Reason 47,882,900 voting is for chumps...
So after going to the wall and demanding that May be included in the debates as a matter of principle, along with a lot of others in blogsphere, how does the Green Party thank us?
Why by threatening legal action against a blogger for posting a less-than-flattering Youtube video of May, of course.
Isn't that nice.
Don't get me wrong. Leftdog and I are still at odds as to whether May should be in the debates, and I was pretty strong in my criticism of his position over at Red Tory's place. I stand by that criticism. In my opinion, he knee-jerked in a typical partisan fashion toeing the party line rather than examining it from principle. So eager was he to attack the Greens that, as you can see from the previous link, he mistook James Bow for James Bowie. Then, to further his partisan attack, he posted the video in question.
The video inquestion was created by Stephen Taylor, founder of the Blogging Tories and well known Conservative insider, clearly, in my opinion, as a Rovian style smear against May. The video clearly and purposefully misrepresents what May said in an effort to hurt her.
It seems clear that what Taylor and leftdog are purporting she said ("Canadians are stupid") is not, in fact, what she said - she seems to be agree with the assertion that politicians think canadians are stupid when it comes to carbon taxes. She says "they" not "I"...
So where does that leave us?
The Conservatives are scared stiff, it seems, of Elizabeth May. First they try to prevent her from taking part in the debate. When that doesn't seem to work, the resort to astro-turfing a video and audio clip that totally misrepresents what she said, again, to try to discredit her. Leftdog, in his zeal to spout the party position at the time, goes out of his way to become a "useful idiot" of this Conservative campaign.
And the Green's conveniently respond with poorly worded legal threats against an opponent. Even though I disagree with leftdog's tactics and his ultra-partisanship, use of lawsuits to quash criticism and dissent is absolutely unacceptable in a free society and in this I stand with and support leftdog against this Green Party nonsense.
And, in an irony of near biblical proportions, the Conservatives whinge about the Greens doing it as a further reason they should not be in the debates or taken seriously.
Yes, the Conservatives are upset that a political party is using lawsuits or threats for lawsuits to prevent people from hearing potentially embarrassing audio tape of their leader.
Irony is dead.
In one incident we have the display of arrogance, authoritarianism and childish churlishness from almost all of the political parties. These are the people and their supporters who wish to rule us for the next 4 to 5 years. These are the choices we have when deciding whom to entrust our decision making power for taxes and freedom.
That's the problem with choosing between these clowns - you'll get one of them.
Labels: Conservative authoritarianism, dirty tricks, Green authoritarianism, hypocricy