Friday, November 14, 2008

Silly Paper

It's rather amusing to watch the National Post continually tie themselves in contradictory knots, all the while conveying a deep bias. Today's turd attempts to attack Ignatieff for "taking the low road" in his first leadership presser. Apparently, it's okay for Harper to slag Dion for two years, but if a Liberal attacks the PM, well that's just low brow politics. Pleeaazzeee! The fact NP finds it necessary to try to paint Ignatieff as "low" is almost hilarious, in its selective memory.

This critique is really what struck me:
This is a somewhat weird opening gambit. For one thing, it's obviously not true that Mr. Ignatieff is running against Mr. Harper.

Yes, "weird", a frontrunner acting as a frontrunner, that is just off the charts strange. Apparently, the nameless NP scribe (don't blame him/her) doesn't know the first thing about politics, that being it is the most standard of practice for a leading candidate to assume an air of inevitability, to focus past the tussle of the moment and on the bigger prize. I seem to recall Obama doing this for weeks on end during the primaries, almost ignoring Hillary, instead training his attacks on McCain, which is a shrewd way to force a contrast, it puts the theoretical matchup into the minds of people, it elevates the challenger. It's quite simply smart politics, that we see everywhere, everytime, a tried and true tactic.

I don't want to quibble about the references, but before I read this NP criticism, I already concluded that Ignatieff's team was on the ball to attack Harper straight away. It sets a tone, it envokes a Prime Minister in waiting, not arrogant, but confident, not misguided, but focused on the real battle, looking past. There is nothing to be gained in Ignatieff contrasting with his fellow candidates, that's a game for the longer shot, pure folly for the perceived frontrunner to go negative on his current opponents. As a matter of fact, the great irony of the NP piece, in attacking Harper, Ignatieff actually chooses the "high road" with respect to the leadership race. I'm not focusing on my fellow Liberals, I'm consumed with beating Stephen Harper, tearing down the real opponent. A classic strategy, but apparently one that surprises the NP, or more rightly, once again demonstrates a titantic bias and ideological blind spot. What a silly paper.

8 comments:

RuralSandi said...

Geez - Harper never took the low road? Was I sleeping or something?

You know, Obama never attacked McCain or Palin - he attacked Bush.

Francesco said...

I read the Nationa post op-ed piece this morning..i sincerely beleive they must be scaed of ignatieff to attack them so outright....there hero Mr harper past history in taking the low road against dion and constantly twisting his policies and taking cheap shots at his character and the liberal mp's is all the more reason to discount what the mouth piece for the conservative party has to write...interestingly enough the post's circulation is steadily decreasing and it has pulled out of a few provinces in Canada. It has really moved away from being a right of centre newspaper to a far right of centre newspaper. That is a shame as canadians do need to have all opinions whether you agree with them or not. The National post has made itself look funny and almost immature this morning...:-)

Anonymous said...

Steve,

Before I read the piece, I also thought the NP was just being silly - as if attacking ones opponent were off limits all of a sudden. But after reading it, I think there criticism wasn't that he was attacking Harper, but in doing so called him a liar, and seemed to suggest that the CPC was racist or bigoted in some way. It was the content they were (ostensibly) disputing, not the form.

Anonymous said...

The Notional Pest is like a mosquito buzzing around your head when they talk politics. Mildly irritating but when you have the time and ambition, the NP logic is easy to squash and forget.

burlivespipe said...

Their whinging continues to be comically biased. I'm assuming its just the final stage before rigor mortis... Perhaps Harper will take the next step and nationalize it to save itself, or just let the CON party use some of its backroll on making it the *official* blab of the party apparatus.
"Now inside! Secret docoder page with New Party Resolution Banter!"
"Attack Ad crossword - create your own malaprops!"

Steve V said...

olaf

If you can point me to one column, besides the occasional Martin quip, that chastizes Harper for his lies, gross exaggerations, taliban sympathizing, smear campaign, then you would have a point. It's just a Conservative rag, which is hopefully on it's last legs, nothing more. And, you'll also notice, the only Liberals that get ink are people like LeDrew, or anyone who will slag the party, that's their idea of balance. Good grief.

Anonymous said...

Steve,

It's just a Conservative rag, which is hopefully on it's last legs, nothing more

I wasn't saying you're wrong about this, generally speaking. I just think you're mischaracterizing their position in this particular circumstance, that's all.

Also, speaking of media bias, the Media Observatory findings from the 2008 election are out, and up at my place. You won't be happy.

Steve V said...

olaf

Actually, I do like it, what I don't like is your selective presentation. Ahhh, bias...