At 23:50 on October 16, there are 60 articles on Liblogs.
Three of them are anti-Dion, two mildly so, one adamantly so.
Sixteen of them are pro-Dion, most wildly so.
Most of the wildly pro-Dion posts assume that everyone else is calling for his ouster, even though there seems to be little evidence of that. Some of the pro-Dion posts say things like "[the Liberal party] consistently back stabs its leader" and refer to "everyone" "attacking" Dion. They urge people to "show some respect" but call people who disagree with them "self-serving goons" and "stupid".
The pro-Dion faction is out and about, writing outraged comments anywhere they think someone might not be a hundred percent behind their guy. In the comments section of my blog, in the last two days, I've already been accused of not doing enough for my party and been told I'm not a real Liberal.
Five of tonight's Liblogs posts are rabidly anti-Volpe. These bloggers are spitting mad that Joe Volpe expressed the opinion that Dion should go. We went through this anti-Volpe thing during the last leadership campaign. It reminds me of when I used to raise chickens. For no particular reason all the chickens will start pecking at one chicken, and they keep at it till they kill it.
So it seems that we begin another leadership phase. Goodbye to the relatively calm two years of mostly polite disagreement. Hello to hysteria, bullying, insults.
At this point all we've got is the pro-Dion forces. When the pro-every-other-contender forces start spitting their bile, well, it'll be like old times, eh?
2 comments:
Ruth I went to your last post and read the comments posted there. I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure those comments are not from actual Liberals but blogging Tory trolls who are trying to promote infighting amonst liberals. I have had many of these trolls on my own blog. At first I tried to engage them then I realized they are nothing but bullshit.
Hi Yappa,
First, as someone who has been very pro-Dion, let me say that I don't consider you any less of a committed Liberal because of your views on his leadership.
I can only speak for myself, but much of my frustration with the Liberal party has stemmed from the enormous number of 'anonymous' Liberals who have been attacking him since 2006 in the press. I think being critical is only fair in a democracy, but people should take responsibility for their words so that the consumers of information can decide if they think the source is credible, and so that the person attacked has an opportunity to respond.
As for myself, I think this leadership race is going to be less engaging than the last election. If Martha Hall Findley doesn't run I may just tune out.
Cheers,
Warren
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