PM CHIEF OF STAFF IAN BRODIE MAY HAVE LEAKED DAMAGING INFORMATION
The Prime Ministers' office is in damage control after two days of news reports indicated someone in his office may have leaked information to the media regarding US Senator Obama and some comments his staff apparently made to a Canadian consulate official in Chicago.
The leak which came to light the day before the Ohio primary, is credited with removing some of the lead Obama had over Clinton, and may well be responsible for the sounding of the death knell for the Obama campaign.
On Wednesday, Mr Harper denied that his long time friend and policy wonk Ian Brodie was responsible for the leak. On day two Mr Harper admitted that he would follow the recommendations of a "leak-plugging" investigation, but still refused to suspend or fire Brodie.
There is an eery precedent to this one already.
In 2002 a Jean Chretien staffer was overheard calling GW Bush a "moron". opposition members at the time led by Stephen Harper demanded the resignation of the aide for that comment which was "heard around the world" according to Harper at the time. The aide was forced to resign. And that was only over a slur of sorts.(although one could argue there may be some truth to the comment)
The real issue here is that should Obama be elected to the US presidency, then there is a fair chance he will be forced to examine and open up NAFTA, or he will certainly face the prospect of being called a liar, and that is a far more dangerous scenario then any moronic comment Chretiens' aide ever made.
Mr Harper has no alternative but to dismiss the rogue staffer that is responsible or he risks isolating Canada from the US in trade relations in the future.
I would think that interfering in the elctoral process in the USA is not in canadas' best interests.
Jim Bender
Woodstock
8 comments:
The "leak" was really a slip of the tongue during a press scrum. Leaks are intentional. Brodie just fucked up. What's hilarious is that Brodie referenced the Clinton campaign NOT Obama. The press either screwed it up or intentionally substituted one for the other.
So it may have had an impact on US politics. Big deal. The US meddles in our affairs all the time. Fuck 'em.
I see the rather new approach on this leak is that it was a silly slip of the tongue . . .
because politicians and their highest level staff often wander around and shoot the crap with journalists, hang out, chat up . . . oh, and casually mention that political candidates in another country made contact with our government to tell us something they said in the campaign was a lie.
Sort of like, "That snowbank out there reminds me of the lies Hillary (or was it Obama?) are piling up over NAFTA. ha ha. ha ha. nudge nudge."
Which is worse? And why would he not be fired over either?
Personally, sounds like a rovian slip to me. Journalists in DC always knew that Rove didn't talk to you unless he was executing a mission on some message or another.
Just ask Valerie Plame.
May have? Likely on purpose.
Everything is strategic to Harper. There are no accidents.
I was wondering why you present your blog as "news." It's opinion, which of course, you're 100% entitled to, but it's not news. News is supposed to be impartial and your articles are filled with bias. To say that what you present is news, and independent news at that, is just plain wrong.
Oh, and by the way, if you're going to write news - whether it's actually news, or opinion masquerading as news, you should / could really use an editor.
'News is supposed to be impartial and your articles are filled with bias."
You obviously don't read the papers.
I kinda look at things in two ways.
1/The "opinion" that I express is my own...and sometimes those of others..(mostly in the comments area) so I guess mostly what I write about is the stuff that I see, and what others see, and things that happen that no one else wants to discuss. (And it encourages discussion amongst others,giving everyone an alternative way to express themselves)
2/Shit yeah, I could use an editor. Never said I was a journalist...but I will say I am a concerned human being.
Jim
ps...you are more than welcome to send in a post or two anytime...biased or not...
As far as politics goes...I am left/right/centre/kinda all over the map....but I will say that seeing our Canada remain canadian is pretty damned important to me.
I wonder why the author of all of the James bashing comments spends their time looking at Jim, are they such a loser that they have nothing better to do than keep records of someone they obviously dislike?
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