Apolitical Staples

Fife is an old target for me. He was the mouthpiece for those in the government wanting to smear Maher Arar. He is a dick.

As for the Liberals. Boo hoo. The NDP has lots o money. :)

Not the first time Fife made errors or CTV for that matter.

I think he’s mad because blogging and YouTube may interfere with their jobs.

The YouTube issue - Liberals DID NOT hire them. The faithful did it on their own which shows the sincerety of their supporters.

Get over it Fife - blogging is becoming an important part of politics these days.

Fife is factually wrong. Libloggers weren’t “hired”. They were organized by Dion’s blogger-in-chief, JC. So, they work for free, big deal. This is part of the official Liberal response to the Conservative ads. It’s definitely coordinated with the radio ads. No doubt. It’s just been shown to be a highly ineffective defense. If Liberals had money in the bank, would they be doing this? Obviously, no.

I got to say, though, the Liberals are playing this smart from a campaign finance point of view. They can’t blow all their money now before the campaign. Strategically, the CPC brain trust wants a long, drawn out campaign. Liberals depend on expensive big media now, just at the very time they can’t afford it. The last election showed that they have little ground game. The CPC is trying to draw them into a “Battle of Britain” and wipe out their “Air Force”. The Youtube and radio ads are a token defense to get “earned media”.

Staples brings up a good point. The Liberals are living off the vote subsidy. They just got their $2 million quarterly installment. So I don’t think the ad timing is coincidence. The CPC wants to get the Liberals to spend that now, not during the campaign. If the Liberal campaign tips into “every man for himself” because there is no “air support” then things will go bad. Riding associations will stop sending their money to headquarters. Donors will only give to their local candidate. MPs will ignore Dion and his team and do their own thing for their own survival (even if it’s not in doubt).

The next $2 million is at the beginning of July. An election just before then would make sense.

He was right on one account - the ads were crappy.

Sadly, Fife’s subsequent comment was that the professionally produced ads from the Conservative Party aren’t any good, either. Should we egg him from both sides? (I think not.)

And neither Fife nor Duffy got around to mentioning that some of these Liblogger ads are factually incorrect. For example, one ad talks about Harper having voted against the budget which “passed” May 19, 2005. But there were two recorded divisions that day, both at second reading. And Harper is not on the list of “Nays” for the “Budget Implementation Act, 2005”.

The most important point Fife made that certain partisans wish to ignore is his anger at the Conservatives knowing about the RCMP issue since last September and didn’t to diddly about it and in fact voted against looking into it at the committee meetings.

A little more important the attack ads I’d say, but please, keep obsessing and picking about unimportant issues.

Bob Fife is a dick.

Liberals didnt pay people to do ads. It was pure speculation. Would they seriously pay money for a Cherniak nasal voice-induced smear on Harper?

What is the value of that? 25 cents and a boatload of Cherniak satisfaction?

The party is already broke, as if we need to waste some on THAT!

Back to Fife, he is no better than Cherniak, somebody who will sell himself and his subjectivity for the privilege of reporting an issue and of being in the know.

Trash Journalism….or as I call it Taber Journalism

After what Fife did to francie ducros, I have no respect for his journalistic integrity. The guy has no ethics and no morals.

Between Travers, Taber, and Fife…I dont listen to one word any of them ever say…

Lynne, what you and Fife are saying doesn’t take the circumstances of the time into account. Zacardelli was being treated by the media as a national icon, even though that was the middle of the Arar mess. Which, by the way, resulted in the gov’t announcing an overhaul of the RCMP. Gee, do you think maybe they were going to take a look at the pension issue during that overhaul?

Considering the messes all happened on the Liberal watch, I’m surprised Liberals are so anxious to see even MORE toxic sludge dredged up.

I am referring to the part of the quote you didnt link greg…the one where he said the “kids” were hired…

That is the problem with that conference call - they may not have been hired, as in paid with money, but that have been paid with contact and now we know there is a formal link between the Dion braintrust and certain Liblogs. Not very smart.

“Greg Staples: That is the problem with that conference call - they may not have been hired, as in paid with money, but that have been paid with contact and now we know there is a formal link between the Dion braintrust and certain Liblogs. Not very smart.”

Exactly.

It’s not like the Liberals can disown the Liblogs. Their Youtube ads were clearly coordinated with the radio ads. Just because Cherniak is working for free, doesn’t mean he isn’t working for Dion. The Liberals “own” those ads. Lucky for them, most people will never see them.

From my recollection of Duff’s Thursday show, when Fife made the comment, all I heard was that it was obvious the Libs didn’t have any money, that the Utubes were “crappy”, and while there may be a bit of bovelty traffic, it probably wouldn’t last because the product was truly awful. No more, no less. I don’t remember him even intimating that anyone had been hired to do the Utubes.

I suspect the Libs are still paying off debts, are saving their funds for an election, etc.

If I had to pick one or the other to listen to (not a great choice, eh?), I’d take Fife anyday over Oliver.

to the last anon…click the first link of gregs post…

watch the video…he said “hired”

ask greg I rarely get incensed for no reason…

Hired, for-free, to me it makes little difference beyond semantics — Jason Cherniak et al are under legitimate suspicion (resulting from the conference call) of being controlled and instructed by the Liberal Party. There is real reason to wonder if they are being told what to do by the LPC rather than simply speaking their own individual minds. (I hope that this is not true)

I hope so too Jason…

I haven’t watched all of the ads, but I do recall some questions being raised about the use of the LPC logo in some of them. Certainly its use suggests the approval, if not the directives, of the Liberal Party apparatus.

$1.75/per vote/per year

Be sure to vote in 2007! Greasy political slimeballs need your money.