Vikileaks takes edge off robocall scandal
With Tories accused of electoral fraud and Liberals besmirched by own smear campaign, NDP must be quietly laughing
It is extraordinary that, just as Bob Rae’s Liberals were building up a tidy head of steam, smiting the Harper Conservatives in high moral dudgeon over robocalls and scavenging the lush wreckage of the Internet surveillance bull, they managed to drill themselves squarely in the kneecap with Vikileaks. Curly, Moe and Larry couldn’t have done it better.
The upshot is a relief of political heat on the Prime Minister’s Office, lessening likelihood of a judicial investigation into alleged electoral fraud, and perhaps a boost in support for the New Democrats. Thomas Mulcair, Brian Topp, Peggy Nash and the rest of the NDP leadership aspirants haven’t been around for the big robocalls show downVikileaks reveal. But they have to be high- fiving each other — figuratively, in the privacy of their Blackberrys — nevertheless.
The truth is that Liberal staffer Adam Carroll’s ( he is now technically a former Liberal staffer, having resigned Monday) astonishingly venomous, anonymous Twitter campaign against Public Safety Minister Vic Toews two weeks ago set a new low bar for personal poison in Canadian politics. His unmasking after an investigation by the Speaker has cost the Liberals their short- term advantage and significant credibility, Rae’s unconditional apology to Toews notwithstanding.
Small wonder Rae left the Commons Monday looking deflated. He was back in the House early Tuesday, declaiming about the Charter and the flaws of the online privacy bill. But Toews easily trumped him by, first, demanding more answers from the Liberals on Vikileaks, and second, reiterating that the Liberals themselves have in the past supported legislation almost identical to the Internet law. The wind had been in the Liberals’ sails: Now it’s gone.
Let’s consider first, just what Carroll — apparently using taxpayerfunded resources — did, and how. He set up an anonymous Twitter account, then began publishing salacious details of Toews’ divorce proceedings, which are on the public record in Manitoba. Everyone on the Hill is plugged into Twitter: The gory details were passed around instantly. Liberal MP Justin Trudeau then took the campaign nuclear by tweeting the Vikileaks feed to his 115,414 followers.
It’s important to note, in Trudeau’s defence, that Twitter is a gloriously spontaneous but also inordinately nasty, filterless forum in which anything goes. Originally a venue where users could post pithy, 140- character vignettes about their current whereabouts or thoughts, the service has morphed far beyond that. It is embedded now in politics and journalism, making both more vital, and more brutal. There’s no libel lawyer or grizzled copy editor guarding the feed to ensure fairness or good taste.
What’s different about Vikileaks is the moral context. This dirty trick was done, not by some callow, bug- eyed lout in his basement, flipping back and forth between Gears of War and his Twitter account, but by a veteran political staffer. And, it was done at the very centre of the Liberal party’s political tactical unit, the party research bureau. It received wide media coverage. It’s difficult to imagine how, at some point very early on, Rae did not sit down with his senior staff and say: Make sure we’re not involved. If we are, make sure it stops — now. Why did that not happen?
Possibly, here’s why: Many Liberals believed — certainly Trudeau did, judging from the delighted tone of his early Vikileaks tweets — that Toews, following his incendiary defence of the surveillance law (“He can either stand with us, or with the child pornographers”), had it coming.
Based on the grudging tone of his apology on Twitter to Toews Monday, Trudeau still feels that way. “Welcome to twitter, Vic,” Trudeau tweeted. “I’m sorry I pointed out where people could see your personal . .” That tweet ends — an apparent misfire. Soon after, Trudeau “apologizes” more fulsomely: “I’m sorry for my part in this, Vic. Now let’s move on to real issues. Like electoral fraud.”
A tart rejoinder from a Young Turk who clearly relishes the battle. Here’s the thing, though: Vikileaks, and Trudeau’s early, tacit endorsement of it, notwithstanding his denials of same, are the reason why what looked to be an unbeatable Liberal thrust at the Tories’ soft underbelly, has now devolved into big a pile of mush.
Last week the Conservatives were rocked back on their heels. Now they’re firmly planted and counterpunching. Rae was unusually quiet in the House Tuesday, and for good reason — glass houses.
There is one saving grace, and one only, for the Liberals and the Conservatives in all this: The New Democrats remain leaderless and are therefore not in a great position to capitalize. If Jack Layton were around, he’d be up 10 points.