“Kinsella is a P.O.S. professional liar in the pay of the Gliberal Party.
And if his home is ever burglarized not only do I hope that the burglars use his toothbrush as if it were the probe space-aliens use to examine beamed-up hillbillies but at the very least the burglars put sand in his vaseline.”
Column here. If you were to guess comments aren’t moderated, you’d be right!
As noted below, I’ve donated what I’ve received from the Sun this week to Egale, to protest the homophobic ad. You can do likewise, here.
To its credit, the Post apologized “unreservedly” for the ad after it ran, saying: “the ad exceeded the bounds of civil discourse” because of its manipulative use of imagery and “in the suggestion that such teaching ‘corrupts’ children.” The Post declared that it would donate the money it received for the ad to a lesbian, gay or transgendered cause.
(I strongly objected to the Sun running a variation of the same ad. Defending the ad as an expression of free speech, to me, is wholly unconvincing. The Sun has frequently refused to run advertising in the past, for all sorts of reasons. Therefore, I too plan to donate what I receive from the Sun this week to an LGBT cause).
Despite the controversy — or perhaps because of it — the contemptible ad was reproduced in its entirety by one PC candidate in Willowdale, complete with a statement indicating that the pamphlet had been officially authorized by the Ontario PC campaign.
They did. The leaflet is homophobic, and is a huge self-inflicted wound.
Oh, and they’re idiots.
UPDATE: Listen to Mark Spiro’s strategic genius at work, right here! And more here!
That’s what one PC is saying on Twitter, after seeing Hudak’s error-filled, disgusting anti-gay leaflet:
I have heard from other Conservatives who do not want to go public – yet. If you feel as Ms. Kent does, please speak out. Or, if you like, contact me confidentially at wkinsella@hotmail.com.
My reference to the “face ad,” below, was deliberate. In 1993, what mattered wasn’t so much what we Liberals had to say about that despicable anti-Chretien ad. What mattered is what partisan Conservatives said – people like Sinclair Stevens, who courageously called me to say that his party had gone too far, and that he wanted to speak out.
Speak out. On Twitter, on Facebook, wherever. This is one of those moments in election campaigns where people are measured by what they did do – and what they didn’t.
Here’s the C.P. story that just moved on the wire:
Ont Elxn Conservatives
Source: The Canadian Press
Oct 3, 2011 10:54
AMHERSTBURG, Ont. – Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is defending a piece of campaign literature that the rival Liberals have branded as homophobic.
He says the flyers on the Liberals’ sex ed curriculum reflects Premier Dalton McGuinty’s “out of the mainstream” policy ideas.
Hudak says Grade 1 students should be taught the alphabet, not sex education, and it’s another example of how McGuinty has lost touch.
The Tory flyer urges parents to vote against the Liberals for “keeping parents in the dark” about what’s being taught in schools.
It says the sex ed curriculum teaches “cross dressing for six-year-olds” and suggests that teachers allow students to hold their own gay pride parade in their schools.
The literature quotes from a handbook provided to Toronto teachers that was obtained by The Canadian Press.
(The Canadian Press)
The slick PC pamphlet in question says, for example, that page 19 advocated “cross-dressing for six year-olds.”
So, here’s page 19:
It’s a list of names of people whose words or histories were consulted for the study. Nothing about “cross-dressing for six year-olds” is on that page. Not a word.
The rest of the allegations in the pamphlet are similarly wrong. Most of the things they allege come from the curriculum in 2002 – when Tim Hudak was a government minister.
What does it mean? Well, it means Hudak is prepared to lie, and to smear people who are different.
Why is he doing that?
Because, as with the Campbell Conservatives in 1993 (on whose campaign he toiled), he’s losing, and he’s getting desperate. He hasn’t run ad yet that attacks people for their physical appearance. But he still has three days, so who knows.
After one top-secret call, last night, Benedict Baldy had a top-secret gathering with various big wheels in the Toronto Jewish community. There, agog attendees were told that (a) BB is holding out for a Hudak PC loss so that (b) he can then run for leader.
Attendees thereafter rushed to the phones to relate the bizarro BB strategy to others, who were equally gobsmacked. More calls were made.
Benedict Baldy: he’s rarely smart, but he’s often entertaining.
We Ontario Liberals are delighted he’s all yours now, Team Tea Party. Good luck, etc.
…it means we work even harder, relentlessly, until the last vote is cast on Thursday.
That’s what it means.
