrelevancy. Hardly a motivating force for a political entity known as Canada.
Sorry Concrete – I chose the last one instead of releasing all three. The use of words like v i a g r a and o n l i n e are certain to grab your comment.
Hans, I think that the revulsion by Europe against “nationalism” is what has screwed up the thinking on campus and on the MSM since the Wars. The intellects on the Champs-Élysées wrongly concluded that nationalism caused the Wars.
They were wrong. Fascism causes wars. Democratic countries do not attack each other.
I might get into trouble for saying this and I can’t really defend it with facts. But I also think the Jewish community decided to join the multi-cultis because they felt that nationalism had not worked out very well for them. Jewish people being industrial and articulate found their way into the MSM, Hollywood and on campus. They became successful and rich in America and thus you have the Sulzbergers running the New York Times as tranzies … just a hunch.
But the good news is that Blogs are circumventing the MSM and the NYTs is no longer the only news fit to print, we are democratizing the media.
So maybe we cam kill off duel –citizenship, mulit-cultis and their weapon political correctness. Then maybe Canada can become a real sovereign country again.
Concrete:
Canadian residents ARE required to pay tax on world-wide income.
Is there any significant difference in Canada’s democracy to the conflict of interest of elected officials having dual citizenship with a country like France or having dual citizenships with more nefarious cousins like Iran, Syria or North Korea? Should single citizenship be a requirement for proof of allegiance for those that are elected to serve in high public office? If a Canadian soldier dies under a PM with dual citizenship, what country did that soldier actually die for given his leader’s multiple allegiances?
Just up on latest musings.
Maybe WK is fleeing the ‘sinking ship’, with the rest of the rats. His was very strong words of the media estab.
ET,
“you are just a part of a virus, yourself – a knee-jerk anti-CPC virus.”
First of all I am not anti-CPC nor anti-conservative. If you were to read all my posts you would realize I am anti-paranoia, anti-nonsense whether liberal or conservative.
There is far too much paranoia on both sides of the fence which simply put is counter productive to good government. Paranoia is the real enemy and knows no political leaning. Making decisions based on fear has got this country in the mess it’s in today.
There is far too much rhetoric in these posts about ‘shoulds’ and ‘coulds’ clouded by massaged facts. Dions dual citizenship is one of these shoulds, as in, the PM of this country should have only one allegiance.
FYI, I will be voting CPC in the next election but will continue to slaughter sacred cows.
Thanks for the morning smile. Warren’s article made me laugh. I then found myself reminiscing about that moment when Paul Martin defended Belinda’s crossing as unrelated to the upcoming non-confidence motion and then to what must have been Martin’s most embarrassing moment ever, the press could not suppress their giggles.
The “kicking ass virus” is running its course and now he has the flu.
nomdenet:
http://cgibin.rcn.com/mwhite28/atrox.htm
The above weblink would put the lie to the proposition that nationalism/fascism was the cause of the Wars. Communism is still the all time champion killer, and not necessarily the European variety.
Systems of thought that propose exclusive and rigid conformity are the cause of a lot of grief.
This why PM Stephen Harper is correct in tackling the Senate issue as it is currently dominated by about 2/3 Liberals; which objectively for a democracy is extremely unhealthy. I don’t think you would get 2/3 Liberals in the Senate if you held a vote today. It would be just as lacking voter equity if it were 2/3 of any other party.
The Libs are just in a snit because its their ox getting gored.
As if an unelected Senate is some sort of ‘sacred cow’ in a democracy. PM Paul Martin would put up the Not Withstanding Clause in the Charter on a moments notice without thought or debate. But to suggest real democracy in a democracy is “Mon Dieu” unCanadian.
The attack on PM Stephen Harper, during the last election, was that he was ‘unfit for office’ according to LIEberaldom. The electorate disagreed. Moreover, it was to be the end of Canada as LIEberals knew it.
The Libs are now behind “citizen of France”, Dion because their strangle hold on legislation in the Senate is at issue. PM Stephen Harper adroitly exposes the undemocratic nature of the Senate and the Libs cry foul, knowing full well the voter debacle of ADSCAM will tow them under on this issue. PMSH has the Libs neatly boxed in, with no where to run or hide. How can you be against more democracy when the party has been indicted with voter fraud via Adscam?
The libs get some of their own medicine with “citizen of France” Dion, and get simultaneously hit on undemocratic activities via Senate reform back dropped by ADSCAM. If the Libs think PMSH is not a shrewd tactician, they will soon be tasting their further political reverses.
What goes around, comes around.
Funny, how that happens isn’t it?
WK master of spin for Chretien, has a whirl on the turntable himself. Let us know when the dizzyness stops. Merry Christmas WK!
I am eligible for Russian citizenship as my parents were born there. I do not have dual citizenship as I have not applied for it and filled out the necessary paperwork. Dion did Apply and was granted his French citizenship. I hope Harper eliminates dual citizenship, one reason he could use, is that if Arar did not have dual citizenship the Americans would have sent him back to his country of citizenship, be that Syria or Canada, and we would not be seeing his name every day in the news, or having to give him millions of out tax dollars to settle his suit.
Bruce, how long does it take to establish residency? I think it is six months and one day in a taxation year. Also the key bit is that all citizens should be taxable. Canada seems to have an overabundance of people abroad who are carrying a Canadian passport and it is in becoming a -passport of convenience- for many, only to be used when Canadas’ services can benefit them.
That shot by Kinsella about Conservative bloggers being unable to recite the words of O Canada grinds me: where I work, I’m the only “out” conservative, and not only do I know the original and revised words of the first verse, but I can recite most of the second and third as well. I can also explain the heraldic significance of the Maple Leaf flag, and the differences between the 1922 and 1953 Red Ensigns. The liberal types I know, the supposed “real” Canadians, don’t know and don’t care about that sort of thing.
Leftists have created their own ‘ummah’. Your citizenship doesn’t matter, only your trans-national, hard left ‘religious’ affiliation does.
Kinsella took the bait.
So did the MSM. I think that’s great. Both the accusers and the defenders will keep this thing top of mind through the next election. It’s a sound bite with fangs.
I’m fond of the term – the French citizen surrender monkey.
It’s a bit redundant. But it’s a simple (and historically accurate) reminder that everybody can acknowledge if not agree with. Especially given his position on Afghanistan (and more so, ie: pro Palestinian, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. – collaborators like the Vichy regime? Heh).
He’s caught in a trap. Even if he agrees with Ignatieff and unites the Liberals behind the Conservative position, he’s still doomed.
David Brown:
“I will be voting CPC in the next election.”
Your first publicly admitted conversion, Kate.
——————–
Dion’s Vichy Liberal regime.
“Dion’s Vichy Liberal regime.”
Irwin, truly classic irony; given that Bill Graham recently tossed out the Nazi slur at Conservatives, whilst all the “anti-Zionists” were slagging Bob Rae’s wife for being Jewish.
Concrete:
You are a “deemed” resident of Canada, regardless of your citizenship if you stay here for more than 183 days in a year. But it gets more complicated for Canadians earning money abroad. RevCan takes into account factors such as if you own a home here while abroad, if your spouse stays here, if you maintain a Cdn drivers’ licence etc. From my understanding often a ruling based on your individual circumstances from CRA is required (not a happy prospect). Most of my acquaintances who have worked abroad for extended terms have simply assumed that they were not residents and did not pay taxes, but to my knowledge, none of them were audited, so I dodn’t know if they were right or not.
By the way Kate, this link has been posted over at NationalNewsWatch (the gopher still looks dead, though)
Soccermom said: “The Liberal party and their minions, over the years, have successfully hypnotized and dumbed down the Canadian electorate so much so that the Liberal party could run a squirrel for PM and people would vote for it. Sad but true”
I’m glad to see that not all commenters here suffer from the delusion that the CPC will bury the Liberals. Myself, I don’t really know.
“…the Liberal party could run a squirrel for PM and people would vote for it…”
Not a bad analogy, given that squirrels are often described as being “rodents with great press agents”.
Kinsella seems to be taking his last gasps as a spin doctor… can hardly deal with the fact that he no longer has a monopoly on spinning. Poor Wornout Kinsella. At least he seems happy with his new hair transplant, seeing as he got rid of the stupid baseball cap.
(Yo, Warren, baby, maybe ya should focus on “Poop from Heck” or whatever ya call it and leave the spinning to those who can do it effectively…)
And I just love watching Kate keep on yanking down Wornout’s pants in public with her pointing out how fullacrap he is, like the thing with the hits/visits differences in website stats and now this. It’s just like Ann Coulter’s exposing the moonbat Al Franken as fullacrap in his own accusations against her… yep… Kate’s numero uno! 🙂
For the record, before Wornout wrote his NP piece, I did the following post wrt Dion’s being a Frenchy and having been a separatist… there’s a cool pic of a cheese-eating surrender monkey with a beret worth stealing, too:
http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2006/12/new-lib-leader-swore-loyalty-to-france.html
Oh, yeah… I’m ripping into Stephanie… oops! Stephane Dion… just as hard as I ripped into Mr. Dithers last election… whenever he BSes, I’ll have something to say about it, so keep an eye on the Sentinel. 😉
This is way better than yelling at the TV!
isnt stephane dion now officially from three nations. Canaduh, Kweebek and Franse?
Great Post Kate.
Warren is just sticking up for his boy. But it really irked me when he said most conservative bloggers can’t recite the Canadian Anthem.
This is what I can’t stand about liberals, they think that only they are Canadian and the rest of the people who don’t buy into “Government should take care of everything” are well, scary.
Anyway great post Kate keep up the good work.
“the Liberal party could run a squirrel for PM and people would vote for.”
Instead, they’ve opted for a surrender monkey.
Ya, the Liberals really care about Canada, they’re so patriotic and sing the National Anthem with gusto at every chance at the same time they sold all we were built on down the river.
The nerve of apologist Kinsella knows no bounds or reason.
To say the Liberals are by some miracle united after choosing Chretien’s air freshener, Dion, is nothing but pure stinking bullshit.
You clowns are the only people who give a shit.
To David Hand who was asking for a bit of background on Harper and Manning being the real authors of the clarity act.
Here are two links to Hansard.
Keep a mental note of the dates and what Harper says about how the Liberals almost handed the separatists a victory.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?pub=hansard&mee=93&parl=35&ses=2&language=E
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?pub=hansard&mee=93&parl=35&ses=2&language=E
Don’t worry Dumbfuck, Kinsella gives a shit, and the majority will as well come the next election.
BTW, appropriate moniker, couldn’t have chosen a better one for yourself.
Concrete, I think you’re reacting to the fact that Canadian taxation is dependant on residency not citizenship. In other words a Canadian citizen who is not resident in Canada does not pay Canadian income tax on non-Canadian income. I understand the US system is different in that there is an element of taxation for non-resident US citizens. I agree with you on a philosophical basis, that the Canadian passport bestows a privilege on the holder that should be attached to some reciprocal responsibility.
Crabgrass said: “I’m glad to see that not all commenters here suffer from the delusion that the CPC will bury the Liberals. Myself, I don’t really know.”
I have the same creepy feeling stemming from the fact that liberalism is an easy-sell to lazy brains because it’s the path of least resistance. When otherwise good people are faced with the effort of being accountable for something, they will often instead choose the specious tenets of the lying, power-hungry sleaze that form the foundation of the LPC. How do we overcome this factor of human nature?
I enjoy reading both Warren Kinsella’s and Paul Wells blogs. They were both praising Dion as the great future leader prior to the leadership convention. Post-convention comments from these journalists are a bit heavy on the sugar, as both, especially Wells, are somewhat self-congratulatory.
While not in a conflict-of interest, I do believe that Wells and Kinsella must remove their rose coloured glasses. If they continue to do P.R. for Dion they will begin to lose their readership.
Kinsella should know… he’s always saying he wrote the book!
As for American taxation of non-resident US citizens. You only BEGIN to pay ‘offshore’ taxes AFTER the first 70K…. but ya still gotta file every year!
Well done Kate, Kinsella is no match for informed bloggers. His comments only cement in my mind how “holier than thou” these fiberals can be. What unmitigated gall. His remarks re. The National Anthem are totally inappropriate, and he should be taken to task on it. As to dual nationality, I have the right to dual nationality but I choose not to have two passports. I travel on a Canadian passport even when I visit the country of my birth. Dion should give up the French passport immediatly, I think it is a snobish thing and once again “holier than thou”, this time against the French people of Quebec…
Kinsella has one big problem- he was working for the Adscam crew. In the end, it really makes him no different than a run-of-the-mill Mob lawyer. Sure, he didn’t do the dirty deeds, and he didn’t have first hand knowledge of the on-going racketeering scheme, but he has chosen to remain loyal to those who were in it up to their elbows. And, given that he is a lawyer, he can’t plead ignorance to the fact that it was racketeering. Just because there are no actual racketeering references in Caadian law, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
WK is a lawyer(we know what they do best).
When will the “Shit From Hell” hit the fan on this?
80 posts and counting Kate…..
Noticed the link from NationalNewsWatch, Yaoza!
I heard Kinsella yesterday on Adler and stood in awe of the crapulence.
I guess we can expect another “daisy chain” as far as communications go…..
Punk.
Syncro
Is Warren picking up the soap for Stephanie?
I suspect that Warren Kinsella speaks to a lot of swing voters. Ignore his music and save your eardrums. Ignore his sentiments and suffer politically at the next election.
Warren is a smart man. But actions arent always what they appear to be.
Yes he is supporting Dion…notice his latest…worrying about who took the picture of Dion jaywalking…..who cares
Other than Warren making it public is his way of warning them off.
1) Harmless tactics
2) Anyone who is silly enough to get caught on this standard campaign is an idiot
3) Anyone who backs off based on WK’s warning isnt worth their salt as political operative.
Now, WK doing this is a sign, which he has admitted, that he CPC war room is in operation and being successful.
Warren is trying to protect his charge, as apparently contradictory as it may appear.
As always, never get off their throat once you are on it.
We are supposed to accept the following, according to WK (and his fellow Chretienites):
– Dion is really a great guy
– his dual citizenship is not an issue, just evidence of a conservative “virus”
– he was a really great environment minister, except that he did nothing, then he was only in the job for less than a year
– Cdns are excited about this new leader
– he was Lib’s first choice, except that he was fourth going into convention; no contradiction here.
– he wrote the clarity act, without any help
– CPC didn’t actually “win” the last election, because they only got 37% of the vote. Only Lieberals are allowed to claim victory with less than 40% of the vote, don’t you know.
When WK waved the barney doll, proving he was an anti-religious bigot, he proved that dinosaurs did indeed roam the earth the same time as man.
Got news for you Warren, the electorate will decide Libs/Dion’s fate, and if his dual citizenship is an issue.
Bruce, there is a huge difference in being required to pay cdn taxes on world income, and filing and paying them. Big shock comes when they discover that their US income must be converted to cdn funds, especially when the exchange rate was around 30%. Then you have the US companies issuing cdn T4’s with the exchange rate factored in, only to have rev canada do it again. Takes months to get it straighted out.
glasnost asks: “When otherwise good people are faced with the effort of being accountable for something, they will often instead choose the specious tenets of the lying, power-hungry sleaze that form the foundation of the LPC. How do we overcome this factor of human nature?’
Pray.
And listen to Friday Night Blues and Beer at Dust My Broom.
A guitar player locked his keys in the car.
It took him an hour to get the bass player out.
At an old salon on a street of faux stags
There at a table dealing brown bags
Sat the dirty mangy dog that named me Sue
Bernie,
LOL….very good.
I sent Warren an e-mail asking him how he would feel if Stephen Harper was a duel citizen of Canada and the United States. I also mentioned that I was offended that Dion could not speak English nor be understood by the majority of English speaking Canadians. He came back with “so you take exception to his heavy accent”?No answer to my question soooo I just had to e-mail him again with the question of citizenship. To date have no reply back from the man of “great intelligence”, speaks volumnes doesn’t it?
http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/
Kate: This is being covered today on National News Watch – SDA Beautiful!
Soon it will be mandatory for all cdns to show a passport to fly into or out of the USA. Wonder how many immigrants of muslim origin will get a cdn one, not a syrian, lebenese, or whatever country of convenience they are from. Use a cdn passport just once, lose you right to dual citizenship. And, why would Arar want to travel thru or over the US ever again, unless he has been lying to all of us suckers for years.
Just so everyone is clear, Dion received his citizenship when he was a minor, i.e. his parents applied for him.
Anyways, who needs facts or perspective. Why believe a man who faces endless scorn in his own province for his defense of Canada is loyal to Canada when you can point to the fact that his mother applied for citizenship for him.
It’s just so small and petty.
Peter Loewen
I’m not blaming him for getting it. That’s what was done then.
This is now.
Duel citizenship symbolizes multiculturalism.
Multiculturalism does not work. Even Tony Blair and the Labour Party “get it”.
Being a PM of Canada and carrying the citizenship of France is unacceptable. We’re tired of being Hotel Canada. We do not want to be “citizens of the world”. We think being hyphenated Canadians is no longer acceptable.
A PM carrying 2 citizenships is not going to go down well with voters. But since I’m a Conservative, I hope Dion holds the same “perspective” as you do and let the chips fall where they may on election day.
Yeah, Dion is nothing like people who hold Canadian citizenship as a convenience. Sorry.
But, if you want to base a campaign on slandering the patriotism of a man who has defended Canada every minute he’s been in public life, fine. We I you I wouldn’t be too keen were on comparing the records of Harper and Dion in the defense of Canada over the last 10 years.
No I’m not slandering his patriotism, I’m question his judgment and ability to change with the times. Now that cultural relativism is clearly deemed to be a mistake by a growing portion of our population; even new immigrants are against it.
We’ll be basing the campaign on Dion’s inability to be nuanced (I used to think that was a natural state of mind for Liberals) enough to recognize that his duel citizenship is symbolically sending the signal that he doesn’t agree with or understand how the world has changed post 9/11. That change is most eloquently articulated by Blair, a Labour PM no less, when he talked about the need for “integration or leave”.
Canada needs to grow up. It is not a colony of Britain or France or the USA. We need to start defining ourselves much more clearly. But having a duel citizen Leader of the Loyal Opposition symbolizes that we’re still living in the past.
You silly silly bigots.
Any lynchings lately? Torture an Arab for Christ? Or is that tomorrow that you freaks of nature do that?