I feel sorry for people who didn’t realize this happens. Anyone who has read blogs for even a few months, then listens to a talk radio hears the same tired talking points not only from radio hosts and frequent callers of the Conservative bend, but also others who get their kool-aid and unoriginality from different pitchers.
The Conservatives describe the practice as state-of-the-art politicking. A party spokesman said the practice offers enhanced transparency, and is used elsewhere in the world.
… in fine places like Burma, China, Rhodesia, Venezuela, Columbia, and parts of former East Germany.
“Enhanced transparency”. Gotta love it, eh? Also known as, “opaqueness“. Expect to hear it a lot on talk radio soon.
More comedy gold from the Canadian Press (same as Yahoo link):
Next time you’re listening to your favourite radio phone-in show, those pro-Conservative opinions you hear from callers might not be as spontaneous as they sound.
To my trained ear, pro-Conservative callers rarely sound spontaneous. They repeat the same things you’d hear on Fox News, or read on Small Dead Animals days or even years earlier. Even if they think it’s their own thought and life they are relaying to listeners, the speaker sounds like a broken record to me, never with a new twist or a real solution. The ideas are all full of holes or worse, lies. Heck, half of John Gormley Live’s Conservative callers couldn’t pass a Turing Test!
@hotmail.com
![[EFC Blue Ribbon - Free Speech Online]](http://www.efc.ca/images/efcfreet.gif)
leftdog | 26-Mar-08 at 8:09 am | Permalink
Bravo! Well said!
RobertJago | 26-Mar-08 at 9:12 am | Permalink
Have you never volunteered for a political action group?
They all have scripts and talking points. It’s not some third world thing - it’s an extension of the practices of such wicked groups as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace.
Yeah insulting your opponents is fun, isn’t it? But this is such thin gruel. You’re better than that.
Saskboy | 26-Mar-08 at 10:58 am | Permalink
Robert, I said other parties do it too. The Liberals in the report who chastise the Conservatives for doing this are a hypocritical hoot. If they consider this an insult, then perhaps they’d best avoid it by not putting their supporters’ brains into boxes, instead of having you appeal to my sense of political sportsmanship.
A major contributor to political apathy is this kind of radio scripted politics. It’s no wonder people think they’ve heard the same show over and over…
foottothefire | 26-Mar-08 at 11:52 am | Permalink
Thing to remember is it’s advertising and like the man said, “say whatever you want about me, JUST MENTION MY NAME EVERY TIME!”
Liberals have to take the massage out the Harper message by starting with the likes of…Harper isn’t a Conservative; doesn’t think like one, doesn’t create policy like one (doesn’t create policy at all, from all the appearances and so far, anyway) and, who can trust a man who doesn’t trust anybody else, let alone his own party members speaking for themselves? As for his academic specialty, Economics, who in their right mind would have concocted the ‘trust fund’ penalty let alone miss the initial target altogether.
Platty | 26-Mar-08 at 1:20 pm | Permalink
Yeah, and you know that the Liberals would never do anything like this, right?
Or would they?
Check out this and then you tell me.
Platty | 26-Mar-08 at 1:22 pm | Permalink
My bad, I hadn’t noticed that you have included the Liberals in your post. My aplologies.
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RobertJago | 26-Mar-08 at 2:24 pm | Permalink
“but also others who get their kool-aid and unoriginality from different pitchers”
I didn’t read that as including Liberals specifically - it’s broad and can include many of the civil society groups like the pro-lifers, pro-choicers et al. But if you meant it to include Liberals - then ‘my bad’. Only partially though , because I still don’t see the scandal in it. I don’t think it discourages participation or increase cynicism.
What increases cynicism are people like us, jumping on things like this. Missing the point and leaping on any stray set of details within it, that discourages serious politics, that’s why everything is so scripted now.
Nobody can make an argument longer than 5 syllables because by the time they get to the sixth, some blogger or hack has condemned them for the way they said it, or it’s insensitivity, or whatever… This is a far greater problem than the out of date form letters on the Tory home page.
Candace | 27-Mar-08 at 10:56 pm | Permalink
I guess you haven’t been following the primaries. Obama’s site is all over this sort of thing, and frankly, I’m okay with that (and of course the CPC doing that).
To say that this sort of thing (and talk radio) are what’s the problem with democracy is crap. Most people I work with don’t listen to talk radio, neither do I.
Wake up and smell the coffee, SB.
Saskboy | 28-Mar-08 at 10:36 pm | Permalink
“Nobody can make an argument longer than 5 syllables because by the time they get to the sixth, some blogger or hack has condemned them for the way they said it, or it’s insensitivity, or whatever… This is a far greater problem than the out of date form letters on the Tory home page.”
Robert, I think most bloggers get their material from scripts though, and if they don’t, they are talking with people who do. We may march to our own beats, but a simple surf around the partisan ‘rolls will show what I say is true. It’s almost half “Goracle is a liar” or “Bush ate my baby”.
==
Candace,
It’s not ‘THE’ problem, but it’s as Robert says a step in boring the partially disinterested to the point of giving up any attempt at debate or discussion. I admit it’s hard to talk to someone in a way that makes it a conversation instead of a debate where one side is wrong when they both have points in favour.