It may have been a fair question, but it’s not a campaign issue, and it’s certainly not worth the ink it’s getting, either in the press or in the blogs.
So let’s put it to rest with a simple test.
a) Line up the Party Leaders.
b) Show them a map of Canada.
c) Measure their erections.
d) Publish the findings. Text-only findings in family-friendly media, full frontal findings on a few select sites, by subscription only.
Thank God Belinda didn’t win the Conservative leadership. That would have complicated the process somewhat.
Finally some common sense. This is such a non-story. I think people will start seeing through this kind of spin. Does anyone really believe that Harper doesn’t love Canada? Come off it.
I wonder if we’re witnessing the demise of the sound bite? If you watched CBC news last night, you saw Paul Martin saying something like, “I have no trouble saying this, unlike Stephen Harper.” Then you saw Harper, when asked the question, talking about all good things about Canada.
This kind of word-twisting is dishonest, no matter who is doing it. In the 90s, this “War Room,” Warren Kinsella style spin was new(er), and people were more easily dumbfounded, shocked and awed, by it. I think, I hope, I get the sense that, the Canadian electorate is more sophisticated by now.
Liberal spinners and bloggers will talk about this ad nauseam, and people will be (are) sick of it.