Here’s something else to keep an eye on. Lisa Raitt is the Conservative candidate in Halton running against the conveniently Liberal incumbent, Garth Turner. Lisa has a “blog” — something that we know because her “cookie cutter” Conservative website has been badly modified to purport as much.
But uh-oh! There’s a slight problem with her so-called “blog” — it doesn’t work. Well, at least that is if commenting on it or interacting in any way is the essential criterion by which we determine what’s meant by that blogalicious term. As Canadian Cynic has previously observed, it didn’t allow any comments at all. Each post (called an “article” here) indicated that “comments are closed” — not that they were ever open.
A subtle change has taken place since then however. Shazam! Now, at the bottom of each post, it says: “No comments so far.” Below that is a hyperlink indicating “No comments.” A bit of a mixed message — at once inviting and prohibitive. When the link is clicked on, it simply takes you back up to the top of the page — a bad layout that offers up a lot of white space forcing the reader to scroll back down to even read the “article.” And again, no comments.
Cynic has launched a “comment watch” to see “how long it takes for CPoC candidate and hermetically-sealed douchebag Lisa Raitt to finally open up her blog for public comments.”
Here at RT3.0 we’re placing our bets on a complete “disappearance” of the blog for one reason or another before being opened to any kind of input from the rabble in the way the Garth subjects himself to public input (whether it be bouquets or brickbats) over at his place day in and day out.
Update: Some obvious corrections made and a new graphic added. I’ll change it and re-post a new one every day the comments aren’t open to public input. Also, we note that the status has changed back to “comments are off”…
Update2: Hey Lisa… Not that you’re probably in the least bit interested, but THIS is how it’s supposed to be done.
Red Tory v.3.0.3 
not that they were ever open.
According to Jennifer Smith at Runesmith’s Canadian Content they were open but got snapped shut when some people had the impertinence to actually ask challenging questions.
Lisa Raitt didn’t leave her high-paying job as CEO of the Toronto Port Authority to be subjected to questions by elitist rabble.
Oops. I see I spelled her name wrong. I was in a rush to get to an appointment in town.
I blame all the pot in BC ……. for everything .
You blame all the pot for our budget surplus and leading rate of GDP? Interesting.
Bud surplus ?=^GDP …….. effing cash crops .
I highly suspect that Lisa Raitt’s reasoning for not allowing comments is that she has little need for the banal idioms coming from anonymous bloggers living in Waterloo, Ontario. [Or from wherever Ti-Guy happens to reside]
As for Mr.Turner, well, he’s an attention-monger. What else would one expect from his shrine to himself?
RA — I’m no particular fan of Garth (heck, I’ve called him a “douche” on more than a few occasions for this or that reason), but don’t you think there’s something to be said for openly engaging with his constituents (and the wider public at large) on the web and trying to give people a more direct way of interacting with a member of parliament?
I would agree about the open engagement aspect , if it were true . It isn’t .
DEATHWATCH! Heh. I like it.
What’s Raffaello gassing on about?
I would agree about the open engagement aspect , if it were true . It isn’t .
Why isn’t it?
Bill — How so? Because he’s banned some trolls and sock-puppeting operatives?
^ Selective posting and deletion of comments .
What’s becoming funny is the running commentor war between Garth’s and Janke’s respective sites . As far as partisan bullshit goes , we’ll hit rock bottom end of …… hmmmmm …… well never .
“^ Selective posting and deletion of comments .”
What was the nature of those comments?
I linked this somewhere around 1 pm today . Stayed up for a couple of hours and was taken down .
Sorry , this .
I linked this somewhere around 1 pm today . Stayed up for a couple of hours and was taken down .
How do I know you really did that? And was the link the only thing you included?
Listen, you trolls don’t dialogue in good faith. You show up at people’s blogs to antagonise them.
No one has to put with that at all.
Bill — I’m not as jaded as Ti-Guy and am willing to take your claim on good faith. That being the case, then it sucks. As I said, I’m no fan of Garth and what he does. Did I mention that I’ve called him a “douche”? I’ve had a not altogether dissimilar experience that’s soured me on him.
Perhaps it’s more that I respect the intent of what he’s doing and the attempt to carry it out, rather than what goes on in actual practice. Crap like deleting a link because it reflects poorly on your own leader or whatever is, quite frankly, imho crap.
Damn! I wish this thing had a Preview feature… double crap. Grrrrr.
Yes , there was snark . There was no profanity of any kind , it was not a personal attack on anybody . I’m going through my history (Mac , Safari ) and nothing even shows up that I was even there today .
I’m not as jaded as Ti-Guy and am willing to take your claim on good faith.
I’m not jaded. These guys lie all the time, Red. Or hadn’t you noticed?
I’ve only posted once or twice on Garth’s blog, a long while back, but I follow it at least once a day. He’s put up with more than his fair share of ugly, vicious, defamatory right wing trolls who are only there to antagonise.
Compare that to the censorious Conservative Bloggers…who moderate everything, delete comments without explanation and disappear entire posts. And none them is an MP.
I don’t think Garth bans people for no good reason .
He most certainly cherry picks what is left up .
It was “disappeared” and he moved on. I thought that was kind of amusing, but it didn’t exactly speak very highly to his character…
I know. But remember…the wingnuts turn these incidents into pogroms and crusades and he is a politician…the only MP who’s maintained a blog consistently throughout the last Parliament, I might add…not like Soilberger who pulled his as fast as Harper could say Mach schnell!
Ti-Guy — Hmmm. I’m trying to be a little more discriminating that simply assuming everyone on the right is a hopeless liar (although many seem to be).
I’ve got no reason to disbelieve Bill. He’s commented here for quite a while now and doesn’t strike me as the type that would do that. Most of his comments are kind of funny in a wry sort way… which is, I believe, how they’re intended.
My “spidey-sense” doesn’t detect any deceit here.
As for Garth, not to get all petty or anything, but you might remember that a little while back, he swiped a pic from my old blog and used it without any attribution on one of his posts and when I lightly chided him about it — heck, I even offered up a better version of it for him to use — he simply changed to picture to something else altogether and didn’t even acknowledge what had happened.
The pic in question was simply “disappeared” and he moved on as if nothing had happened. I thought that was kind of amusing, but it didn’t exactly speak very highly to his character…
Hey, did you delete some comments? 😉
I know. But remember…the wingnuts turn these incidents into pogroms
Garth is Garth . The intent of what he has tried to do is commendable . At the end of the day , the final product , most definitely is not .
Ti-Guy — Yes, I know and that’s why I’m more than happy to cut him a lot of slack. I know that he takes a lot of shit from all kinds of people (from all across the country), is the target of focused attacks by thuggish trolls and the butt-end of much pent-up hostility by the wingnuts and right-wing zealots. And then of course there are the nit-pickers looking for a “Gotcha!” moment at every possible opportunity. Not to mention the useless asswipes and wankers making his “real” life a misery, stalking him, posting personal information about his housing arrangements, measuring the depth of the post-holes of his signs to support their latest outrage d’jour and so on.
There’s aren’t too many MPs that could withstand that kind of crap for a few days, let along weeks, months or years…
So of course I respect his efforts in that regard and applaud his fortitude while still reserving the right the take a swipe at him myself from time to time for dissembling now and again and behaving in ways that are less than forthright and for being a rather smug, narcissistic, self-aggrandizing media hound.
Ti-Guy — Busted! Yes, I did. I noticed a spelling mistake and decided to consolidate two into one and then reposted it. My bad. 🙂
Wry , indeed .
for being a rather smug, narcissistic, self-aggrandizing media hound.
Well, that’s still better than Conservative.
Yes, those are all too human frailties. The afflictions that bedevil “conservatives” are another matter altogether.
Well, that’s still better than a former Conservative.
Fixed , your welcome .
Hey, how’s that new campaign co-chair working out for you?
That just came to mind for some inexplicable reason…
?
Well, that’s still better than a former Conservative.
He was a progressive Conservative. Nothing like the CRAP Conservatives we have now.
internet blackjack.
we all know what kind of a provocative, disingenuous, phoney conservo-troll d. fraud is, so the likelyhood that he’s lying is greater than the likelyhood that he’s telling the truth.
double down.
KEvron
David Emerson… former Liberal, floor-crosser, Minister of International Trade & Foreign Affairs… retired because flying a lot gave him nose bleeds… now co-chair of the Conservative campaign.
You’re the genius Kev , how do I go back and retrieve the comment from earlier today , at Garth’s ? Assuming , of course , I made it .
“Fixed. You’re welcome.”
fixed. you’re welcome.
KEvron
You’re the genius Kev , how do I go back and retrieve the comment from earlier today , at Garth’s ? Assuming , of course , I made it .
Well, now that you’ve admitted you posted it to antagonise him (what you call *snark*), I believe you, Bill D.
And it deserved to be removed. No one has to take that.
David Emerson… former Liberal, floor-crosser, Minister of International Trade & Foreign Affairs… retired because flying a lot gave him nose bleeds… now co-chair of the Conservative campaign.
I’m about as keen on floor crossing as you are , I guess .
The comment I made at Garth’s was , if not word for word close to this :
Green Shift meet the underside of the bus . Now you can sell Canadians on managing our finances , while explaining the state of your’s .
“Fixed. You’re welcome.”
As I said Kev , genius .
Green Shift meet the underside of the bus . Now you can sell Canadians on managing our finances , while explaining the state of your’s
Wow, you were being a real jerk. No wonder it got deleted.
…….while explaining the state of your’s .….
Was your party’s .
absolutely deletion worthy, so you might as well tell us what you really said.
KEvron
Hmmmmm ……. a lesson in etiquette from Ti-Guy , I am properly chastised .
i should tell you guys about the comment i left on raitt’s blog, which got deleted….
KEvron
C’mon super genius KEv , show me how to get my non-comment back .
Hmmmmm ……. a lesson in etiquette from Ti-Guy , I am properly chastised .
I’m so fucking sick and tired of you fucking idiotic right wingers and your dull, juvenile responses.
You went over there to troll, your comment got canned. Stop whining about it and shut the fuck up.
just as soon as i figure out how to get mine back, i promise.
KEvron
You went over there to troll, your comment got canned. Stop whining about it and shut the fuck up.
Most definitely yes I was there to poke Garth in the ribs . My comment did not get canned , it was posted , and later deleted after a couple of hours ……. nuance , I suppose .
Who’s whining ? This is funny .
Green Shift meet the underside of the bus . Now you can sell Canadians on managing our finances , while explaining the state of your’s .
That’s not the underside of the bus since the Green Shift is still there. Having a plank hit the underside of a bus would be like a party had a point of wanting fixed election dates and then suddenly reversed it… or making a point of saying that you want to make the Senate more democrat, but once in power you throw a person in there and making him a cabinet minister… or saying you’d make a point of having a better relationship with the premiers and then have your finance minister feud with a premier.
Going back to Her Hemetically Sealedness… I keep on thinking of poor Jason Kenney and his press conference. It was a little like a pinata rush. No wonder they want life in a bell jar.
Who’s whining ? This is funny .
No. Stephen Colbert is funny. Witless trolling and right wing taunting is juvenile, irritating and tedious.
As with Colbert , when it’s the left , all is well .
Bill — I’m about as keen on floor crossing as you are , I guess .
Like most, I tend to frown on it, but recognize that sometimes there are compelling reasons that transcend partisanship that make it understandable. In other cases there can be significant, irreconcilable differences of one sort or another that arise. And so on.
My current MP switched from Alliance to Liberal (although, unlike Emerson, he did it in the proper way), so I’ve got no problem with crossing the floor per se, but it depends on how and why it’s done.
As with Colbert , when it’s the left , all is well .
I guess that’s the wry sense of humour Red so fond of.
Sharon — LOL. Thanks for the link.
That Kady… what a delightful little scamp she is!
Well, it may not be full on funny, but it’s entertaining. Still, I agree, if I were Garth, I’d have deleted that too. Anyway, that topic has been slagged all over on the news. Dion and the Liberals have shattered what the media has tried to spin. He hasn’t ditched the Green Shift. He said, after he said the media made it his platform, that it was “the foundation” of their full platform. More announcements coming from the Libs they said. I believe them.
I’m going to have start bringing popcorn to read threads like this 🙂
While we’re on the subject of floor crossers…..
It almost always smacks of opportunism . I have a real problem with MP’s being elected representing their constituents , and “crossing over ” with relative ease , and fewer repercussions .
Carrie , did the pillars get thrown under the bus as well , at last count , there were three . 🙂
Bill — Politics and opportunism… Who would have figured those two things might go together? Will wonders never cease… 😉
Still, I agree, if I were Garth, I’d have deleted that too.
Two questions .
1. Why?
2. Why bother posting it in the first place ?
2. Why bother posting it in the first place ?
All the comments there go up right away. He sometimes goes back and deletes them. He’s admitted it before on his blog.
It got deleted because it was taunting, juvenile and trollish.
All the comments there go up right away.
I call bullshit .
I don’t go there very often but the comment management does seem kind of wonky. Sometimes they go up right away and other times not.
Anyhooo…. Did you know that we missed “Talk like a Pirate Day”? It just came to my attention that it was Friday. Damn.
“All the comments there go up right away.”
which can’t be said for certain connie blogs i know….
KEvron
“Did you know that we missed ‘Talk like a Pirate Day’?”
arrgh!
KEvron
which can’t be said for certain connie blogs i know….
Please , do tell .
which can’t be said for certain connie blogs i know….
There is not one single Connie blog where anyone can squat there week after week and troll the shit out of it.
Give me your definition of trolling , and I’ll give you mine , and then some .
Comment moderation and censorship isn’t a uniquely “conservative” thing. There are lots of sites on Liblogs that employ this tactic for completely mysterious reasons…
Mysterious to whom ?
Comment moderation and censorship isn’t a uniquely “conservative” thing.
Pretty much, I’d say.
Give me your definition of trolling , and I’ll give you mine , and then some .
And then some what?
Anyway, when you talk to someone, it’s not an act of good faith to want to antagonise them. Either you want to challenge them on the correctness of their arguments, or you’re looking for clarification, or you’re there to correct a point of information or you’re there to chat casually.
Practically anything else is trolling.
You haven’t trolled here so much, but you trolled over at Garth’s and your deserved to be deleted.
Give me your definition of trolling , and I’ll give you mine , and then some .
Yes KEv , that was ripped from LOTR ( I Think from Gimli , The Two Towers …… The Riders of Rohan ).
Anyway, when you talk to someone, it’s not an act of good faith to want to antagonise them.
Ti-Guy , right ?
On a serious note to Ti-Guy .
Garth is Dion’s communication guy . If I have something to convey to him , I will . His blog is public domain and supposedly “UNEDITED” , his words , not mine . You don’t pretend to have an interest in what I have to say . He does . Again …. nuance I guess ….
Bill — Mysterious to me, of course. Are you looking for me to explain why it’s “mysterious”? If so, then you should ask that.
Generally speaking, I enjoy your minimalism, but it can get a bit wearisome if you’re actually serious about asking a question or getting an answer and not just poking things with a stick as was the case over at Garth’s place where it seems you were just being deliberately provocative.
Red ,
I was born a stick-pokerer . And as far as being provocative , you read his comments threads , correct ? As far as balance , how would you rate his comments ?
Ti-Guy — Pretty much, I’d say.
No, sorry… you’re wrong. Do I really have to go through a list of Liberal bloggers that moderate comments? I have no idea what their policy on “censorship” (or their particular “rules of the road”) is because I couldn’t be bothered to comment in the first place, or go back to follow up and see if there’s a response. The dynamic of online exchange seems lost on them.
But anyway… Just start right off the bat with Jason Cherniak. Moderates comments and (though I’ve never bothered to test the bounds) would likely adhere to the same “family friendly” standards as those of Joanne, NB Tory Lady, Hunter or any number of other delicate, faint-prone ninnies.
Bill — Me, of all people, would never presume to excoriate someone for poking things with sticks. After all, it’s what I do for a non-living and it’s likely a good part of why you’re here in the first place.
Gee, what’s the title of this thread again? Oh yeah… a “Death Watch” on a Conservative candidate’s blog. Nothing at all provocative about that…
As I said, I don’t visit Garth’s place that much but I have on occasion waded through certain threads and he is most definitely provocative with his snarky remarks tacked onto the original comments. A pernicious tactic, if you ask me.
The dynamic of online exchange seems lost on them.
Money ……. fucking gold .
“Please , do tell .”
look around you, fuckarse.
KEvron
so, let’s sum up:
1. garth allows comments on his blog.
2. lisa doesn’t.
3. d. fraud is a lying troll.
did i miss anything?
KEvron
No.
Just wanted to say that there’s a big difference between moderated comments and having no comments on one’s blog… just look at old Five Feet of Fury.
Sharon, no thanks, I don’t want to have to gouge out my eyes today.
So what? Garth Turner is a nutcase…
Why would she want to wade in the mud with him.
He’s lost thanks to his party and leader – not that he even had a chance on his own merits.
I have written Ms. Raitt’s technical staff and communication people in regards to a comment I received at BDBO that she may have received threats.
I’ll let you know the response from Ms. Raitt’s staff.
I think it is imperative accusations/ knowledge of threats to a candidate be taken seriously and drawn to the attention of the public, don’t you?
I found your blog by Googling “Lisa Raitt is a douche” LOL LOL LOL
I support privacy. But Harper assured himself government by utilizing his MSM in compromising S.Dion’s privacy. As far as I’m concerned Conservatives have implied an MP’s personal privacy is not as valuable as are the political points scored off destroying it. Cons niavely assume only their conspiracy of RCMP, MSM, will use this invasive strategy.
The last election, the message sent was kill our privacy until the intrusion makes the job unpalatable. Or do those faggot Conservatives think the left will never fight back using asymptotic warfare to neutralize Asper and CTV brainwashing??
“I found your blog by Googling ‘Lisa Raitt is a douche’ LOL LOL LOL”
i’ll lol to that!
KEvron
Little surprise that Stephen Harper’s pet (a “rising star” of the Conservative Party, apparently) is a gutless, Grade-A douchebag.
We tried to warn the good folks of Halton, but would they listen? Nooooo…