The More (Desperate) Con Punditry, The Better

Spector & Co. are doing non-Cons a huge favour with their increasingly incoherent scribblings. It's one thing to talk rot on TV, where sound & images can sometimes subdue the public's critical faculties, radio too, sometimes, but in print? False premises, straw men & wonky conclusions? They should remember that the average Canadian is far more literate & educated than his American equivalent, as we never suffered from Reagan's kneecapping of public education & its follow-on effects, well, at least not directly, as obviously we have lived with the effects on American society & politics for a couple of decades. In addition, newspaper & magazine readers, not to mention subscribers, are probably the best educated & most politically-aware of Canadians. So when you serve up nonsense, expect to suffer the consequences. The consequent letters exposing & destroying the shoddy thinking & writing are the least of it, although the recent Bliss example is instructive. No, what is really damaging is the message the readers get: desperation & lack of rationality. This is all that is left? Mindless fear & anger? As I say, it might work on TV, but not in print. And it's doubly damaging as this readership tends to be older, boomers & seniors, and thus represents a majority of the population AND THE MOST LIKELY TO VOTE. And massively pro-Obama Canadians, given American media influence, are only too aware of how much this tosh resembles that served up by mad, Tea-Partiers, birthers, & all those crazies. So such commentary does yet another favour, as it associates its targets, be they Ignatieff, Layton, Duceppe or May, or their parties, with Obama & the Democrats, and the Cons with the crazies. There's a lot of material with which to legitimately criticise all four Opposition leaders & parties, but this stuff just plays into their hands. Iggy can now say mockingly, when asked about out of country question, "do they want to see my birth certificate?", and everyone will get the reference.

Ivison was cannier at beginning, when he tried to throw pursuers off Colvin-torture scent by claiming to give helpful advice to Opposition that they should forget all this torture & democracy stuff, and focus on HST, etc.. Nice try, buddy. But misdirection is a better bet than this nonsense. Which brings up yet another reason its counterproductive: it's insulting. Sure we all know or suspect certain commentators biases, but to spin so hysterically, so BADLY: it's insulting. Who do they take us for? It makes public feel, and remember Canada's worldwide high stats on post-secondary education (at least one year), that the commentators are diminishing their hard-fought educational & status achievements. The crazy Con apologists are running the public down, insulting them.

It's just yet another sign, if one was needed, how desperate the Cons have become. I've always thought that the lead is given from the top and it's been clear for a while that "Take a Punch Steve" really couldn't, not even a mean glare. And once you've punched through the various facades of faux-tough rationality the Cons have thrown up, as CAPP & the Opposition seem to have done, there is nothing left but the flabby soft gut, politically speaking of course, of their leader & party. It was obvious enough from the last debates, when Dion wiped the floor with him in both official languages (and the others too, of course, but not as badly).

I understand Spector's attempt. He must be very frustrated, he gave Harper good advcice to save himself through an inquiry, let Khadr in, etc.. And he's been ignored. So this tosh is all he can muster. Sad. But may also illustrate why Mulroney had such a rotten second term.

So if I might, please, pretty please, Con apologists, keep writing your hysterical, silly, counterproductive pieces. They are awesome. The more, the longer, the better. Thank you, EFL & a large majority of Canadians.