Yesterday we were told that Michael Ignatieff won’t be apologizing for a photo-shopped image of Stephen Harper being assassinated appearing on the Liberal website, because it has ‘nothing to do with the Liberal leader’.
However this morning on Canada AM, Warren Kinsella signaled that the door may still be open to that possibility.
Tim Powers had mentioned that the PM had apologized for the pooping puffin and asked if Michael Ignatieff will also be issuing a personal apology on this latest controversy.
Kinsella responded, “Well he might. But I mean, it’s a fair point.. It was dumb, it was stupid, it was hideous and all those words that you used…”
Then Kinsella resorted to the old canard of the so-called ‘bullet hole’ pic is being thrown around. Jane Taber reports this morning that an explanation has been issued by the CPC on that one:
1. Paper holes not bullet holes. On CTV’s Canada AM this morning, Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella held up an image of former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion, which he says is surrounded by bullet holes. This image appears on the Conservative Party website.
Mr. Kinsella, in a debate with Tory strategist Tim Powers about political stunts, used this as an example of distasteful pranks. It was an attempt to counter the controversial image, which appeared as part of a contest on the Liberal Party website, of Stephen Harper’s head photoshopped over that of Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being shot by Jack Ruby. The Liberals have apologized for that doctored picture.
Meanwhile, the Tories immediately sent out emails this morning explaining the Dion/bullet hole picture. “Those are NOT bullet holes,” the Tory webmaster says. “There are simply paper holes and I can 100 per cent proof [sic] it.”
Conservative Party spokesman Michael White says the holes are “paper holes and the message was that Dion’s plan was full of holes.”
Well my thoughts on that one are that if a picture needs that much explanation then perhaps you shouldn’t run with it in the first place. But that point aside it seems to me that a heartfelt apology from the Leader of the Liberal Party is still in order.
It would help put the whole thing to rest and perhaps teach a thing or two to those ‘young kids’ as Warren calls them and their babysitters who have access to the official websites.
Oh and BTW Jane, when you say that “The Liberals have apologized for that doctored picture”, please keep in mind that we’ve only heard an apology from Michael Ignatieff’s minions.
We’re still waiting to hear from the man himself.
* * * *
Update:
Do not miss the animated debate between Steve Janke and Jeff Jedras on Breckenridge. Alberta Ardvark provides the access information.
Related: Silvio Berlusconi attack blamed on ‘campaign of hate’ – Guardian. Check out the photo. Sick.
Was Liberal photo contest gaffe a mistake? The Newsroom blog
* * * *
Evening Update:
The smoking gun has been proven to be a pencil. Check out Stephen Taylor - Liberal reaction full of holes.
* * * *
Thursday Update:
Liberal attack leaves Liberals wounded – Record
Stephen Harper assassinated by Jack Ruby - Arthur Weinreb, CFP:
…The Liberals were awarding prizes to the winners of the “Anywhere but Copenhagen” contest. The prizes consisted of a t-shirt and a mug. A t-shirt and a mug! Those that think that Liberals are nothing more than a bunch of bastards now know that they are a bunch of cheap ones too.
Zing!!!
Perhaps Iffy is not saying he’s sorry because he is no longer really the leader. He’s waiting for Bob to say he’s sorry. But Bob is too busy trying to “lighten Iffy’s load”.
“Well my thoughts on that one are that if a picture needs that much explanation then perhaps you shouldn’t’t run with it in the first place.”
It was never questionable, Joanne. Think hole punch holes and you’d be on the money. I saw it, never questioned it and GOT IT immediately.
Kinsella,if running with that suggestion would be simply doing what he always seems to do, divert, divert, divert.
Unacceptable, imo and we should not fall for it or feel that the CPC has ANYTHING to justify. It is simply another case of smoke and mirrors, period!
The success of our PM doesn’t hang on The Waffle’s apology. I actually think that the longer Iffy refrains from issuing an apology the better for the PM.
It really IS Christmas for Harper now…and has been every since the Puffin Pooped on Dion.
Well, Mr. Ignatieff is – Dead wrong! It has everything to do with the leader of the party. Who is in charge of this dysfunctional party?
You lose the game – They fire the coach. Standard operating procedure.
Get with it!
E.Mac – The Waffle has already LOST the game. Worse than that…he’s irrelevant to the very country he pretends to want to lead.
The longer Iffy stalls the better. It send everyone home for the holidays with the exact message the CPC war room loves.
You lose the game – They fire the coach.
Yes, somebody should be severely disciplined for this.
On several news shows Kinsella mentioned that the poor ‘kid’ who is responsible is probably ‘watching right now’. So we are supposed to feel sorry for this ‘kid’ who has the keys to the party’s official site and thought it was o.k. to allow an image of the Prime Minister of Canada being assassinated.
Who gave him the keys? And who is responsible for his insurance?
“Well my thoughts on that one are that if a picture needs that much explanation then perhaps you shouldn’t’t run with it in the first place.”
Those holes are the same size as Dion’s head, so if they are bullet holes, I guess that makes him a true pinhead. The only reason for an “explanation” was because the Liberals started calling them bullet holes.
So Ignatieff is still hiding behind the “poor kid who was responsible”. And you thought Dion was “Not a Leader”….
Those holes are the same size as Dion’s head, so if they are bullet holes, I guess that makes him a true pinhead.
Oh that was a beauty Jad.
“On several news shows Kinsella mentioned that the poor ‘kid’…….”
I can think of ONE that FREQUENTS the BT’s that has regularly implied the things that have occurred in the offensive photo-shop and others that were originally posted at that site.
He hero worships WK, quotes regularly and was the first name that came to mind for me.
Whoever it is, charge them!
I am so angry about this story and the fact that we tried to get attention directed to the web site, last week to no avail.
Come on… “if a picture needs that much explanation”? Seriously?
Firstly, the only way the holes in the Dion graphic of the Conservative website could have been bullet holes is if every individual hole (there were 5) was made by a completely different caliber gun.
Even then, if you look at the curls and shadows around the holes, it is crystal clear that they are holes in paper made by tearing the paper up. Bullet holes that look like that are made when a car is shot and the metal chips. When that happens, the metal doesn’t bend backwards around the chipped paint.
It was a stretch a year ago when the Dion bullet hole spin was brought up and it is still a stretch.
“Those holes are the same size as Dion’s head, so if they are bullet holes, I guess that makes him a true pinhead”
The liberals who are feigning outrage over the “bullet” holes in Dions picture should actually check out a target with bullet holes vs a paper with pencil holes – the evidence is self explanatory, but of course, that won’t stop them from making their stupid comparisons.
Did we expect the annointed leader to not have a double standard for his organization?
Is he loyal to the grassroots who did not elect him?
Is he loyal to the people who recrutied him?
Is he loyal to his inner circle?
He is loyal to himself and if he won’t be losing any sleep if the LPOC implodes under his leadership.
In twelve months he was leading As Best PM in December 2008 (Per honeymoon) and blew it through his refusal to hold any adult conversations and just repeat ad honimem attacks on the government throught divisive politics as directed from the War Room.
MI has improved 3 point to 15 in Dec 2009 stil behind Jack Layton at 29. Jack was at 10 Dec 2008.
Clearly Canada thinks Jack would be a much better leader leading the coaltion.
An election will clear that up for them.
Surecure – I was trying to remain as objective as possible when I wrote that.
But the whole shtick is classic Kinsella. ie. If you mess up, own up to it immediately and then try to divert attention. Well he’s doing the second part but the first part hasn’t been completed. Still waiting to hear from Iffy.
I give up. It’s been suggested that this photo along with many others that I would also suggest are offensive, have been up for all to see for a few weeks, it wasn’t even on this blog’s radar until the snowball started rolling.
Some of the comments and name-calling is really just as bad here as on some Lib. blogs.
it wasn’t even on this blog’s radar until the snowball started rolling.
There is only a finite amount of time that is available to me to blog. I have to pick & choose my topics. I’m sure that there are other blogs out there that are following the kinds of stories that you prefer, Richco.
Leave it to the Libranos to blame it on some “poor kid”. How old was the “kid”? Betting over 16 and not in need of full time supervision. It’s typical of the Liberals, no bar is too low.
Hell they won’t even take responsibility for Adscam.
Richco – what do you want from us.?
let’s put this photo of Dion with the black holes in paper to rest
go to istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-3526111-black-hole-in-paper.php
shows the difference between bullet hole and black hole
Ignatieff Liberals talking points change the channel
murdering the Prime Minister of Canada not acceptable
call the RCMP
find author of picture and who put it on Liberal web page
fh
Incitement to hate?
Incitement to assassination, aka murder?
Liberals Iffy, Kinsella, and the Liberal Party, et al, must be subjected to an RCMP investigation as to whether the Liberal Party has committed crimes.
…-
“Police stop man from reaching Berlusconi’s room
Police are questioning a young man with mental problems who managed to reach the Milan hospital floor where Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi is recovering from an attack.
A Milan anti-terrorism police official said the 26-year-old Turin man was apparently a supporter of Berlusconi who “wanted to pay a visit on the premier at 2 a.m.” on Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters.
The man was unarmed when he reached the floor of Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital where Berlusconi was recovering, the official said. A search of the man’s parked car found “hockey sticks and kitchen knives,” the official said, but the man apparently plays hockey.”
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/12/16/berlusconi-hospital-visitor.html
All I’m saying is that it feels like a piling-on over and above what’s necessary sometimes.
It’s my opinion which I thought was accepted here?
“I’m sure that there are other blogs out there that are following the kinds of stories that you prefer, Richco” – so much for being open to diverse opinion.
“What do you want from us?” – nothing. It just seems that for those offended by a “culture of hate” you can give it out in much the same way. Doe the bias and hate need recognition, yes, and I’m pretty sure it’s not escaping scrutiny by the PM’s suits.
Is it offensive to mock leader assassinations. Oh yes.
I’ve just had enough negative.
I actually visit here for the shreds of positive because the folks here do that very well.
Despite being the odd voice out – I would never turn anyone away because they thought differently.
Merry Christmas.
I’m pretty sure Iffy won’t apologize. Remember the death of the “ministerial responsibility” concept? I’m pretty sure the Waffle didn’t know about the contest, let alone about the photo, and he’d point out that since the photo was taken down and a half-assed apology was made by the web people, no further action would be required on *his* part.
I’ve argued that a far better strategy would be for both the photo creator and the web judge to be named, and named publicly; and after that, to show some appropriate disciplinary action.
The thing to remember is that an apology would send the signal that Iggy *should, but does not* have control over the internals of his party. And in the midst of reworking his leadership, that’s one message he can’t afford to send before the New Year and the restart of Parliament.
o/t
Rutherford @ 9am CHQR 770 MUST LISTEN!!! Cost of Copenhagen to Canadians has been calculated.
Re the TOPIC, when the news everyday is some sort of piling on of the government or individuals in the government, there are those of us that would like to discuss it and VENT our disbelief and possibly as a collective group, attempt to understand why and what we can do.
Richco, I’m not sure what your point is but it’s not just Joanne’s blog that you seem to be criticising but the commenter’s here too. I hope I am misreading things but it’s feeling rather like an attack.
Maybe Iffy didn’t think his media would take up the photo-gate issue,
and an ‘oops’ from the 15 year olds that run Lib.ca and Liblogs would be enough…?
I was offended by the cow photo, with the fine print saying he had no pants on.
But if you venture over to Liblogs often,
that is pretty much their mentality.
And I’m glad that the creepy side, which is pretty dominate over there, has been exposed.
Iffy, be a man. Apologize.
o/t
I see Canada is getting some enviro awards at Copenhagen…yes, strange but true.
Alberta gets 2
BC gets 1
Ontario gets 2
heh Quebec, 3 awards for Western Canada, where’s your award?
huh? Quebec, the enviro champions of Canada get no award?
Could be because you guys are all mouth and no action, eh!
With all that money we send yah, couldn’t you have at least won a recycle award, or something.
What an embarrassment…
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/canada/2009/12/16/12170156-sun.html
Despite being the odd voice out – I would never turn anyone away because they thought differently.
Richco, you are always welcome here. It’s just that you are going to be continually disappointed if you expect us to live up to your expectations.
o/t
Rutherford @ 9am CHQR 770 MUST LISTEN!!! Cost of Copenhagen to Canadians has been calculated.
Bec – Was that at the very beginning? I’ll check the archives later. Thanks.
Ignatieff and his party thinkers are too “big” to apologize. This whole exercise was to generate news. No news is bad news, and the lack of a coherent policy and absence of party leadership is glaring. “The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do.” B.F. Skinner 1904 -90.
“What do you want from us?” – nothing. It just seems that for those offended by a “culture of hate” you can give it out in much the same way. Doe the bias and hate need recognition, yes, and I’m pretty sure it’s not escaping scrutiny by the PM’s suits. ”
Richo…I am disappointeed that just because some don’t agree with you on this point, that you decide that you aren’t welcome here. Where did you ever get that impression?
And please tell me just where the “culture” of hate is on this blog. Trust me, I have been on the receiving end of the “culture of hate” dealt out by several well known names on the other side of the spectrum. Any display of frustration against the msm or the left wing politicos by anyone here cannot even be construed as “hate”.
My frustration comes from the fact that every time I watch the news or read a newspaper, the slant is to the left and any positive CPC news is quickly diffused with a but, or some other innuendo that leaves the news open to interpretation.
The fact that we conservatives can disagree with civility says that we are better than the immature, vile and disgusting comments on the other side. Try going over there and expressing your opinion.
I hope that you are commenting in frustration and will visit here again. Even though you seemingly think you are not being heard, you are providing food for thought.
Joanne @ 11:58 am
Yes and a full 1/2 hour. The phone call at the bottom of the session is very emotional.
In fact, so far, Copenhagen and the environment has been THE TOPIC.
ps
Help wanted……body double for the gym,grocery store, errand runner,bill payer needed, IMMEDIATELY. Wages, big bucks so that I can blog…. LOL!!
Help wanted……body double for the gym,grocery store, errand runner,bill payer needed, IMMEDIATELY. Wages, big bucks so that I can blog…. LOL!!
Oh I hear you on that one Bec!!
The fact that we conservatives can disagree with civility says that we are better than the immature, vile and disgusting comments on the other side. Try going over there and expressing your opinion.
I hope that you are commenting in frustration and will visit here again. Even though you seemingly think you are not being heard, you are providing food for thought.
That’s very nice AG and certainly reflects my thoughts as well. Merry Christmas to you and Richco and everyone else who joins us here.
That photoshop piece of crap was made by somebody that thought it would be just fine or even funny if the prime minister was shot . That same piece of crap was approved by somebody that agreed and thought it was close enough to liberal values to be a finalist in their heavy thinkers contest and posted it .
If our Liberal friends think we’re making too much about this, just imagine if the identical photo appeared on the CPC website, but with Iffy’s photo where the PM’s is. Would they still be so laid back about it all? Perhaps a few of them would be, but I doubt if too many would be.
As far as an apology from Iffy is concerned, I’m not going to hold my breath. For those who ask why he should apologize, I would refer them to the old maxim attributed to President Truman: “The buck stops here.”
A little smile came upon my face,
Steve V is the number one censor at Liblogs,
only delusional cheerleading allowed in Steves world:
oops
”Mala Fides said…
Hey Steve, you are calling me a troll?
I am a Liberal riding president and have campaigned for this party for the last 30 years.”
For those that want to change the channel, how about this:
Iggy and Donolo have cleaned house. What if someone is not happy with the cleaning. What if they decide that some people were let go, that shouldn’t have been fired. And what if some guy/gal has got their pink slip and is unhappy.
And what if, said person decided to get some revenge and post that pic, knowing the outrage it would cause. He/she would have to have knowledge of the mindset of the web crew.
What if this was a deliberate act with the intention to hurt the lib leader.
Hey, it worked.
What this pic does it make it impossible for the media to attack any ads we may run, as over the top, as the liberals have set the bar.
Why do the liberals want PMSH to recess the House, what are they afraid of.
And why did the committee call an emergency meeting, unless they were getting so much flack at home they needed an excuse to get away.
Poor “G” is losing badly at Angry, with 38 replies to one of her comments.
And an update on MP Rick Casson’s campaign to get 500 Tim Cards for the troops-the target is now 1000, due to the success. Congratulations to all his voters for supporting this. Did my part, with 20.00 worth for every member of my family. They are all thrilled with their gift.
Hey, if someone has to be coaxed and cajoled into apologizing, how sincere would that apology be? It’s already valueless.
[...] cold hard realities of what the environmentalists are trying to wring out of us in Copenhagen (H/T Bec). Please, please listen to the archives at CHQR. Click on Dec. 16 at 9 am. The interview starts [...]
Between this P R gaffe and body bags etc the LPC leaves themselves very little wiggle room to criticize anyone.
An apology from Ignatieff would be the right thing to do, though I wouldn’t hold my breath…the MSM is not going to run too hard with this and the Count hates having to grovel before the unwashed.
As for the Dion/pencil hole skit…a pencil being shown pushed through one of those holes would have clarified that nagging canard?…and yes Joanne I agree… any political cartoonist can tell us that the jibe is only as good as it is easily understood .
My final thought is that there is just too much juvinility (is that a word?… LOL!) in Ottawa for the kind of bucks these Hill folks get paid.
So Ottawa and MSN …get to work in the new year and impress us with your newfound purpose of doing your job ‘professionally.’
Liberal Iffy is a self-appointed acolyte/member of the Western intelligentsia*.
Iffy and his ilk always reply with the Soviet-communist No: Nyet.
“the book’s themes continue to resonate today, when murderous ideologies still compete for legitimacy and “enlightened” understanding by the Western intelligentsia.”
…-
“The Siren Call Of Tyranny
The hard-left former groupies of totalitarianism keep searching for new murderous ideologies to defend.
‘Last Exit to Utopia” was first published in France nearly a decade ago. It concerns itself primarily with the failure of much of the French left to come to grips with the collapse of communism and the exposure of its innumerable crimes. The events and debates under its review date mainly to the 1990s, and its author died in 2006.
Yet the book, at last available in English in this fine translation, ought to command close attention because it was written by Jean-François Revel, who—unlike such bien-pensant idols as Jean-Paul Sartre (an admirer of Stalin) and Michel Foucault (a cheerleader of the Ayatollah Khomeini)—deserves to be ranked as the pre-eminent French political philosopher of the second half of the 20th century. What’s more, the book’s themes continue to resonate today, when murderous ideologies still compete for legitimacy and “enlightened” understanding by the Western intelligentsia.
Revel’s great subject was totalitarianism, not just its practice but also its intellectual methods, deceits and disturbing psychological attractions. In books such as “The Totalitarian Temptation” (1976) and “How Democracies Perish” (1983), he dissected the mind-set of Western intellectuals who, living in democracies, found much to admire in gulag countries like the Soviet Union and Cuba and much to detest in free ones—the U.S. most of all.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240504574585881108040134.html
…-
“*The “intelligentsia”
Beginning about 1860, Russian culture was dominated by a group known as the “intelligentsia,” a word that English borrowed from Russian but which means something rather different in its original Russian usage. In the word’s narrow sense, the “intelligentsia” consisted of people who owed their primary allegiance not to their profession or class but to a group of men and women with whom they shared a common set of beliefs, including a fanatic faith in revolution, atheism, and materialism. They usually adopted a specific set of manners, customs, and sexual behaviour, primarily from their favourite book, Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s utopian novel Chto delat (1863; What Is to Be Done?). Although appallingly bad from a literary point of view, this novel, which also features a fake suicide, was probably the most widely read work of the 19th century.
Generally speaking, the intelligentsia insisted that literature be a form of socialist propaganda and rejected aesthetic criteria or apolitical works. In addition to Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, typical members of the intelligentsia came to include Lenin, Stalin, and other Bolsheviks who seized power in 1917. Thus it is not surprising that a gulf separated the writers from the intelligentsia. In an important anthology attacking the mentality of the intelligentsia, Vekhi (1909; Landmarks), the critic Mikhail Gershenzon observed that “an almost infallible gauge of the strengths of an artist’s genius is the extent of his hatred for the intelligentsia.” Typically, the writers objected to the intelligentsia’s intellectual intolerance, addiction to theory, and belief that morality was defined by utility to the revolution. Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Anton Chekhov were all sharply contemptuous of the intelligentsia.”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/513793/Russian-literature/29155/The-intelligentsia
I took Joanne’s comment about finding the type of stories I want elsewhere as an invitation to…well, go elsewhere.
AG – believe me. I wouldn’t check out because folks don’t agree with me I felt Joanne invited me to leave.
AG – I wrote incorrectly. My fear is that out of frustration evolves a “culture of hate” against the Liberal media and liberal support base, who get just as outraged over things as we do here.
We get into the same bad habits we criticize sometimes.
I get just as caught up sometimes and always, ALWAYS regret it afterwards.
There have been times when I’ve been directed to those biased writings not from media types but because blogs have featured them and discussed them almost to the point of saturation.
I’m not going anyway.
I’m always going to stand-up for those journalists (local, provincial and national) who are doing their jobs and doing them well. To be lumped as accomplices to some Liberal hate conspiracy is insulting.
well well lib bloggers don’t think murdering the Prime Minister of Canada is a big deal
I guess that says it all
people I talk to don’t think detainees should dominate the media
Ignatieff Liberal’s talking points Change the topic
fh
I took Joanne’s comment about finding the type of stories I want elsewhere as an invitation to…well, go elsewhere.
You are always welcome here, Richco. The only thing is that you may end up being frustrated by the discussion. But that is certainly your choice.
“I’m always going to stand-up for those journalists (local, provincial and national) who are doing their jobs and doing them well. To be lumped as accomplices to some Liberal hate conspiracy is insulting.”
They are few and far between and they need to start calling their peers out for some of the crap they publish/report – most of them have become over the top Liberal cheerleaders – to the point where they jump on anything and everything that is in anyway degrading to Stephen Harper…except if the Liberals do it – case in point – this assination story….how quickly did the majority jump on wafergate, or detainee gate or bathroom gate – yet this story is not getting the press with most of them poo-pooing the idea that it is anything to be concerned about – just a harmless prank by a young person.
Yet they are willing to take the word of one man Colvin, who obviously got his nose out of joint that he wasn’t being listened to, against many others who refute the claims and report it in hushed tones about how shocking it is and how scathing his latest report is.
We see report after report about how SH is destroying our international reputation, yet reports from overseas paint an entirely different picture. It should be front page news, it should lead the national news reports to instill national pride, yet they would rather focus on a percievied slight (instead of finding out if it really was a slight) or the fact that he was the last person to joing a photo op, or dragging on the did he or did he not slip a wafer into his pocket.
Who cares……I want to feel proud of my country and it seems that everytime I chance to watch the news or read a PPG reporters editorial, I end up feeling depressed and discouraged, not because of what has happened, but because of the way it was reported.
I get the feeling that you are close to the industry in some way – perhaps you need to encourage those who are doing a good job to start to buck the trend, to not just take the Canadian press stories at face value, but to actually find out both sides of the story.
Who cares……I want to feel proud of my country and it seems that everytime I chance to watch the news or read a PPG reporters editorial, I end up feeling depressed and discouraged, not because of what has happened, but because of the way it was reported.
I actually find a lot of these topics somewhat depressing although I feel they need to be covered in order to get the truth out – especially with respect to Copenhagen.
But after this week winds up, blogging will be light here while I try to focus on Christmas.
Wow!! Janke was explosive on the Breakenridge show!! Thanks for the link.
I suggest if we believe the murder photo of the Prime Minister of Canada was not a mistake
and I am convinced it was not a mistake then we have a serious criminal intent
very serious
fh
Re the paper holes, another example of the libs jumping, along with the media without doing any fact checking.
The RCMP should be brought in to investigate to get to the bottom of that insensitive posting and see really who was responsible for permitting it to be posted – somebody submitted the picture but someone in Liberal Offices approved it. It only come down because the media got on it and it backfired. Let’s have the RCMP do some interviews and see if it isn’t all about Kinsella himself.
To answer your question Joanne, No. I doubt Ignatieff can apologize until Donolo gives him the OK. The anointed one no longer runs things in the LPC.
Good point Ardvark. It’s hard for a mannequin to say anything on his own.