Communication Breakdown
Reading the story last night about reporters walking out of a PM's press conference yesterday, made me laugh so hard I threw up in my mouth a little. What are these guys thinking? They are conducting their communications policy like a covert CIA operation. Who holds a presser, with the expectation that the media are going to help them get their good news message out to the plebes, and then refuses to interact with reporters? Once again, they definitely got a message out, but I'm positive it wasn't they one they wanted communicated: I.e. we are pompous, secretive and not accountable to the public.
Keep that slap-stick chest beating bravado up with the media you idiot, greasy-nosed freshmen. That'll be a great message to plaster all over the dailies in the lead up to the next election. The media never forget and if they do, there are people paid to remind them.
Keep that slap-stick chest beating bravado up with the media you idiot, greasy-nosed freshmen. That'll be a great message to plaster all over the dailies in the lead up to the next election. The media never forget and if they do, there are people paid to remind them.
Labels: Harpocrites, Media
posted by K-Dough at 7:33 AM
97 Comments:
Rather than whine that the MSM is the propaganda arm of the Liberal Party, Harper gets them to 'out' themselves.
The same jackals who attempted to do a number on Harper, are now crying that he's not kissing their butts the way he should be. Boo frickin hoo.
And in their rage, they're making it clear to all that they're as dirty and irrelevant as the Libranos.
Once the illusion of impartiality is toast... and the MSM are blowing their cover in an unmistakable manner... they become useless in terms of what they can do for their masters (i.e. the Libs).
Watching Harper handle these simps is like watching Kramer dominate the Dojo.
GWGM: lol.
But seriously, I don't agree with the Lib-biased media premise at all. In fact, I think the media played an important part in the creation of the current CPC minority. If you think back to election coverage during the last one, traditional 'liberal' leaning media outlets were actually forsaking Martin et al and wrote mostly either very neutral or Harper-leaning articles.
I believe that actually helped create the momentum that led to the minority win. And I think if they were smart, the Harpies would be trying to woo those silly bastards as much as possible right now. Especially with the Liberal leadership convention looming on the horizon.
I think their political weltanschaunng is still tinted by opposition coloured glasses- which is fine with me.
k-dough: If the MSM went against Martin, it was merely because he was a dead man walking prior to the vote.
The MSM are liberal... they just weren't Martin-Liberal. So when you knew he was going to walk the plank after two strikes, some of the scribes got some payback for being bullied by Reid, Duffy and the other losers on Team Martin.
Now that the purge is done, the MSM will quickly return to licking Liberal shoes with their tongues, hoping to cozy up to the new boss.
There was a documentary done after 'Martin v. Harper I' and it was sickening to see how the scribes and talking heads took their marching orders from the Liberal war room during the final days of the election.
Standing around in a circle tittering like school girls after Tim Murphy told them their 'gotcha' strategy. They didn't even try to hide it.
The liberal media has been a devastating tool for the Liberal Party for the past few decades.
But that is over now. They've cut their own throats and hastened their demise by showing their true colours.
Their tantrum and open hatred for Harper is doing them - and the Liberals - much more harm than it is doing Harper.
Bottom line: No one cares that the Liberal press is being treated like the Liberal press... except for Liberal press. Yawn.
gwgm makes a persuasive argument, but I'm even more cynical about the press than that...I think they just lick the boots of power regardless of stripes; ergo they are pissed beyond belief that the current man in power treats them like annoying children.
If there is indeed a Liberal bias, I think it has evolved over years of Liberal rule...just by virtue of the fact they're in power. This reinforces both K's and gwgm's point that they were finally abandoned (and positive things were being written about Harper) when it was clear that Martin had passed his expiry date.
That being said, I agree with K-Dough that Harper is making an amateurish mistake (or maybe some twistingly brilliant strategy..but I doubt it...) by publicly humiliating the press at every turn. They do so at their peril, and you can be damn sure that the next Lib leader will take FULL advantage of that.
Well put, Leatherhands. The "Liberal" media line is as you say, more a reflection of the Liberal Party's status as the natural governing party.
Harper's derisive treatment of the media is in my eyes a reflection of his compulsive need to control everything. These might be rookie mistakes that he learns to avoid given time, or it might the kind of self-stoking egomania that causes him problems later on.
Mulroney, anyone?
I work in sports media rooms, and even they're all liberal. It's the nature of the system.
The socialists control the university newspapers. That is the first weeding point for conservatives. The liberal boss at that first job is the next. And so on. The system is rigged to exclude conservatives.
But getting back to the nature of journalists, I see it all the time in my work. These $35,000/year prima donnas puff themselves up to be part of the story.
They talk too loudly on their cell phones hoping that anyone within earshot thinks they're more important than they are.
They see themselves as 'kingmakers' who deserved to be treated like royalty, regardless of whether or not they shafted the guy who's shafting them back.
And now that someone is threatening their (self) importance, it's like a red sheet in front of a bull.
Only they're not bulls. They're mice. And Harper has nothing to fear from the mice he is stepping on.
If the MSM is stupid enough to further expedite their own irrelevance by being even more open about their support for the next Liberal leader, then they'll have made their own bed.
I expect them to do just that.
"They talk too loudly on their cell phones hoping that anyone within earshot thinks they're more important than they are."
You can pretty much fill in the friggin' blank on that one!
Sounds like you have a cool job, gwgm.
This K-Dough, is in comparison to Paul Martin running around shouting out "Pay attention to me, I'll say something, anything, just pay attention to me".
Perhaps if the Liberal Government had made the dogs of the press work a little harder, they wouldn't need spoonfeeding now.
I know a few political beat media myself and believe me, they ain't all Liberal.
However, I think gwgm is painting a persuasive background to the argument that all media are Liberal. But I think the reason they all seem Liberal is because they all actually graduated college and university and possess the accompanying elitist qualities.
The ones that didn't graduate ended up as CPC communications staffers.Thus,the grudge and persecution.
joe-it's a symbiotic relationship.
Spoonfeed- they get lazy and cynical. Cut them off from their supply and they get volatile and violent. But that relationship works both ways.
I think the Conservative-inspired pervasive idea that the MSM is Liberally-biased is something that needs to be dropped and forgotten about. If they continue to hang onto that mythologiy and the attendant resentment it will be their undoing.
Move on. Focus on the media as a tool instead of an enemy.
I would be worried for Harper if liberals weren't so upset about the current scrap between Harper and the MSM.
That Harper's enemies are so concerned for his well-being is touching in a Rodney King kind of way.
I don't buy it.
That liberals and Liberals are freaking out over Harper's treatment of the Liberal press demonstrates that he's on the right path.
If he weren't, they'd smile quietly as he walked over the edge of the cliff.
The panic speaks volumes.
Rather than coaching Harper on how he should carry himself, I think it would be more prudent for people to start letting the MSM know that it's way past time for a long hard look in the mirror.
There's one way to get the level of respect that they claim to want. And that's to stop acting like cry babies and Liberal pit bulls.
On this I will agree with you K-Dough, but at the same time, while the CPC needs to pull the stick out of it's ass in relation to the press, the press have a responsibility to stop coloring their reporting with commentary.
I don't give a shit about the personal views of reporters in my news feed... and I have my own favorites for commentary.
The MSM needs to keep news as news, and commentary as commentary, and quit trying to use the one to sensationalize the other.
PS... I like the new colors. It's shows the true tory in you wanting to come out.
gwgm/joe: Liberal Schmiberal. I could care less about those guys. I am not commenting on this as a Liberal. There are those of us in this country that feel media access to government needs to be preserved to fulfil a fundamental principle of accountability and transparency.
Holding one-sided pressers and refusing to answer Qs does not instil confidence in me that leader of our country is interested in explaining his actions to the citizenry. That, my friends, is a big fucking problem for me.
And you can put that in your pipe and smoke it, because a new study says it won't give you cancer!
And because what I'd prefer you smoke won't fit in a pipe- I'm a little swollen today.
Oh and JoJo- don't get your saddle all sopping wet thinking about my new blue look. It's just that it goes better with my blonde stubble and blue yes!
Reg- you are probably the most correct among us.
Denial is a form of affirmation K-Dough...
Tory, tory, tory...
We'll get you to drink the water yet.
Both sides must work with each other. (Certain)Media have to stop being spoon-fed while the PMO must stop being petrified of a reporter with a pen.
Walking out on the PMO certainly gets your point across but does it do anything to stop Harper from thinking the media are a bunch of angst-ridden pundits out to destroy his political career? no. It only fuels the fire on both sides.
Before long, the message won't be getting out and the PMO won't care. The only people to suffer will be us.
oh they will care. And don't think they aren't affected by such walk-outs. Eventually - reg is right- someone will get fired.
I know because I have crystal balls.
Ach!!!!! Mish said "heck". What's next? Liberals sleeping with Dipper blondes? Neo-Cons sleeping with barnyard animals? (ok- not such a stretch).
Fear not, J-Dog. We'll be onto scrotum leprosy by, say, 9pm.
J-Dog- So sorry to disappoint: Is this better? cock. pussy. gristlehunk. moistened blood cave. gravy pole. barbed purple Satan schlong.
Oh and hey, I just realized that if you extract one key vowel, Satan is nothing more than Stan!
Ahh...Stan, my ex father-in-law! That explains a lot.
Don't forget....Beef Curtains.
rigggght- and uh- fur diaper!
Wassa beef curtain... or would I rather not know.
Fore!!!!!!!
Joe-
Beef curtains is an expression you would use if you wanted to piss off a woman enough that she would never, ever have sex with you.
Pam- where you bin? Don't tell me you actually have a life away from this waste of tme?
I'm losing it this week. I have way too much on my plate and I'm dealing with REALLY STUPID PEOPLE.Does that qualify as a life? I wish.
K-dough, you are never a waste of time.
Awwww. Look- I'm blushing! (Well, parts of me are).
I have to say, dealing with really stupid people is a partial definition of all intelligent life.
I suppose.
It's nice out finally so I will get outside after work and sweat my frustrations out and then drink some red wine. Ahhh...I'm cheap date.
Exactly my plan!
Ah... so I was right, I didn't want to know. Thank-you for the enlightment Pam.
Who would ever have the time to use such a phrase with a woman.
I must just be getting old. In my day, a guy just rolled over on his side, facing away from his mistake, and pretended he was asleep.
My favourite was always the old monthly discussion about how he didn't mind swimming in the Red River, but he'd never drink the water.
Winnipeg girls love that shit.
I must be getting old, too. In my day a woman just thought "thank God he rolled over. I'm going to be SO hungover tomorrow."
Fabulous post, Mr. K-Dough, and a swift bitch slap and verbal drop kick to the naysayers. However, I must admit, they managed to regurgitate the CPC key messages to the letter.
I was thrilled when I learned that the press gallery had walked out of the sham that the PMO would call a press conference.
Obviously, Harper has read the book All the President's Spin and has employed highly paid Republican spin doctors to beef up his image, because attacking journalists -- in this case, some the country's brightest and most articulate -- is directly out of the American political playbook.
Sadly, he seems to be missing one key point. The message about his five priorities really is sinking in -- I've watched talking heads blather on about them ad nauseum with nary a neo-con salesman in sight. Harper is hijacking his own message by insisting on such absurd levels of control.
I'm proud that Canadian journalists (and Canadians as a whole) aren't lapdogs like their celebrity-obsessed, ratings-crazed American counterparts. Our journalists are paid to question authority and hold politicians to account -- clearly, Harper is having none of either.
Jdog: If that last post was too boring, we could always talk about Deb Grey naked on a motorbike.
Hah... exactly Pam... I came from Winterpig Sheena. Love the people, hate the location.
With their walkout stunt, the MSM has labelled itself Liberal.
And now that they have 'come out', Harper has fully marginalized them. Talk about walking into a trap.
Every negative thing they write about the guy from now on can be discounted as coming from biased Liberal babies.
The guy's a genius.
From Yahoo:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/24052006/2/national-harper-says-national-media-biased-against-avoid.html
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the national media are biased against him so he will avoid them from now on.
The prime minister says the Ottawa press gallery seems to have decided to become the opposition to his Conservative government. He told a London, Ont., TV station Wednesday that he is having problems with the media that a Liberal prime minister would never have to face. So Harper says he will take his message out on the road and deal with the less hostile local media.
....
I'm just horny and wondering what type of dog gwgm would be if he were in Harper's lap. Jack Russell terrier? A chihuahua? No, more likely a spunky little shitzu! ;)
fr: About as hilarious as watching Liberals become so concerned about defending our democracy all of the sudden.
The last election demonstrated how the Libranos fare when they don't have access to unlimited stolen tax dollars.
Where was your concern during the coup?
Tonight, on a very special episode of DeGrassi...Caitlan falls into the clutches of The Harpo Cargo Cult. Hilarity and bitterness ensue.
Caitlan - mmmmm- she was cute. Wonder what she is up to these days?
She's on the new DeGrassi..she's still cute.
I did not know that. Just googled some pix- you're correct!
If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear? Harper will end up on top on this... the Press picked a fight it's doubtful they can win.
And I'm sure the press is very nervous..Ya, sure, Harper will end up on top.
Pam- His wife might take exception to that possibility - especially with that big jelly belly of his.
Well, we're pretty deep into a K-Dough thread, and JC and Pam have floated "end up on top" out there for all of us....what are we gonna do with that?
Not me...not this time..
Thanks K, you rose to the challenge before I declared it...
... and speaking of declaring- I see Martha did so yesterday.
I know I would not want him on top.Ick. Hey, it was the first thought that came to mind when I read joe's post, too.
sorry Martha didn't declare yesterday- but the party anounced that she had fulfilled all registration requirements..
I predict Martha will do nothing stupid on her campaign. (Well, OK...I HOPE...)
Pam... such a dirty girl. That's why I like you.
Although I'm busy tearing my eyeballs out at the merest thought of Harper on top... didn't need that image.
Martha doing nothing stupid? She's intending to run, which in my mind is sort of stupid of her to begin with.
I can see it now... All during the final week it will be "Martha who? Oh, the woman standing beside that Kennedy fellow that can't decide where he lives."
Hey Dude! I take that personally! I may be her coffee boy in August! She looks good without makeup! She was an ex Skiing champ! Aren't these exclamation points obnoxious!
They are to me!
Well... she's an ex-skier. Thats all it takes to get my vote...
Vote "Martha ???" She ski's, and has a coffee boy.
Coffee boy eh? Don't set that bar to high Leather... you might get "papershredder boy"...
On the other hand, it might be good enough to get you an appointment on the Privy Council if she becomes PM. If Mila can get her hairdresser appointed, why not Martha's coffee boy.
I think this calls for a moniker change!!!!! (ex-squeeze my exclamation points)
Old name : Leatherhands
New Name : Martha's Coffe Boy
Wow...don't get my hopes up JC. I desperately want to be her image consultant. I would be great at helping her look Prime Ministerial, but with a hint of feminine playfulness. Harper would be toast I tell you, toast. If that doesn't get me on the Privy council, nothing will.
But no, they just want me to brew coffee and sign up Liberals. Short sighted bastards.
Personally, I'd like my own little drummer/coffee boy. Maybe a wine boy would be more appropriate.
K-dough, great idea, but let's wait and see what my actual function will be first.
(Martha's underappreciated tortured soul.)
Pam, I fit the bill perfectly, other than the "little" part. I make damn fine coffee too. I'm everything you've wanted in a man and a woman.
New name: Fantasy Mangina Dude!!
No wait- FANGINA!!!
Or "Coffee Boyette"
How about "Latte Boy"... you wouldn't want to discriminate against other forms of coffee.
Espressohands
Does Martha know about your unseemly drug culture rock star history, leather? You wouldn't want to upset her bid to be leader by having the press find out about the excessive lifestyle of her coffee boy.
Cause maybe you could serve coffee while playing the drums to the teeming millions poised to vote for her... assuming of course that they know her last name.
Just mark an "x" beside the only entry with just a first name.
Hey... I like that, "Expressohands"... that's a good one Leather. You can make funny spitting noises while you serve.
I'm sorry Leather...
Leather Coffeedero
btw- can we move this conversation u into the new one. this is old news now.
OK...you all win. Now, must...have...lunch......getting weak...
Well... if K-Dough's gonna keep it up... how bout' "Cafe au leather"
Staff supporters can come up to you and say "I would like a venti cafe au leather, hold the pee".
Okay... we're keeping all our greasy oil money, you can't have any.
gwgm wrote:
fr: About as hilarious as watching Liberals become so concerned about defending our democracy all of the sudden.
The last election demonstrated how the Libranos fare when they don't have access to unlimited stolen tax dollars.
Where was your concern during the coup?
--------------
Typical, tired and lame neo con attempt at deflection. I'm seeing this ploy more and more often on many blogs and posts by neo cons.
It doesn't work and it just makes you look like a numbed Harper apologist.
Alot of us out in the blogsphere are not strongly party centric. I'm one of them. If Harper actually does something worth praising or supporting, i will do so.
If he pulls shit that is sleazy politics or disingenuine then i'll call him out on it.
It's a shame that some neo cons have been brainwashed or intimidated into blindly supporting Harper in the public spheres, no matter what he does. It dumbs down conservative politics.
Harper's screwed up numerous times since he won. Too bad his supporters let him get away with it.
In the end, it ends up being bad for Canada.
fr- problem is that blind faith is in the (blind) eye of the beholder.
From today's Globe & Mail, that bastion of socialism and anarchy, last remaining vestige of hippie communes, free love, abortions and homosexuality:
"But for someone with reputedly sharp political antennae, Stephen Harper is moving incautiously. The soft and soothing centrist rhetoric of the election campaign has been replaced by deeper conservative theology. On Kyoto, on military solutions, on gun amnesties, he is beginning to sound like the rawer conservative he used to be. His unrelenting "my way or the doorway" attitude betrays a visceral righteousness so common to the Bush Republicans."
fr: I ask you about the Liberals' pissing all over democracy and stealing elections.... and you go off on a moronic, unrelated neo con rant... and I'm deflecting?
Riiiiiight.
Complaining about crooks stealing elections isn't a "tired and lame" ploy. Telling us to forget what happened won't make it so.
And you getting your panties into a twist calling Harper sleazy is beyond the pale from someone who didn't bat an eye at what the Libranos were doing.
You're like a judge who would put a jaywalker in jail for life... after letting a murderer walk.
Please point me to some of your posts when you "called" 'non neo cons' on something.
And then maybe I'll listen to your criticisms about me being blindly partisan.
Finally, if it makes you feel better to think that conservatives have been brainwashed or intimidated, then the laugh's on you.
I sat through 100s of hours of crap at Karl Marx U (aka U of T) and resisted the brainwashing that is forced upon Poli. Sci. students there. Garbage from the likes of Stephen Clarkson, Gad Horowitz, David Rayside, Rick Salutin and company.
The weak-minded & lazy ones who lapped it up and spewed it out are on your side... not mine.
Hey- I thought York was Karl Marx U.
gwgm: Holy crap, I've never heard someone call UofT left-wing. York, yes. Concordia, of course. I'm not sure what to say, except that your hyperbole about Liberals stealing elections is a little outlandish, although if you're referring to the first-past-the-post trend of forming government without the support of the majority of the population, you might consider the CPC took government with even less of the popular vote this time...
DIKU: Oh yeah, it's commie central. But probably no worse than every other university in North America.
As for 'stealing' elections, I have no issue with the Liberals benefitting from the split on the right. Good for them and 'our bad' for letting that happen.
However, I was referring to the fact that money wins elections. And that the Liberals campaigned with stolen dollars in several recent ones.
It's quite an advantage to be able to pay for your commercials, signs, polling, etc. with public tax dollars, when your opponents are in the disadvantageous position of having to fund themselves 'the old fashioned way'.
Don't have the dough to print a million lawn signs? No problem. Print them up and I'll get you on the rebound for twice the price with a cheque from the Government of Canada. It's all very third world, when you think of it.
The last two elections are examples of the way Liberals fare in elections when they don't have unrestricted access to the public purse.
If the Tories ran paid their election bills with money stolen from the public purse, you know the MSM would be calling it a coup.
But the Liberals did it. So they don't.
gwgm: Too sleepy to write much, but we all know that the amount of money stolen was a miniscule part of the overall government and likewise, was just a tiny part of the funds raised by the party. It's inaccurate to suggest that it paid for their election win.
The PMO is gagging its cavemen on the topic of the gay Mounties. From the Star:
"But several Conservative MPs quietly confirmed they had received the PMO gag order after the story of the Mountie wedding received widespread media coverage last week."
I was thnking up headlines this morning- my first inclination:
"Harper Gags on Gay Mounties"
diku: good chatting with you, BTW. Thanks.
The fact that the Liberals repeatedly funnelled stolen funds into their election efforts is an admission on their part that it was effective and necessary.
People don't throw money away. If it wasn't necessary & effective, ALL of it would have ended up in private banks accounts.
The intent was to win elections and the use of stolen funds was part of the plan. Several times. I can't say anything more damning than that, other than to say that they cleaned up in the elections when they had the stolen money... and the last two, when they didn't... not so much.
I'm not prone to wild speculation ;) but the way the press is carrying on against Harper, intentionally destroying their own credibility, I wouldn't be surprised if it came out that they were having their hands greased all along, too... and now someone is putting some pressure on their to scrap with Harper.
Would you be surprised by anything these people would do?
As a U of T student, hearing someone call it "commie central" is too hilarious.
Gwgm, it's no in-Bloom Straussian University of Calgary, but it's hardly full of marxists! It sounds like you were into poli sci - is it surprising then that there were lots of people there with political viewpoints?
While we're on this, Allan Bloom used to teach here! And two members of the Calgary School, Ted Morton and Rainer Knopff, got their PhDs here! But that's all a long time ago, back in the 1970's, when poli sci departments were full of neo-cons, right? Or were they rogue students fighting the power - yes, U of T was and is really a bastion of marxist thought.
And holy smokes was this indoctrination successful! U of T alumni Paul Martin (St. Mike's) chopped social transfers to the provinces and cut taxes, and although he nationalized the ships running CSL, he must have missed a class, because it's supposed to be our nation you register them to!
In all seriousness, I think you're confusing the politically-active elements with the political views of the student body - how many arch-marxists do you find in computer science, economics and business? Have you checked out the U of T's objectivist club?
If you wanted to characterize the U of T student body, you'd be better off calling them politically disinterested upper middle class careerists. But marxists - there's about 30 of them, they're loud and often smelly, they all know each other, and no one listens to them.
"loud and often smelly"- but that is part of their mystique.
Siting in political economy PhD seminars at York was always an exercise in restraint for me- restraint of my rage at the methodological zombies and the theoretical kife they spewed regularly. You were either Smithian and Cartesian, Marxist or some strange mixture of Schumpeterian feminist existential literary criticism-based geographical determinist.
Those seminars had the equivalent effect on the brain of smoking a joint, and then spending 3 hours looking through a sheet of plastic bubble wrap, barely able to breath.
And to think, I forsook all that for the real world.
"Harper Gags on Gay Mounties"
That's gold, K-dough. GOLD.
Your bestest line ever, my friend.
Pammie- Methinks you doth flatter too much much. Keep it coming!
don't you mean "mustique"?
That's exactly what I meant. But my ewe key is broken!
What can I say, "The Mounties always get their man!"
As for U of T students: "If you wanted to characterize the U of T student body, you'd be better off calling them politically disinterested upper middle class careerists."
I'll have you know I checked out some U of T students' bodies when I was going there and they were... oh, wait a minute, yeah, mostly "upper middle class careerists", but a few were politically active.
Seriously, though, U of T's a very corporate (read, right-wing) university. I can't imagine, at least, how anyone could call it left-wing and keep a straight face.
Then again, I also can't imagine how the neocons can seriously refer to Canada's media as "liberal", especially after they fell all over themselves kissing Steven Harper's ass in the last election campaign while simultaneously shredding Paul Martin.
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