Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the Liberals owe the RCMP an apology after a 14-month probe into the income-trust scandal resulted in criminal charges against a senior civil servant.
Harper told reporters Friday that the charges show "it was a real scandal" and not an invention of partisan politics.
"I believe the Liberals should apologize to [former RMCP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli] for suggesting to the people of Canada that the RCMP had invented that scandal," Harper said.
I guess you can admire the sheer gall, the political counter, but Harper really is obnoxious here. I have heard some calls for the Tories to pull their PATENTLY FALSE ad in Quebec that slanders Goodale, but I have been disappointed that the outrage isn't more pronounced. Pull the ad, pull the ad, pull the ad, should be echoed from every Liberal corner. The entire attack campaign is discredited if the Tories insist on using a FALSE LIE to hurt Dion.
You can't under-estimated the political damage that these FALSE ALLEGATIONS against Goodale had. If memory serves, I believe the Liberals dropped 8-10 points after this bombshell, it allowed all the baggage to be re-argued, the pattern confirmed. You could make a case it cost the party the last election. Now, today, we have this same FALSE story, used by Conservatives to further damage Liberals, with the added bonus of arrogance, when the PM asks for an apology.
Harper tries to re-direct the debate away from the Tory slander, and validate all the gutter politics. Liberals need to keep asking the question, why are these ads running? How can you run an ad that knowingly deceives? Start calling these people LIARS. Soft on TRUTH, soft on TRUTH. The only way Harper gets away with putting Liberals on the defensive is if we let him.
UPDATE
Some Conservatives uncomfortable with lying:
Off the record, some Conservatives said yesterday they hoped the ad would be amended
20 comments:
Soft on Truth, I love it.
For the first time in Canadian history we have a political party that will say anything to get elected. Lies, lies, lies.
I've been reading blogs for 2 years now...and here's what I've learnt..both the Liberals and Conservatives play gutter politics, cuz, thats the way you win. Both party's are on the same moral low ground. For a Con or a Lib supporter to say so is foolish. Its also foolish to think that one party or the other is better for Canada. Having known 2 MP's in my lifetime and a cabinet minister, bloggers and supporters take these insults and Question Period games more personaly than the politicians do. Before TV came into the HOC most would rip the other guy then wink at them. Its all PR. Get past it.
Bill G., I think you're right. If you ever watch CPAc, it's interesting after a vote how the members get up and mill about shaking hands with the opposition as the camera feed fades. I think bloggers do need to take a step back once in a while. Good point.
what are you saying - you don't like the shoe being on the other foot.
I'm enjoying it.
Interesting, all the apologists don't mention the issue at hand.
What is really irksome about this nonsense is that it will find its mark amongst the masses who only catch the headlines. It's like the way Bush&Co. kept linking 9/11 and Iraq; in the end, it didn't matter what was true, only what stuck.
I think they should pull the one ad, although I wouldn't count on it happening. Some have suggested you are better to leave a bad ad running and hope few notice it then pull it. Some have argued the Chretien facial paralysis ad and the military attack ad last election would have done less damage to the party who aired it if they left it on the air then pulled it and drew all the attention.
If anything, the RCMP should be credited with doing their job professionally and finding the real culprit. And this should be a lesson to parties not to point fingers until all evidence is gathered as it turns out the person guilty here had no connections to any political party.
Steve,
I have heard some calls for the Tories to pull their PATENTLY FALSE ad in Quebec that slanders Goodale, but I have been disappointed that the outrage isn't more pronounced.
I don't speak French, but I heard that the headline from the ad said something along the lines of "Goodale's office under RCMP investigation". This is not patently false, let alone PATENTLY FALSE. It's actually true, his office was under investigation.
Furthermore, Goodale did say that none of his political or departmental staff had anything to do with this, which also wasn't true. Read The Jurist's take.
Anyways, I agree that no one has the moral high ground here. The fact that everyone is demanding that everyone else apologize is a good indication that no one was right. It's really not a big deal, but to call the ads FALSE, when technically they're TRUE, is a bit over the top.
So long as the ads refer to the fact that his office/department was under investigation (which found that there was, in fact, a leak in his department), instead of suggesting that Goodale is personally guilty or something, I think that your frustration is a bit misplaced.
olaf
I'm disappointed that you defend this crap, and make no mistake that is what it is. It's not about wordplay, it's the thesis- Liberals are corrupt. The RCMP concluded that no Liberal official had any connection to this investigation.
robert
That's a standard neo-con tactic, repeat the lie long enough and it becomes fact. I've said this before, but most people actually believe the Tories lowered taxes in the last budget, when in fact the Canadian Taxpayers concluded the opposite.
miles
They will never pull the ad, and that might be a good thing if we keep pointing to the LIE. Frame it so it speaks to the government's credibility.
Libs did accuse Zac of inventing a scandal.
But we all know how Libs feel about police, oh, and Hillier.
'Conservative stooges', I believe was the term used.
wilson
Who appointed Hillier? You're rich.
The only questions that remain should be why this investigation was made public during a campaign?
Steve,
I'm disappointed that you defend this crap, and make no mistake that is what it is. It's not about wordplay, it's the thesis- Liberals are corrupt. The RCMP concluded that no Liberal official had any connection to this investigation.
Sorry to disappoint you. I was simply pointing out that saying that Goodales office was under investigation is true. Not PATENTLY FALSE. Is the CPC framing this fact to remind Quebec voters of the sponsorship scandal? Of course they are, what do you expect? It's all about framing, and every party does it.
Of course the CPC is going to use the "Liberals are corrupt" thesis. Just the same way the Liberals use the "scary neo-conservative Bush stooge" thesis. Neither thesis accurately describes the parties, but that's politics no?
semantics
So much for presumption of innocence eh, Miles?
Not to mention the facile presumptions of guilt on behalf of the supporters of our Neo Government.
Makes me wonder if this is to be the operative thrust of Harper's new Public Prosecution Service of Canada. That whole new mini Canadian version of the DoJ in Ottawa so the feds can muck about in the provincial administration of the criminal justice system.
Some late Friday afternoon a few weeks hence it will quietly be announced that charges are dismissed for lack of evidence.
The Queen's Cowboys have to keep their string going after all.
And we still have to find out why it was decided that a few days after they sent the fax to Judy Whatshername's office they decided to phone to ask if she got it. Surely they hadn't been watching the papers waiting for the news to break. Nah, that couldn't be it.
"Some late Friday afternoon"
Funny how that works. The Bush administration has perfected the technique, with a special preference for Friday's that fall on a long weekend.
Olaf: Just the same way the Liberals use the "scary neo-conservative Bush stooge" thesis. Neither thesis accurately describes the parties, but that's politics no?
I'd perhaps remove Bush from that sentence and replace it with Cheney. That is far more accurate in how the CPC is moving forward.
Do they subscribe to all that the neo-con's to the south do? No. But far too much for my liking.
You seem to be such a normal PC, in spite of your age, :), just saying you weren't around then. So I'm a bit surprised, perhaps worried, that you are not seeing the difference between the two, or at least pretend not to.
I do see Harper as a danger to this country and our neighbours to the south, (the gov't), has provided all the ammunition he needs and he's using it.
The rhetoric is pathetic. Frankly, I'm waiting for him to lift a book up to quote from in the HOC, that has the title "Swiftboating and other tactics for Idiots.".
So when Goodale came out and publicly declared that there were no leaks from his department and said this was all politics,
was he:
A) telling the truth, or
B) not telling the truth?
Though I can appreciate you Libs not thinking this is a big deal, I'm assuming you've become desensitized by now by Liberal corruption.
We're at the point now where if a Lib hasn't robbed the Bank of Canada itself, its kinda viewed as par for the course.
Goodale can't have it both ways.
He made a calculated decision, not just to say that he personally wasn't involved,
but to declare that no one in his office was. The purpose was to deny any legitimacy to the RCMP investigation.
And now that formal charges HAVE been filed from his office, he has the gall to demand an apology?
If the RCMP had to start apologizing for every investigation that ended up ruling that a suspect was innocent, they'd have to close up shop.
Besides, aren't liberals opposed to the death penalty always telling us that "better 100 guilty men go free than one innocent man be hanged"? Does anybody seriously pit Goodale as the latter in this equation?
Still avoiding the LYING ad, how convenient.
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