Look Warren I’m no fan of this government and the allegations that have come out since last week are troubling to say the least but everybody has to simmer down. We can’t just go demanding that MPs resign because of this – yet. There is something to be said with letting this fraud reveal itself brush stroke by brush stroke. I was watching QP today and the righteous indignation is getting too much.
This poster reminded me of the sex-ed scene in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life:
“What’s wrong with a kiss, boy? Hmm? Why not start her off with a nice kiss? … You don’t have to go leaping straight for the clitoris like a bull at a gate. Give her a kiss, boy.”
Similarly, what’s wrong with letting the Conservatives choke on their own lies a while longer? Why can’t we trust the public to build up their own disgust with this government without the screeching and the histrionics? Indeed why must we stampede straight to demands for a public inquiry and the nullification of an election?
Simmahdowna yourself……I think its time people did, ahem, rise up…..and say to Harper and his cabal…..enough of this crap*……..
Since youre quoting movies…..Hows about……”were mad as hell, and were not going to take it anymore!”………..
For too long John/Jane Q Public has been sitting idly by while Harper’s cabal crams THEIR agenda down our throats……the Canadian public(save perhaps Gordon Tulk and a few others) has had enough….and I hope the multitudes turn out on Monday to give the govt an earful……
Yeah well the Canadian public had this shit crammed down their throats prior to the 2011 election, gave Harper a majority, made the NDP the Official Opposition and pretty much told the Liberal Party to go fuck itself.
By the way on the last of Tory dirty tricks is the persona non gratification (if you will) of Brian Mulroney. I mean really is that a dirty trick. Here you have a former prime minister accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in envelopes from a lobbyist Tony Soprano style. Why woudn’t Harper declare him off limits? That’s just smart.
As for the reference to Nixon, again things simmered for a while. Its not like people were demanding Nixon’s resignation 2 weeks after the Watergate burglary.
You are SO right AP. The opposition side of the House is looking like they are hysterically over-the-top losing it, while the Governing side is looking calmly in control.
OK, this may have been answered elsewhere, but I am potentially going to show my ignorance and ask anyway. How does a phone call, directing you to the wrong polling station, prevent you from voting? At least where I live (Winnipeg), if you show up at a different polling station, you are free to vote – provided you sign an oath attesting to you who are, and you show ID.
So, again, if I am someone who was robo-called and I went to the wrong polling station, one of two things is going to happen. First, and most likely, I will just drive to the correct polling station. Most of them within a riding are only a mile or two apart. Second, if I don’t feel like driving, the friendly Deputy Returning Officer is going to advise me of my right to vote in the polling station I am currently at. In either case, I still vote.
Therefore, I’m not sure how this robo-call “scandal” automatically equates to bad election results.
The point many people who received those calls make is that because of the distance involved in getting to the “new'”station, they didn’t bother voting at all.
b) it’s illegal in a way that shows contempt for the electorate
c) the misdirection was to non polling stations, i.e., nowhere.
d) after having been fucked around by someone you think is a public authority, you are apt to just say ‘to hell with them all’ and go cry in a beer. Or two. Or three.
It’s the attempt to suppress the vote that is the crime. It doesn’t have to be successful. We had a cute one today surface in my riding of Saanich and the islands. Someone on Pender Island was told they had to go to Saanich in order to vote.
Some were sent to addresses that didn’t even have polling stations. Some were sent to non-existent addresses – one media report said it was to the middle of a lake.
They were directed to places that were far from their homes with no parking but more importantly with NO polling station, that’s the fraud part. Many people have to vote around their busy work and parenting schedules and once they’ve wasted a couple of hours on a wild goose chase there is no time left for them to vote.
Is it a fool that wants to exercise their democratic right as a moral agent in a political community as advanced as Canada? I suspect it is the very same ‘fool’ that responded to the voter card sent out by Elections Canada which indicated their polling station location.
Firstly, I believe this will play out exactly as Warren predicts.
Harper should never have assertively claimed that it wasn’t Tories behind this. He doesn’t know that for sure. That clip will run endlessly every time the cops tear apart a CPC office. Instead he should have kept to the “let the authorities do their job” stuff.
Tom Flanagan looked a lot more nervous than usual on TV today.
Libs / NDP need to have winning M.P.s going on TV and only winning M.P.s… The drama of this story can easily turn into sour grapes stuff.
Libs / NDP need to show that this is more than a prank call story. I believe their side of it, but the evidence is far to flimsy and anecdotal at this stage. We need a “Fifth Estate” style interview telling us about heated exchanges b/t recognized Tories and company staff. That tape of the call is a great step in the right direction.
This has the potential to be worse than “Cadscam” b/c it’s not so theatrical to be unbelievable. It’s worse than “in and out”, b/c it’s not inside baseball accounting. This is fairly simple stuff that will get people thinking about EVERY Tory phone call, EVERY Tory mailout. Its going to hurt their base.
I’d support the rally on the hill, but my gut tells me its going to be the same hundred people who always turn out when someone says something bad about the CBC / UN / Environment.
Steve T,
My understanding is that the robocalls directed people to locations where there was no poll at all. These locations were sufficiently far from real polling stations that it would be difficult to go back, especially for those traveling by bus.
There was another type of robocall that was common in my area of Winnipeg to serve as voter suppression, and that was the actual smear of the candidate who was closest to beating the Conservative incumbent. Yes, false statements were made against another (non Conservative) candidate, and that is in violation of section 91 of the Elections Act.
If I didn’t live 5000 miles away I’d be there too.
Didn’t Doug Finlay get off on a plea bargain. Isn’t that the same thing as being guilty.
‘In our country the lie has become not just a moral category, but a pillar of the state.’
Solzhenitzyn
The many kinds of lies
Part truths or lies of omission or holding back relevant information, where the liar leaves out key elements of the story to mislead. Without complete truths a false impression is given.
Demagoguery or lies done by putting emphasis on certain points of the story thus misleading and causing people to jump to the wrong conclusion
Lies by inference and insinuation and implication, not an outright lie, but the purpose is to get someone to believe something false
Lies of distraction such as when asked a question the answerer talks about a related issue but doesn’t really answer.
Gord; some of us are not worried about the next election (except in ensuring we have one the way it is going) we are rather more concerned about the last one. Perhaps Conservatives learne to not look at everything through a political lense and maybe use an ethical lense. The political lense leads to in and out and voter suppresion and fraud. The ethical lense means you DO NOT break the law!
Harper and his ilk are only able to be political and ideaological, ethics don’t enter into it.
Some of us are not as concerned about who wins the next election but rather putting in jail the people who screwed with the last one.
Look Warren I’m no fan of this government and the allegations that have come out since last week are troubling to say the least but everybody has to simmer down. We can’t just go demanding that MPs resign because of this – yet. There is something to be said with letting this fraud reveal itself brush stroke by brush stroke. I was watching QP today and the righteous indignation is getting too much.
This poster reminded me of the sex-ed scene in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life:
“What’s wrong with a kiss, boy? Hmm? Why not start her off with a nice kiss? … You don’t have to go leaping straight for the clitoris like a bull at a gate. Give her a kiss, boy.”
Similarly, what’s wrong with letting the Conservatives choke on their own lies a while longer? Why can’t we trust the public to build up their own disgust with this government without the screeching and the histrionics? Indeed why must we stampede straight to demands for a public inquiry and the nullification of an election?
Let’s all just simmer down now.
Simmahdowna yourself……I think its time people did, ahem, rise up…..and say to Harper and his cabal…..enough of this crap*……..
Since youre quoting movies…..Hows about……”were mad as hell, and were not going to take it anymore!”………..
For too long John/Jane Q Public has been sitting idly by while Harper’s cabal crams THEIR agenda down our throats……the Canadian public(save perhaps Gordon Tulk and a few others) has had enough….and I hope the multitudes turn out on Monday to give the govt an earful……
*http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/02/29/Tories-Dirty-Tricks/
Yeah well the Canadian public had this shit crammed down their throats prior to the 2011 election, gave Harper a majority, made the NDP the Official Opposition and pretty much told the Liberal Party to go fuck itself.
By the way on the last of Tory dirty tricks is the persona non gratification (if you will) of Brian Mulroney. I mean really is that a dirty trick. Here you have a former prime minister accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in envelopes from a lobbyist Tony Soprano style. Why woudn’t Harper declare him off limits? That’s just smart.
As for the reference to Nixon, again things simmered for a while. Its not like people were demanding Nixon’s resignation 2 weeks after the Watergate burglary.
Patience grasshopper.
You are SO right AP. The opposition side of the House is looking like they are hysterically over-the-top losing it, while the Governing side is looking calmly in control.
Uh huh. Those the latest talking points?
“Calmly in control” while white-knuckling the day’s narrative without any brakes.
Canadian Spring?
Chucke. Brrrrrrr! Not yet, weather looks chilly for Monday.
But yeah, I’ll wander up and see what’s happening. Should be fun.
OK, this may have been answered elsewhere, but I am potentially going to show my ignorance and ask anyway. How does a phone call, directing you to the wrong polling station, prevent you from voting? At least where I live (Winnipeg), if you show up at a different polling station, you are free to vote – provided you sign an oath attesting to you who are, and you show ID.
So, again, if I am someone who was robo-called and I went to the wrong polling station, one of two things is going to happen. First, and most likely, I will just drive to the correct polling station. Most of them within a riding are only a mile or two apart. Second, if I don’t feel like driving, the friendly Deputy Returning Officer is going to advise me of my right to vote in the polling station I am currently at. In either case, I still vote.
Therefore, I’m not sure how this robo-call “scandal” automatically equates to bad election results.
The point many people who received those calls make is that because of the distance involved in getting to the “new'”station, they didn’t bother voting at all.
a) it’s illegal
b) it’s illegal in a way that shows contempt for the electorate
c) the misdirection was to non polling stations, i.e., nowhere.
d) after having been fucked around by someone you think is a public authority, you are apt to just say ‘to hell with them all’ and go cry in a beer. Or two. Or three.
It’s the attempt to suppress the vote that is the crime. It doesn’t have to be successful. We had a cute one today surface in my riding of Saanich and the islands. Someone on Pender Island was told they had to go to Saanich in order to vote.
Some were sent to addresses that didn’t even have polling stations. Some were sent to non-existent addresses – one media report said it was to the middle of a lake.
This one from Baird’s riding describes someone who walked, wasn’t given the opp. to vote at the wrong location, & was too pooped to try again, even when the LPC offered a ride. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Ottawa+West+Nepean+targeted+with+robocalls+evidence+suggests/6230877/story.html
Others were given locations so far away – sometimes an hour’s drive (Pat Martin or Anita Neville mentioned Wpg Ctr residents being told to vote in Headingly, outside the city’s perimiter); one would involve having to take a ferry http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1138013–robo-calls-listen-to-this-fraudulent-elections-canada-message – they were too bothered / discouraged to even try.
A lot of malicious thought went into this, to deter people from voting.
p.s., those hour-out-of-the-way lying calls in Neville’s riding were reported to EC AT THE TIME. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/05/02/cv-election-polling-pranks-411.html
They were directed to places that were far from their homes with no parking but more importantly with NO polling station, that’s the fraud part. Many people have to vote around their busy work and parenting schedules and once they’ve wasted a couple of hours on a wild goose chase there is no time left for them to vote.
Also……what kind of fool responds to or even listens to robo calls?
Is it a fool that wants to exercise their democratic right as a moral agent in a political community as advanced as Canada? I suspect it is the very same ‘fool’ that responded to the voter card sent out by Elections Canada which indicated their polling station location.
Thirdly you may think “F##k it I’m too busy for this shit” and go home – that’s voter suppression
The people receiving the calls were not directed to the wrong polling station. They were directed to a location where polling stations did not exist.
Just like in Afghanistan!
A few things…
Firstly, I believe this will play out exactly as Warren predicts.
Harper should never have assertively claimed that it wasn’t Tories behind this. He doesn’t know that for sure. That clip will run endlessly every time the cops tear apart a CPC office. Instead he should have kept to the “let the authorities do their job” stuff.
Tom Flanagan looked a lot more nervous than usual on TV today.
Libs / NDP need to have winning M.P.s going on TV and only winning M.P.s… The drama of this story can easily turn into sour grapes stuff.
Libs / NDP need to show that this is more than a prank call story. I believe their side of it, but the evidence is far to flimsy and anecdotal at this stage. We need a “Fifth Estate” style interview telling us about heated exchanges b/t recognized Tories and company staff. That tape of the call is a great step in the right direction.
This has the potential to be worse than “Cadscam” b/c it’s not so theatrical to be unbelievable. It’s worse than “in and out”, b/c it’s not inside baseball accounting. This is fairly simple stuff that will get people thinking about EVERY Tory phone call, EVERY Tory mailout. Its going to hurt their base.
I’d support the rally on the hill, but my gut tells me its going to be the same hundred people who always turn out when someone says something bad about the CBC / UN / Environment.
Steve T,
My understanding is that the robocalls directed people to locations where there was no poll at all. These locations were sufficiently far from real polling stations that it would be difficult to go back, especially for those traveling by bus.
There was another type of robocall that was common in my area of Winnipeg to serve as voter suppression, and that was the actual smear of the candidate who was closest to beating the Conservative incumbent. Yes, false statements were made against another (non Conservative) candidate, and that is in violation of section 91 of the Elections Act.
Yes, because that’s what people do. Record every call they ever get.
Election fraud is not a vote getter either.
Yeah, it’s a vote taker!
If I didn’t live 5000 miles away I’d be there too.
Didn’t Doug Finlay get off on a plea bargain. Isn’t that the same thing as being guilty.
‘In our country the lie has become not just a moral category, but a pillar of the state.’
Solzhenitzyn
The many kinds of lies
Part truths or lies of omission or holding back relevant information, where the liar leaves out key elements of the story to mislead. Without complete truths a false impression is given.
Demagoguery or lies done by putting emphasis on certain points of the story thus misleading and causing people to jump to the wrong conclusion
Lies by inference and insinuation and implication, not an outright lie, but the purpose is to get someone to believe something false
Lies of distraction such as when asked a question the answerer talks about a related issue but doesn’t really answer.
And then there is just plain downright lies.
Gord; some of us are not worried about the next election (except in ensuring we have one the way it is going) we are rather more concerned about the last one. Perhaps Conservatives learne to not look at everything through a political lense and maybe use an ethical lense. The political lense leads to in and out and voter suppresion and fraud. The ethical lense means you DO NOT break the law!
Harper and his ilk are only able to be political and ideaological, ethics don’t enter into it.
Some of us are not as concerned about who wins the next election but rather putting in jail the people who screwed with the last one.