Sandy: Toronto Star on Tory smear tactics?
Posted on 15 May 2008 by Sandy
Yes, you read that right. Today’s Toronto Star editorial is actually complaining about ”Tory” smear tactics in Ottawa. Can you believe that? How can The Star completely ignore the daily barrage of innuendo and gotcha questions in Question Period — that is coming “from” the Liberals “to” the Conservatives.
I will repeat that. During Question Period, it is the Liberals who ask the questions and the Conservatives who answer. Therefore, the smear is coming FROM the liberals TO the conservatives. In other words, how can anyone look at what is happening in Ottawa and actually blame the party that is being attacked?
For example, the Star quotes the following:
“When Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion criticized the government for misleading Parliament on Canadian troops handing over Afghan detainees, Harper retorted: “I can understand the passion (the Liberals) feel for Taliban prisoners. I just wish occasionally they would show the same passion for Canadian soldiers.”
It is truly astonishing that the Star would see this as a cheap shot against the Liberals. It was the Liberals who were more concerned with Taliban prisoners and had been hammering away at that fact for days. In other words, the Liberals were showing no such compassion for our troops and that was what the prime minister was getting at. The smear was coming from the Liberals. They knew perfectly well that it was an issue that the Afghanistan government had to deal with. They were simply trying to make the Tory’s look bad.
Yet, the Toronto Star sees only one side of this story — the Liberal side. While I have seen Liberal bias in many forms before, this one truly takes the cake. And, what is worse, is whoever wrote this editorial actually believes what they wrote.
Amazing. Truly amazing. It only goes to prove that “what each one of us sees” is influenced by “what each one of us believes.”
C/P at Crux-of-the-Matter.
Popularity: 33% [?]
May 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am
TO (RED) Star readership keeps dropping………… and they wonder why ?
Remember TO (RED) Star, wrote the article about the Toronto WHITE Jays a few years back, now talk about SMEAR !
May 15th, 2008 at 10:03 am
The Toronto Star?! Complaining about “smear tactics”?! Now THAT’s funny! There is no organization more guilty of smear tactics than the Toronto Star….followed closely by the Globe and Mail and the CBC.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Can you imagine how much utter contempt the ownership, editorial staff and journalists at the Star have for thier readership (and for Canada and non communist Canadians)?
Despite a declining readership they soldier on with their anti Canadian, anti Western, anti conservative bias. Even too far left for Toronto.
Cant be that their readership is unsatisfied with the product, or that the product could be improved. Nope, what they prove by continuing the same negative narrative despite alienating readers is that they are right and as such its their readers that must be stupid, wrong or just not “getting it”.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I don’t have a problem with Tor Star presenting the case this way. There are many people, a few I know, who would have no problem with the slant of this story.
My peeve is there is no paper in Canada that takes the Conservative or NDP side. Bias always favours the Liberals in most Canadian MSM and I have wished for years we had a media culture like UK’s, where all sides are represented by different sources.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:40 am
The Star’s owners and stakeholders as well as its few remaining readers are among many in Ontario who have been indoctrinated with a biased liberal progressive worldview since they entered grade school, and they probably don’t even notice much of the slant in its coverage. Lefties are like children who were never allowed to grow past what they were taught in kindergarten, such as that we should all share and everything should be equal, because they have never been shown any other point of view since dissenting opinion is not tolerated. I have even heard dippers complaining that the Star’s coverage is too far to the right as it represents only the liberal viewpoint. There is no point in paying attention to the Star since it is just one more product of the liberal progressive remaking of our society and although it is a tool that perpetuates liberal thinking, it is not the cause. We have to take back our educational systems if we want to effect meaningful change.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Harper himself is the king smear. He’s almost managed to keep the nut bags quiet but he continues to not manage himself.
On the other hand, how many elected politicians are not guilty of smearing the opposition? Seems to me that’s what they all do these days.
May 15th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Exhibit A: Larry (A product of Ontario’s liberal progressive re-educational system).
May 15th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Torstar trades at $13 down from a 52 week high of $24. It now has a market cap of only a billion, almost cut in half in the last year. It is now a tiny corporation, the Royal Bank just wrote off an equivalent amount this week.
So Jim Travers and all the Liberals at the Star will soon be out of a job at this rate. Therefore let them keep printing their smears, it won’t last much longer.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
”Tory” smear tactics in Ottawa? Maybe … but maybe the pot is calling the kettle … fat and bald … and your mother wears army boots …
From Hansard:
Oral Questions Tues. May 13
Hon. Jack Layton (Toronto—Danforth, NDP):
”Mr. Speaker, the problem is that $50 billion of past surpluses are being ***stolen by the government.*** That is why the workers are in court …”
Oral Questions Wed. May 14
Hon. Bob Rae (Toronto Centre, Lib.):
”Mr. Speaker, it would appear there are ***more ventriloquists over on the other side than there are on Sesame Street.***”
Oh yes! The opposition are paragons of respectful parliamentary behaviour and language.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Exhibit B: Take your pick. Any opposition questions this sitting of the legislature…..and Larry.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Nomdeblog makes my day. My goal has always been to live to see the TO Star turned into a parking lot. From the sound of things it could be a “happening thing”.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Travers and company can join AlJezeer, seems that is where cbcers are going.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I agree — turning the Star into a parking lot sounds good to me too. Exhibits A & B sound good too.
What a day! I didn’t even turn on Don Newman and MDL - which I usually alternate watching — 5 minutes here, five minutes there.
Today — no minutes anywhere.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I for one would be sorry to see the Star go down as my dog sure loves that paper.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
“I didn’t even turn on Don Newman and MDL ”
Never bother to watch them anymore. They lost me long ago.
May 16th, 2008 at 2:00 am
I suspect before they’d allow the Red Star to disintegrate, an assortment of unions would step up with the loot for a rescue package. More’s the pity.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Sorry Brian, the Progressive Conservatives where in power for most of my school days. Bill Davis I believe was education minister for some of that time and I believe he made big changes in the high schools system.
Speaking of school, isn’t that where the children call each other names?
May 16th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Bill Davis was a Progressive but he was no Conservative, since he was a big supporter of Trudeau, jumping right on the deficit spending, multi-cult, big government bandwagon once it got rolling, and was one of the few Premiers who championed the Liberal Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I attended school in Ontario about the same time as you Larry and I guess that just proves that wisdom doesn’t always come with age, but while spending on education grew by 500% during the 2 terms Davis was Education Minister, the many changes to the curriculum don’t seem to have helped if you look at the high drop out rate and the product they are turning out today.
Tell me Larry did you support John Tory’s bid to have Bill Davis make further changes to our high school systems? Rhetorical question, of course you didn’t. John Tory in name only, is also a Progressive who is no Conservative.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Larry McLean….the Ontario school system isn’t run by the provincial government….it is run by the radical left-wing, brain dead teachers unions.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Geez.You would almost think that Toronto Daily Pravda was an official publication of the Liberal Party of Canada spewing propaganda and inuendo in a never ending quest to return the “natural governing party” to power. 99% of the media in Canada leans to the left and is ever willing to spit polish Dion’s boots while giving a swift kick to the Harper government. This is nothing new from the comrades at No.1 Yonge Street and such addle brained socialists are to be pitied, rather than vilified. I met a Tor Star reporter years ago at a social funcition (he has since left). He seemed to share my own small “C” conservative viewpoint and I asked him how he could possibly work for a paper that he could not editorially agree with. “They pay well.” he replied. C’est la vie!