If you are, like me, a frequent vistor to Bourque you'll have noticed he is blasting a link to PhantomLiberals.com.
I at first assumed that this was a swipe at the dead people signed up by the Volpe and, allegedly, other campaigns. However it turns out that it is in response to an article earlier this month in the Ottawa Citizen that two Liberal staffers had jumped the queue and gotten civil service jobs after the January election without waiting in line as is normally the case.
In typical Conservative style, the site alleges that if there were 2, there were probably many, many more and suggest that this was another example of political interference in the bureaucracy, similar to the sponsorship scandal.
I find that hard to imagine because, if it was a big move, then the Public Service would have obviously noticed. A 1 or 2 million out of the $200,000 million annual federal budget going missing is easy to miss. Dozens of political staffers, whose names would be known through the civil services, appearing as civil servants is not so easy to miss.
Anyway, who is behind this smear? Hard to say. The owner's cleverly chose ".com" - which requires no proof of identity - over ".ca" - which would have required that they register a Canadian address and contact number.
However, it is registered by a Houston, Texas organization called NFSN. NFSN - NearlyFreeSpeech.net is an incorporated entity that offers domain registration services.
Perhaps I will join whoever is behind this in the fun game of non sensical extrapolation and suggest that this is a Texas-based (read Republican) American entity interfering in Canadian politics on behalf of the Conservative Party. Shame.
NOTE: This post was meant as a joke. First, I doubt the veracity of the story of these two phantom Liberals, it is a big story yet was only picked up in one paper and never followed up upon, thus I doubt there were any hard facts that it happened. Second, the website makes insane claims that this was a wide spread practice when, per above, it could not have been. Third, the person(s) behind the website are too chicken to tie their names to their claims. I may run an anonymous blog, but I would never make unsubstantiated charges against a person or group without putting my name behind it. Fourth, when trying to see who was behind the site, I thought that it was amusing that the site was registered with a company not only in the US but in Texas when one considers the attempts by many Liberal, NDP and BQ folk of painting the Harper Conservatives as an extension of the Bush Republicans who are rooted in Texas.
Thus, I thought that I would be able to be cute and make a tongue-in-cheek counter claim that this site was run by Republican operatives. I do not think that. I was trying to be funny. I guess I am not as amusing as I'd like to think based on the preliminary comments anyway ;)
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9 comments:
Your going to try and spin the uncertainty of a who is? internet .com unregistered domain name over the certainty that there was political interference with two public service hirings. Wow, are your priorities ever out of wack my friend.
This story seems dreadfully insignificant given the past couple of newsdays we've had: Tony Blair's speech to the Canada-UK chamber of commerce pleading for us to stay in Afghanistan, Frank McKenna coming out in support of ballistic missile defense (once again, and in the middle of the Liberal leadership campaign to boot), the much anticipated/dreaded "Green plan" the Tories are soon releasing, the "3 strikes and you're out" legislation being tabled tomorrow, etc.
Normally, I love nbpolitico's blogs: they usually offer interesting opinions and generally place partisan sniping at the sidelines. However, this one reeks of that partisan "evil Tories and Americans" BS that I have grown to expect from other Liberals, but not from nbpolitico. Oh well, guess I know to expect it now ;)
Argh, I guess the point has been missed here. It was an attempt at a joke.
The phantomliberal site is making hyped up and ridiculous claims, so I thought I would respond in turn, tongue-in-cheek. I guess I didn't do that very well.
Phew, thank goodness, I thought my beloved nbpolitico had gone the way of his partisan counterparts; I am very, VERY relieved that this wasn't the case!
But still, if we didn't get the joke, then I doubt many of those oh-so-enlighted partisan posters around here that might use this topic as proof of something will get it either.
I've added a disclaimer!!
The Cons are a touchy bunch. Even before the disclaimer nbpolitico stated, "Perhaps I will join whoever is behind this in the fun game of non sensical extrapolation"
Maybe there is truth in it afterall?
Disclaimer: I don't actually believe that.
NBpolitico, you give in so easy. Stand your grounds. It sounds like smear campaign and Harper camp is capable of this stuff. To ask "who is behind this smear?" is a fair question.
Cons are always touchy. Why worry? Harper constantly criticized political appointments when in opposition. He has been so busy making those appointments himself since he became PM that that may become his major achievement and legacy as PM.
Oh I don't mean to suggest "who is behind it?" is unfair. I am suggesting that "it is clearly Republicans that is behind it" is a bit silly and was meant as a joke.
Most bloggers, politicos and staffers I know never end a joke with the word "shame". If they use that type of phraseology, they're usually trying to make a serious point. However, I'll let it slide this time, nbpolitico. ;-) lol
Notice the ending. I was joking.
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