Anti-Ignatieff prank sent through BBC address

[jdobbin]

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTV...hub=TorontoHome

An anonymous opponent is targeting Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff with a rather pricey political prank laundered through a BBC mailing address.

Members of the parliamentary press gallery recently received a mass mailing of plain brown manila envelopes, postmarked London.

Inside, without cover letter or explanation, was a colour reproduction of a critical, four-year-old Ignatieff profile in the British publication New Humanist -- complete with particularly damning paragraphs highlighted in yellow.

The only clue to the mailing's origin was the London postmark and a return address sticker, which an Internet search quickly pinpointed as the location of BBC TV's head office.

Most of the press gallery have seen this article before. I read it online quite a while ago.

The Tories, according to some radio reports are threatening action if names are named. It is rich complaining about unsubstantiated claims.

I have no idea who sent the letters but it is a very expensive endeavour. I doubt it was from official Tory party officials. Whoever did it has met with scorn though from the press gallery.

[Bryan]

The Tories, according to some radio reports are threatening action if names are named. It is rich complaining about unsubstantiated claims.

Considering how often the Liberals and the MSM have been caught lying about things the CPC supposedly have done, I'd make sure they knew I was ready to sue if they pull it again too.

[jdobbin]

Considering how often the Liberals and the MSM have been caught lying about things the CPC supposedly have done, I'd make sure they knew I was ready to sue if they pull it again too.

Ah, there are those unsubstantiated claims again. Funny how those go round and round again.

[Topaz]

It sounds something these Tories would do, $1000.00 to send, they make over what 125,000, whats a 1000? They boost about how many millions they have in the party, who would benefit the most with the Libs having bad PR?......the Tories. Maybe they didn't actual do it.... but they could have had someone in England do it, the possibilties are great, but in the end who benfits the most...Tories.

[M.Dancer]

It sounds something these Tories would do, $1000.00 to send, they make over what 125,000, whats a 1000? They boost about how many millions they have in the party, who would benefit the most with the Libs having bad PR?......the Tories. Maybe they didn't actual do it.... but they could have had someone in England do it, the possibilties are great, but in the end who benfits the most...Tories.

Actually I think it would be the Not So New Democratic Party who will benefit most if support for Ignatieff and the Liberal bleeds away. With the Video Professor trying to move his party away from the radical fringe and to the centre, and encouraged by the Obama campaign, NDP dirty tricks are all the more likely.

They've done it before...

[myata]

Here we go, Tweedledum and Tweedledee pointing fingers at each other, trying to figure out who's more apt to employ dirtier tricks. Again. Surprise.

Of course they could try instead to distinguish themselves clearly with differences in policies. If there were any. As it stands, we're talking about a fall election, but why? Would anybody happen to know?

[punked]

I think they wanted just what you did Dobbin more press on this.

[Topaz]

Actually I think it would be the Not So New Democratic Party who will benefit most if support for Ignatieff and the Liberal bleeds away. With the Video Professor trying to move his party away from the radical fringe and to the centre, and encouraged by the Obama campaign, NDP dirty tricks are all the more likely.

They've done it before...

Should we get the government to find out, since maybe they are going to be the ones that look guilty? I REALLY would like to know who and why did it.

[myata]

Did what, exactly? 1,000 "brown envelopes" (probably less) by $2 (approx) = $2,000.

Anybody (virtually) in this wide world could have done that. Quite possibly, Lord Black have given more in tips, on occasion.

And here we have to spend more of our govt. hard earned bucks to figure out the mystery? Just because it could do irrepairable damage to otherwise impeckable image of Mr Tweedledum? I think if anything it could signify the end of (all meaningful) politics in this country.

[jdobbin]

Here we go, Tweedledum and Tweedledee pointing fingers at each other, trying to figure out who's more apt to employ dirtier tricks. Again. Surprise.

Of course they could try instead to distinguish themselves clearly with differences in policies. If there were any. As it stands, we're talking about a fall election, but why? Would anybody happen to know?

Feel free not to vote then. Or do a protest vote. Or run yourself and stop complaining about there is no one good out there.

You obviously have the only great ideas out there so put up: announce that you are running and change the system.

[jdobbin]

Did what, exactly? 1,000 "brown envelopes" (probably less) by $2 (approx) = $2,000.

Anybody (virtually) in this wide world could have done that. Quite possibly, Lord Black have given more in tips, on occasion.

And here we have to spend more of our govt. hard earned bucks to figure out the mystery? Just because it could do irrepairable damage to otherwise impeckable image of Mr Tweedledum? I think if anything it could signify the end of (all meaningful) politics in this country.

No need to investigate. The media seems to be treating with scorn since it is info they already had. The only reason it has been mentioned is that someone took the time and effort and money to send it to every press gallery member.

[jdobbin]

I think they wanted just what you did Dobbin more press on this.

Who wanted more press?

[punked]

Who wanted more press?

The conservatives wanted more press for this whole Iggy=Bush thing. That is my belief they are trying to drive the left to the NDP so there will be no election in the fall and they can call one after Harper claims credit for they Olympics.

[jdobbin]

The conservatives wanted more press for this whole Iggy=Bush thing. That is my belief they are trying to drive the left to the NDP so there will be no election in the fall and they can call one after Harper claims credit for they Olympics.

According to some in the media, the Tories want the NDP do more to link Ignatieff to the U.S. and have been disappointed they haven't.

Edited August 18, 2009 by jdobbin

[punked]

According to some in the media, the Tories want the NDP do more to like Ignatieff to the U.S. and have been disappointed they haven't.

To be honest I think we around about too, but not with these tactics I don't think. I think we will start in Question period asking about some of his writings, I don't think we have enough money to run adds but we will try to point out what he has said.

I don't think this came from us, although who am to say it didn't, maybe it came from the Liberals who are seeing a dipp in donations in the summer and want something to send out too their base to get money. Personally I think it came from the Cons they have hit their ceiling in polling and need people to break to the NDP out of the Liberals to stop an election.

[jdobbin]

I don't think this came from us, although who am to say it didn't, maybe it came from the Liberals who are seeing a dipp in donations in the summer and want something to send out too their base to get money. Personally I think it came from the Cons they have hit their ceiling in polling and need people to break to the NDP out of the Liberals to stop an election.

A dip in donations? I think not. As has been detailed in many newspapers, the one thing that Igntaieff has done right is getting Rocco Rossi as a fundraiser. He is bringing money in small donations from all over the country. Igntaieff just brought in huge money in Atlantic Canada according to the papers.

I don't think anyone is thinking the Liberals are trying to be too clever by half by sending anti-Ignatieff material to garner sympathy. Nor do I think this comes from some sort of dissension. The party is more united than has been seen since the mid-1990s. In fact, it seems less factional than those times.

I suppose in the end this could be a former BBCer with an axe to grind but it seems a lot of money to spend to influence politics in Canada. More British could care two figs for Canadian politics.

[punked]

A dip in donations? I think not. As has been detailed in many newspapers, the one thing that Igntaieff has done right is getting Rocco Rossi as a fundraiser. He is bringing money in small donations from all over the country. Igntaieff just brought in huge money in Atlantic Canada according to the papers.

I don't think anyone is thinking the Liberals are trying to be too clever by half by sending anti-Ignatieff material to garner sympathy. Nor do I think this comes from some sort of dissension. The party is more united than has been seen since the mid-1990s. In fact, it seems less factional than those times.

I suppose in the end this could be a former BBCer with an axe to grind but it seems a lot of money to spend to influence politics in Canada. More British could care two figs for Canadian politics.

I am not saying that is where it came from, I am saying there is just as much a chance that came from the Liberals as the NDP. We don't have the money to waste on this crap, and if it was the NDP then that is all it was a waste of money.

[Keepitsimple]

It's interesting that the media has made no mention of the content of the article......and the dismissal of the entire event as a prank seems to attempt to discredit the article itself or at least distance it from the contrent......which keep in mind was written before Ignatieff joined the Liberals and thus reflects the thinking of many within Mr. Ignatieff's intellectual domain. Here are a few quotations and a link:

Once a liberal pin-up and intellectual leader of the global human rights movement, Michael Ignatieff has now fallen out with some of his closest friends. Laurie Taylor tracks an acrimonious battle

Yet this success story, of a liberal intellectual coming into his own, is rapidly turning very sour. Instead of being regarded as a champion of human rights, Ignatieff is now being seen, in the words of one senior academic, as 'a virus in the human rights movement'. Until recently this might have been written off as an intellectual spat. But recent events look likely to precipitate a full scale divorce between Ignatieff and his former colleagues.

It is at this point that Gearty rounds on Michael Ignatieff, who he describes as "probably the most important figure to fall into this category of hand-wringing, apologetic apologists for human rights abuses."

But many such allies felt far less comfortable when Ignatieff went on to use the same argument to justify the second invasion of Iraq in March 2003. To go along with Ignatieff now meant bypassing the United Nations, ignoring the entreaties of former close European allies, and overlooking the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction. As the death toll mounted in Iraq, it also became necessary to argue that such extreme sacrifices were worth making if they contributed to the end of 'terrorism'.

But with the publication of The Lesser Evil in 2004, and a series of articles which expanded on aspects of the book's arguments in the New York Times, he also began to incur the wrath of liberals and, perhaps more significantly, former colleagues in the human rights movement. The critics began to line up. In a 2005 article called 'Exporting Democracy, Revising Torture: The Complex Missions of Michael Ignatieff', Mariano Aguirre concentrated particularly upon the seven pages in The Lesser Evil which dealt with the question of torture.

A particularly hostile review in the New York Times in July 2004 by international relations professor, Ronald Steel, began with this acerbic summary of Ignatieff's thesis: "Michael Ignatieff tells us how to do terrible things for a righteous cause and come away feeling good about it."

To some, this concern about 'reputation' is best explained by a bizarre development in Ignatieff's career path: his apparent new interest in pursuing political office in his home country of Canada. When this rumour first began to circulate there was widespread scepticism. But this was soon swept aside by the proliferation of 'informed' newspaper articles on Ignatieff's new ambitions. "If the political supporters of Michael Ignatieff have their way," wrote the Boston Globe on 19 July this year, "the human rights scholar and journalist may soon abandon his post as director of Harvard's Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy and enter the political fray." Neither would Ignatieff confine himself to running for parliament at the next Canadian election. "Power brokers have recruited Toronto-born Ignatieff to return to Canada with the intention of grooming him to succeed Prime Minister Paul Martin." This theory has been reinforced by the recent announcement that Ignatieff is leaving Harvard to take up a year-long post at the University of Toronto. The Toronto Star on 26 August, suggested this is a prelude to a bid for leadership of the Liberal Party. Many Canadian pundits have been hailing Ignatieff, with his looks, charm and intelligence, as a liberal gift from heaven: another Pierre Trudeau.

Link: http://newhumanist.org.uk/1299

[jdobbin]

It's interesting that the media has made no mention of the content of the article.....

It is because, as Maclean's has mentioned, the article has been seen by most of the press gallery and the passages mentioned in the extensive profiles done in the Globe, Post and Maclean's.

[M.Dancer]

It's interesting that the media has made no mention of the content of the article......

The Globe and Mail yesterday linked the Humanist article in their coverage of the prank.

[Keepitsimple]

The Globe and Mail yesterday linked the Humanist article in their coverage of the prank.

Good to hear that. I get the Star - a bit of a masochist I guess.