Your lying ears — and videotape — versus Elizabeth May’s stack of Bibles:
Steve Paikin: “I thought I heard you say you ‘fundamentally agree with that assessment.'”
Elizabeth May: “No. I know, it’s funny how it sounds, but I said ‘I fundamentally disagree with that assessment.'”
May goes on to explain that the thousands of people who heard clearly what she actually said, in the clip Paikin played for her just moments before, are, in fact, mistaken:
May: “What happened is, I do have a tendency to talk fairly quickly, and I can remember we taped the segment on the Monk Center and I…”
Paikin: “It was live, actually…”
May: “Yeah…oh, but I watched on TV later…”
Paikin: “Right. We did it live at eight o’clock, and then you watched it later at eleven.”
May: “Okay, so I watched it later at eleven to see how it was and I watched and I thought ‘Oh, what happened there?’ And I remember the beginning of when I’m talking the mic wasn’t on and then it came to me and it ended up raising the volume on one part of my sentence and somebody else said something so I was fundamentally disagreeing with that assessment but turning away so the way it all worked out — and I could swear on a stack of Bibles and if anyone watches it they can see, plus the audience at the time understood what I was saying — I was sitting next to John Duffy, and Andrew Coyne was down the other end, and you were there — and if I had ever said in front of a room full of anybody that I thought Canadians were stupid I don’t think that would have passed without comment, so people at the time and in the moment understood what I had just said, but with the lifting the quote out of context, the putting it on a blog site and alleging that I’d said that, it’s created a bit of a firestorm, but anyone who watched my speech at the launch of the campaign on Sunday morning knows that my firm and passionate commitment is to be of service to people in this country and convince them that democracy works…”
Watch — and listen to — the whole tap-dance. It’s highly instructive, particularly when she describes how, in 2006, she was “devastated” that Harper and Layton “chose to bring down the government of Canada.”
Can someone tell me at what time her statement is, so I’m spared the full interview?
Just listened to the original clip a half dozen times.
She said “agree” not disagree. Absolutely no question.
If she and her handlers had half a thought between them they could have SO easily spun this to have her mean that she agrees that politicians think we are stupid, but not her. Of course her chief of communications is not even capable of typing out a coherent sentence, so this line of arguement should come as little surprise.
By trying to say that she said something she absolutely did not say, she is only digging herself deeper.
We I looks like May has finally become a Liberal Politician…She can look into the camera and nothing but Bullsh$t comes out!!
She clearly said “disagree”. What are you? Stupid?
Lizzy.
No weed-ies before interviews…
Make sure your handlers pass that one left.
😀
My Husband and I both heard the statement on the Roy Green show today
She definitely said ” I think Canadians are stupid…. not They think…..
Anyone who heard differently just wants it to be differnt.
It’s too bad really. A stronger Green party means even more vote-splitting on the left. Which looks good on them. Really good on them. The best we could hope for is for the Greens, Liberals and Dippers to be in a statistical three-way tie for second place in the polls the day before the election. The whole “strategic voting” concept would be down the toilet.
“and convince them that democracy works…”
Yeah, thank God for that. Her rejection by the electorate will reassure me.
Wow, enter main stream politics and become a liar. I wonder when Dion is going to scream that she’s a liar.
Today on the Roy Green show, somebody mentioned that May said Canadians are stupid, and Roy knew nothing about this. After a few moments, his staff found the tape and he played it. A few minutes later, he said that his staff did more digging and the tape was a fake, and he apologized to Ms. May. A few minutes after that, he said there are always 2 sides to a story and he would talk about it more tomorrow and he would try to have Ms. May on tomorrow.
Again, it’s the blogs that are spreading the news. He has a national news show, there’s no excuse for him to not know about this story.
Off topic, but just imagine if somebody made the lipstick comment about her instead of Harper. We’d never hear the end of it.
Litigeous Liz has now threatened 2 lawsuits within a week,one because she wasn’t getting her freedom of speech rights in the debates,the second because she was caught demeaning Canadians and was trying to hide the truth and take away a Canadians free right to speech.
Canadians are a patient and forgiving bunch but Liz here in Canada if you threaten 3 strikes during an election campaign, you’re out.
Liz you have a lot to learn about being a Canadian,perhaps you should move back to the lawsuit obsessed US of A where I’m sure you will be a lot more comfortable suing anything that moves.
I believe that Roy will find out the tape was NOT a fake – as much as the Greens would like it. It surprised me that he didn’t know about it.
I think that TVO has put the correct tape out there and confirms that she did say I think….. I believe she has apologized to TVO and dropped her suit against the blogger.
I really hope Roy digs into this because if he has Lizzie on and asks her, she will deny, deny, deny and have things so twisted around that it is easier to just believe her than argue.
Memo to Ms May:
When you find yourself at the bottom of a deep hole – STOP DIGGING.
Of course being a pseudo Liberal mis-speaks are a big problem, real Liberals have the MSM to cover for them.
She should be glad that she didn’t make that alliance with Harper or the media would have her hanged, drawn and quartered by now.
Since May is so blatantly a Liberal, what is she going to do when it’s her turn to debate with Dion? Trade recipes with him?? Or do we just skip that part because they don’t have disagreements on anything? This is just too ridiculous.
She’s lying. It’s that simple.
The reality is that she said ‘agree’ and also, that she said that ‘I think Canadians are stupid’. Now – how does she get out of this?
1) Her..hem…director of communications writes an illiterate letter threatening to sue for slander and libel. He sends this to blogs that post the actual video clip and audio tape of her making those statements.
Now, he can’t, legally, make such threats; there’s no slander or libel in replaying a clip from a public TV show. But – he does.
2) Then, her..hem..director of communications informs blogs that TVO is ALSO intending to take legal action. Untrue.
3) Then, her..hem..director of communications informs us that the tape was ‘tampered with’. Untrue.
4) Then, Ms May informs us that..actually, there was no need for her..hem..director of communications to write his illiterate letters or threaten bloggers. No need. Why not? Because she never said it in the first place!
5) She sets up a red herring ..that she was ‘disagreeing with someone else..and there was a problem with the mike..and..
6) Then, she declares that she actually said ‘disagree’ rather than ‘agree. This is not only untrue, but..her ‘appeal to authority’ by ‘swearing on a stack of bibles..is fallacious.
7)Then, she’s on to yet another fallacious tactic, the ‘appeal ad populam’ where she informs us that anyone watching or listening to her knew what she said and meant. Actually, she’s right on that; she said ‘Canadians are stupid’.
8)And, phew, yet another fallacy..ad populam..that the audience understood her..
9)And finally, another red herring and also, an illogical statement, that IF she had actually said ‘Canadians are stupid’ THEN, others on the panel would have commented. Because they didn’t comment..she declares that proves she didn’t say it.
Sorry – you can’t link the two; that’s ‘shifting the proof’..and you can’t say that ‘it’s a truth that the others would have commented if she’d said that’.
And then, she moves on to her final point
10) where she cloaks herself in purity, and someone defines herself as having something to do with ‘democracy’.
My concern is her relationship with truth and accountability – both of which are foreign to her, and yet, are integral to ‘making democracy work’.
It’s like the old line every supervisor has wanted to put on an evaluation at least once,
“Member has hit bottom, continues to dig.”
Best thing to do when an idiot has dug themselves a hole that deep? Fill it with cement.
Barbara: “A few minutes later, he said that his staff did more digging and the tape was a fake…”
I suspect that’s why Paikin cut May off — he ain’t no monkey — when she said “I can remember we taped the segment..” He made a fine point of pointing out that her utterances were broadcast live. Since there are certainly people extant who would have taped the show as it was being broadcast live, May and her handlers and trainers are going to have to give up on the whole “faked tapes” gambit.
Elizabeth May is a flake.
Up until now I’ve always pictured her in my mind as a warthog. No offense to warthogs, though.
Now, I’ll just think of Ms. May as “The Weasel”. An advancement on “bald-faced liar”.
I’m not totally convinced that Ms. May is a liar. She is, however, stupid ….. remarkably stupid.
It is a sad commentary indeed on the Canadian political system when someone with the IQ of a common housefly is allowed to participate in a “leaders” debate.
Don’t be silly Kate.
Of course Elizabeth May didn’t have any intention of calling Canadians stupid. I’m no fan of Liz – I guess I don’t have a big enough imagination – but this is a non-starter.
She’s just a blathering, abrupt and unfocused day dreamer. Her mouth couldn’t keep up with the incoming calls and she strangled a thought. I really don’t think it’s anything more than that folks, so lets move on.
Mr. X – please tell us your data base that makes you so certain that Ms May not only had no intention of calling Canadians stupid..but that she didn’t say such a sentence.
All she has to do to deal with the issue is to declare that she misspoke and didn’t mean it.
Instead, she has, via her ‘director of communications’, threatened the freedom of speech of a number of Canadian citizens; then, told us that the tape was doctored thereby accusing some Canadians of malice. Then, she has made fallacious appeals – informing us that ‘the audience knew what she said’. But we, the audience, heard her very clearly.
Then, she’s told us, authoritatively, that ‘IF she had said it, THEN someone would have reacted at the time. Nope; that’s a non-sequitur.
If she believes in democracy, then we ought to see some acknowledgment on her part of OUR right to freedom of speech. She has so far denied it.
And some acknowledgment on her part of the value of truth and accountability. She has so far denied both values.
I have seen pretzels with less twisted contortions! As an excuse this has all the ear marks of the political equivalent of drooling. Its an insult that folks like her ,or even a Peggy Noonan. Now think we can trust them after the unintentional unveiling of their true opinions, by what passes long winded BS for denying it.
Just wondering why Duffy,Palkin and Coyne did let it pass at the time….where they in shock?Or did they think it was no prob?Maybe they had tuned her out.
For a person such a Ms. May, who was born in the USA in 1954 and lived there until 1972 and who continues to be an American citizen to this day, to say “ I think Canadians are stupid” is even more insulting and offensive than if a Canadian had said this. It is easy to tell she is American by the number of lawsuits she has threatened in the first week of the campaign. And now for an American such as Ms. May to deny and squirm and hide from the truth of this obvious blunder of a statement is a further statement of how quickly she will disappear in a democracy once the stupid Canadians cast their votes. So long and good riddance Ms. May. Don’t let the gate at the Canadian border hit your backside when you decide to move back to the US of A.
Not sure bluetech, but at the time, the only place I ever found it was over at loreweaver’s blog, Atheist Conservative. He has the whole annoying 2 or 3 minute long version.
Never saw it here or Stephen Taylor’s place or on any other blog on the Blogging Tories blog roll.
He re-upped it in light of the debate controversy and it seemed to take off this time.
This is Ms. [mistake} Elizabeth May, who cares what she says.
Mr. X, the point wasn’t about the I/they debate — although May redirected it to that in her answer — the point is that she denied, when questioned by Paikin, that she said “I fundamentally agree with that assessment” even though that’s clearly what she said.
The issue at this point isn’t what she meant, or even what she said, the point is her truly bizarre sense of entitlement do deny, on camera, what she said so very, very clearly in the clip Paikin showed her.
Listen to the clip Paikin replays for her and tell us that she didn’t say “agree.”
Maybe she can get away with the I/they denial because if you stand on a chair and hook your heel behind your head and jump up and down, you can hear “they” once in every twenty attempts, but there is absolutely, positively no doubt that she did NOT say “fundamentally DISagree,” as she — remarkably, unfathomably — claims.
That was the phrase Paikin asked her about. May deigned to tell the whole world that their own clear senses are inaccurate because she says so.
(BTW, it’s not Kate’s post, so Kate’s not being silly. Although, it’s Saturday night, so I can’t say for sure…)
I made a point of watching that TVO segment after having previously listened multiple times to the TVO on line segment. I could not believe it when she stared into the camera and said she did not make those statements. Steve Paikin even gave here a second chance to come clean and she again stated she did not say what the audio of that video shows she did. Unbelieveable. It’s a wonder, with Dions’s hearing problems, that Ellie May, with her speaking problems, ever struck a deal to hold each others hand.
Ad hominem alert: And she doesn’t even know enough to cover her big, fat, white legs. So unattractive and so unnecessary.
Presentation counts in politics. Talk about a pit bull wearing lipstick!
Let Canadians see and hear Miss Pigg–whoops! May–on the debate. Mixing my metaphors, unless they’re as stupid as she suggests–yes, she did–it won’t take them long to smell a rat.
(It’s hard to believe that this woman would actually belittle herself to the extent she did here. Even Steve Paikin, the lefty’s lefty, seemed taken aback.)
That’s Ok Ms. May. Canadians now think you’re stupid. We’re even.
Sounder, “NOW” think? 😉
EBD, I’ve appreciated your fine posts for some time. I’m delighted to see you’re a guest blogger. Welcome in that capacity!
May’s legs are entirely beside the point, lookout. May’s legs are no more relevant than Dion’s thin, blue, vascular legs, or Duceppe’s crossed toilet-sitting legs, or Layton’s stumpy bog-dwelling legs, or Stephen Harper’s mighty, muscular, threshold-crossing legs.
Thanks, lookout! It’s the product of years and years of twice-daily gifts, cards, flowers and phone calls.
Geez,
Back in the 19th century, being elite meant something.
Aye, it meant whacking beggars with a diamond-studded cane.
Good point EBD.
Thanks, EBD, for the laughs and the mental images “with legs”. Fun, fun, fun!
I have known many,many women, down through the years of my life, that are cut from the exact same cloth as Lizzy May.They have very big egoes and bigger mouths to go with them. Funny they all pretty much look the same as her also.I have learned to avoid them at all costs and never ,ever believe anything that comes from their mouths.I would advise the canadian electorate to do the same. Just one small question,if she is an American citizen and not a Canadian ,why is she even a leader of a Canadian party and why is she allowed a voice in our political debates?? Is this what this country has come to? We have a leader of a political party that belongs to two counties,France and Canada and a leader of a political party that is not even a Canadian citizen??
Bonjour Comrades!
And greetings from Canada’s Left Coast!! C’est moi who is the “Robert” in Vancouver who spilled the beans on Roy Green’s show. I feel very fortunate to be on that weekly panel and always read Kate’s blog and your comments in the 24 hours prior to the show.
Elizabeth May is clearly caught in a lie. She may not have meant that “all Canadians are stupid” but I have little doubt that she has similar views to Al Gore and David Suzuki, namely: “If you don’t agree that climate change is man-made then you are a Global Warming Denier!”
I absolutely detest that phrase, not only because I have a personal friend who is a Holocaust survivor, but because it is a cheap tactic employed by the radical left to silence all debate.
I won’t be on Roy Green’s show tomorrow but you better believe I’ll be listening closely.
For any who are not familiar with it, you can listen to it via http://cknw.com beginning at 11am PDT / 2pm EDT.
Hey Robert W.
Great job on the show today!
I was listening and couldn’t believe that Roy wasn’t up to date on this story.
Thanks for bringing it out in the open! I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s show to see how Lizzie is going to spin this!
I’ve just been searching the blogosphere and WOW the sh*t has really hit the fan. Perhaps the most telling comments can be found on Stephen Taylor’s blog: http://www.stephentaylor.ca/2008/09/green-party-wilts-tape-was-not-doctored/?disqus_reply=2335066#dsq-alerts
Cross-posted at the Shotgun last night:
What Eliza May wants us to believe is that she talks so fast we missed the “I fundamentally DIS-agree…”
HUH??????
Did ANYONE hear the “dis.”
Does this mean Ms. May is dissing us? Not so fast, young lady…
Re: … “Watch — and listen to — the whole tap-dance.” …
Scared me there EBD. My eyesight isn’t that great, and I read
lap-dance”.
In some cases, poor eyesight would be a blessing.
/\ Damn! Now I’ve got this horrible, horrible image in my head. I hope I don’t get nightmares.
It’s easy to say “oh, it was just a slip of the tongue and does not really think Canadians are stupid…hey, it happens to everyone at some point” and maybe that really is the case, or just getting caught up in the moment while trying to make a point. But…as usual…if it had of been a Conservative that said it it would be a top news story instead of basically being ignored by the msm.
Its enough to make a person want to sue someone and scream:
“MAY DAY!”
When voting,please remember what Danny Williams said,ABC,anything but carbon tax.
Fundamentally…..Fundamentally…Fundamentally….is the lizard channeling the ghost of Paul Martin?
Syncro
To ensure that Roy Green has all of the facts at hand when he talks with Elizabeth May tomorrow, I’ve carefully compiled everything here.
Well done, everyone, on ensuring that this story was kept alive and Stephen Taylor wasn’t bulldozed over. I have to wonder if the Liberals were in power and it had been Dion who had said such a thing if the pressure on Taylor would have been even greater. Just ruminating!
Not quite RatherGate but perhaps Canada’s own “AudioGate”!!
Good night and do join me in listening in to what will be some major fireworks tomorrow morning/afternoon!