You're Fired
One thing I always find amusing when listening to MPs is how their constituents always seem to share their opinion 100% of the time. A few weeks back, every Tory MP chimed in that "my constituents are telling me they want an election" while the constituents in Liberal ridings across the country appeared to be saying the exact opposite. It's an easy fall-back to justify whatever position you're taking ("Canadians in my riding are telling me that, yes, we should vote in favour of puppy genocide").
So it was rather odd to watch the National last night on the Grewal affair. They went to his riding office and met with the receptionist there and she candidly admitted that they've been getting a lot of bad feedback. "75% of the calls are really, really negative" she said. You know it's bad when even your own employees aren't spinning it in your favour.
As for the allegations that the tape was altered...it seems every blogger out there has become an audio expert all of a sudden but, alas, my knowledge in this field is somewhat limited. I will say that I think Stephen Harper is too smart to approve of something like that. But the whole affair is really starting to look like Amateur Hour from both sides so who knows? The real test for Harper will be whether or not to kick Grewal out of caucus if it is shown that he edited the tapes.
So it was rather odd to watch the National last night on the Grewal affair. They went to his riding office and met with the receptionist there and she candidly admitted that they've been getting a lot of bad feedback. "75% of the calls are really, really negative" she said. You know it's bad when even your own employees aren't spinning it in your favour.
As for the allegations that the tape was altered...it seems every blogger out there has become an audio expert all of a sudden but, alas, my knowledge in this field is somewhat limited. I will say that I think Stephen Harper is too smart to approve of something like that. But the whole affair is really starting to look like Amateur Hour from both sides so who knows? The real test for Harper will be whether or not to kick Grewal out of caucus if it is shown that he edited the tapes.
posted by calgarygrit at
1:50 p.m.
13 Comments:
Is that really a test of Harper? If it's proven the tapes are doctored, it's a no-brainer, Grewal's gone from caucus.
That would actually put the ball back into the Prime Minister's court, "See? I got rid of my MP who acted in an unethical (or illegal) manner. Will you step up and remove yours?"
By
The Hack, at 3:15 p.m.
You touch on an important aspect: the will of constituents and how the party deals with it.
A few weeks before the May 19 vote, newspapers reported that the CPC leadership had issued a directive to all its MPs, telling them that they were not to reveal any of the feedback received from constituents (because these constituents had been telling their Tory MPs that they did not want an election at this point).
Of course, the CPC did not want that kind of information made public, because it would have ruined their "wonderful" plans for the May 19 vote (well, we all know what happened on that day ...).
By
Anonymous, at 3:42 p.m.
If Harper were smart he would have Grewal leave caucus while this is being investigated, thus painting the PM into a corner and forcing Ujal and Murphy to the sideline. He's seize the moral highground.
I'd trade a backbench MP for a cabinet minister and the PM's chief of staff any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Harper knows he can count on Grewal's vote anyway, unless Layton offers Gurment a senior critic portofolio and a cushy position with the Canadian Autoworkers for Nina.
Which raises a more interesting questions...has anyone seen Nina?
By
Anonymous, at 4:41 p.m.
Harper needs to kick Grewal out of caucus just to prove that the Conservatives will take a moral stand, even it hurts them politically. Also, how does he trust Grewal if Grewal did approach the Liberals? Better now than later.
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Unknown, at 4:52 p.m.
The Conservatives no longer have the option of kicking Grewal out.
They have waited too long to kick Grewal out for making the recording in the first place and if they were to kick him out because of allegations of tape tampering they would undermine their attack on the Liberals and worse still would be put on the defensive.
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Anonymous, at 6:10 p.m.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but after that question on national, did the CBC report not ask the employee approximately "why do you think the calls were so negative", to which the employee replied something like "maybe people expect more from their MP? That's what I heard, anyhow, and was howling with laughter.
Oh, and at least in my timezone, you could hear the voice of Mansbridge during an ad break calling the political panel pudits "chatterboxes". Funny news day...
By
Anonymous, at 6:44 p.m.
I heard that too and yes I too was laughing. About last nights chatterboxes, I do not mind any of them. However, on a day in which the big news was allegations of tape tempering, is it really asking too much that they not brush the topic aside. Herbert and Coyne especially, put aside your dislike for Martin for a second and deal with the subject.
By
Anonymous, at 7:19 p.m.
Harper's test has already happened, and he passed......as for Martin, was it ever really in doubt?
John Bryden, crosses floor for nothing, not even a guaranteed nomination.
Belinda Stronach, crosses floor for cabinet.
The proof is in the pudding.
By
Anonymous, at 11:54 p.m.
Yes indeed the proof is in the pudding.
"After one top analyst raised doubts Thursday, the Tories released a few passages they said were mistakenly lost in digital transfer.
But two of the excerpts that reappeared - translated from Punjabi - are embarrassing for Grewal because they show him asking Dosanjh for a reward:
"If it is something good then it would be tempting," Grewal says in one instance.
In another, he adds: "I want to be someone up there. If I go with you guys, I want to be someone up there."
Grewal's credibility may also be damaged by a discrepancy between the audio and transcripts provided on his website.
Grewal has claimed the Liberals offered him an ambassadorship. But on the tape, Murphy is heard ruling out such an appointment "outside of politics" because "the prime minister doesn't think that's the right thing to do."
Murphy's reference to the prime minister does not appear in the transcript provided by Grewal.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper defended Grewal on Friday.
He dismissed suggestions that the tapes were manipulated, saying "glitches" occurred when they were transferred to CD.
....
The Liberals trotted out an audio expert Friday who, like two other experts, concluded the tapes were altered. Glenn Marshall said he found identical bits of sound in two areas of tape where someone offers a cup of tea, and he maintains the duplication is too exact to be a coincidence."
Asked if Grewal will be booted from the Tory caucus if police find he altered the tapes, MacKay said: "That will be up to the leader, and that's a big 'If.' "
By
Anonymous, at 12:51 a.m.
I think it's abundantly clear to all Canadians now. Grewal's shit has a Liberian registry.
By
Anonymous, at 2:02 a.m.
Things are going to heat up
from the globe and mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050606.wxtape06/BNStory/National/
"Yesterday, Jack Mitchell, a U.S. forensic audio expert who conducted a preliminary review of portions of the originally released recordings, said they had been altered. He said he did not believe the changes occurred in the digital-copying process.
'These tapes have been edited. This is not a maybe. This is not something that's unexplained. This is not, 'Oh, this is odd.' This is a definitive statement. The tapes have been edited,' Mr. Mitchell said.
He said he could not say with certainty how the alterations occurred, or conclude definitely that it was done intentionally.
However, Mr. Mitchell said that he not only found instances of possible edits, including sections where it appeared that phrases had been added to the recordings, but also a telltale repeat of a brief snippet of conversation that was repeated exactly.
"The entire thing repeats exactly. It's not the speaker repeating his phrase. This repeats exactly in the same way, with the same rhythm, with the same timing, with the same noise signatures. This is impossible," he said.
Mr. Mitchell said that he is not aware of such a glitch ever being produced in a digital transfer.
"I don't know how it could. I really don't," he said.
Errors in digital transfer can produce crashes that end the recording, or "dropouts" where brief gaps lasting a fraction of a second to a few seconds are created.
"But as far as it actually taking the digital file and sort of combining them and doing its own editing and changing things, I think that's nonsense. I've never seen it, I've never heard of a report of it."
By
Anonymous, at 2:18 p.m.
Grit:
"I will say that I think Stephen Harper is too smart to approve of something like that."
OMG! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!
That is rich!
WeeDram
By
WeeDram, at 9:55 p.m.
Saying "You're fired" couldn't be done more effectively than to put a spot on the ballot headed "Declined to Vote" - and when a majority of people voting choose "Declined to Vote" then the political parties get no money from the fedtreas through the Elex''n Expenses Act (which now gives them money for each vote a candidate from their party gets.)
And anyway, how come the party gets the money, instead of the individual candidate? When an MP "crosses the floor" he/she'd take his Elex'n Expenses money with him so he can run again. Isn't that the point - to give an MP money so he/she can run again?
bigroy
By
Anonymous, at 12:52 p.m.
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