Bra-vo, Mr. Lilley. *Very* well done. You are a credit to Principled Conservatives everywhere. You sure learned from the last time you stepped into the ring with the War Room Boss, didn't you?
Watching this, I can pinpoint the exact moment Lilley drops the ball. Lilley is asked for a quote from one of McGuinty's ministers that proves they're telling two different stories about the sex ed curriculum to different media outlets. Lilley can't provide a quote.
Let me repeat that because it bears repeating. He brought the War Room Boss into a Sun News studio, questioned him about the McGuinty government's policy, acted surprised (surprised!) when the War Room Boss provided a different version of events, and, while all of this was happening, he thought to himself, "I can say McGuinty's ministers said something different to two different media outlets. He'll never call me on it!"
You know what? Lilley's mike is the one that should have been cut. (And if you watch the video, that doesn't even happen, because War Room Boss can speak just fine a short while after Lilley issues the order.) Because Lilley threw rocks at a man with a machine gun, and he got shot down. Of course.
The quote in question is easy to find. It's right here. But I must warn you, that link will take you to Xtra, "Canada's Gay And Lesbian News". Why didn't Lilley have it? Why didn't some Sun News intern take 5 seconds, like I did, and look it up? Why didn't he have a video clip handy and 10 others like it?
Because Lilley, like every other Principled Conservative out there, is so angry-ed up about his Real Conservative Principles that he couldn't be bothered to do his homework. The War Room Boss is a lawyer. Finding the weak spot in people's arguments is what he does. I know that and I'm not even close to being a lawyer. Brian Lilley didn't know that. So he ended up cutting off his guest's mike to reassert control of the situation, and promptly got called a hypocrite on free speech. And that's what people are going to remember.
But why am I singling Lilley out? Didn't we just conclude an election campaign where the Liberals exploited every single crack in our armour until they had turned around a 20 point lead? And when they started trying to exploit those cracks, did we go after their cracks? No way. We just kept saying the same things over and over again and wondering why it wasn't working. Well friends, it wasn't working because the Liberals had popped our balloon and we didn't try to pop theirs.
We don't want to show these people up for the enormous frauds that they are. We just take for granted that our Conservative Principles will carry us through.
Why didn't Lilley say, "There's no way you people can legislate homophobia out of existence"? I wrote a whole blogpost about that! And it's a perfectly conservative and sensible thing to say, and nobody is going to call you a homophobe for saying it! Maybe call on teachers to start doing their goddamned jobs! Maybe call McGuinty out for not being tough enough when it comes to disciplining bullies and the parents of bullies! Anything but "We have a poll and the poll is right" when the guy across from you is saying it isn't!
*Was* the poll factual? Who cares?! Nobody even remembers there WAS a poll anymore! Just like nobody remembers half of what McGuinty and Hudak said during the election anymore! It's not like Lilley could tell you whether the poll was factual or not. He didn't look too hard at it before he brought it to a debate with the War Room Boss, whose *job* it is to find his opponents' mistakes.
You know what's really hilarious about this? Sun News castigated Hudak for not doing a good enough job during the election.
But based on this, do you think *they* could have done a better job????
I agree..you don't come to a knife fight and leave your knife in your office! I hope he clears it up, but it may be too late.
ReplyDeleteI think you don't want to have anyone talking about that poll either because it makes Lilley look even worse. Here's what Abacus said about its own poll: "Since the online survey was not a random, probability based sample, a margin of error could not be calculated." Which means, of course, that error is a given. To say nothing of the questions themselves which, as Warren points out, are actually false if not lies.
ReplyDeleteSo why would Sun News pay money - to Abacus to conduct the poll and Lilley to present it - for such bogus tripe?
I think an interesting thing here is that the provincial Progressive Conservatives are like the federal Liberals: they did some great things when in government, but they sort of float along thinking that long-ago history and their own assumption of shared disgust for the current leader is enough to dump the devil you know for the devil you don't. It isn't and rarely is.
I watched this "interview" as well, and while I'm not as critical of Lilley, I do agree that Lilley and his team should have been more prepared. If you're going to get in the ring with a pig, you should be ready to get covered in pig shit.
ReplyDeleteYes Lilley did clear it up tonight on Byline.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/the-truth-hurts/1342945621001
Brian was unprepared for Spinsella, but that won't happen again.
Now he knows Spinsella's game.
Half truths and twisted versions on the truth.
TangoJuliette sez:
ReplyDeleteOn his Thursday broadcast, Lilley cleared up any possible confusion on this matter. Warrin' Kinsella's quote, correct as it is, happens to be about one-quarter of the overall segment that was, and still correctly remains, the irrefutable truth supporting Lilley's claims.
w.k. reverts back to the age-old proven tactic of selective analysis. Cherry-picking through claims and contentions in an attempt to disparage Lilley's contentions, one fact has, still does and shall forever remain inviolable. As then, so now - text, out of context remains pretext.
Lilley was correct at the onset, remains correct still.
ttfn
tj
t.e. & o.e.
Thank you for this post. I've seen some Conservative bloggers actually believe Lilley won that debate,I suppose from the "Conservative principles shining through" school.
ReplyDeleteLilley was made to look the amateur,Kinsella the victim of Lilley's vindictiveness when he was caught unprepared.
If I was to judge it by boxing standards on a ten point-must system: This Round, Kinsella 10 Lilley 8.
This isn't the first time I've seen Conservative amateurs lose to wily Liberal/Dip veterans. Whoever is managing these moments should do a better job of matching the Conservative spokesman's experience and debating ability to the guys from the Opposition. There is little benefit to sending a Conservative Lightweight against a Liberal Heavyweight.
This Round was Kinsella/Klitschko versus Willie De Witt. It wasn't pretty.
One thing all we Conservatives need to do is to decide how serious we are about creating the kind of Canada we want.
ReplyDeleteThe Liberals will insist black is white if it means one more step forward along the road to Progress. The people of Ontario are suffering because the price we have to pay for their better tomorrow is too high. But if you ask them, they'll tell you you never had it so good.
Are we half as serious as they are? Then we had better start preparing 10x as much as they do. Which means no forgetting quotes. No room for War Room Boss to maneuver. No quarter given.