Conflict of interest, Mayor Stupid, and the Globe's stunning incoherence

There was a short-lived meme on Twitter recently, riffing on the Teutonic gift for coining words that have no exact English equivalent, but nevertheless capture meanings beautifully. "Schadenfreude" is one of the best examples. (I'm trying not to indulge at the moment.)

So I'm left wondering whether there's a German expression for times when reprehensible people appear to do the right thing, albeit for questionable reasons and in contexts which make the rightness of their actions suspect.

As we all know by now, Judge Charles Hackland, ruling in the conflict of interest proceedings brought against Rob Ford, has ruled that Mayor Stupid must be removed from office. No surprise at the finding, although there was a fair bit of energy backing the prediction that the court would somehow find a way not to apply the maximum penalty.

However, it's the reaction of our supposed Newspaper of Record^TM that begs further examination. As the pinstriped pamphleteers of Front Street argue:

Mr. Ford didn’t want to play by the rules. Not the ones he didn’t like, anyway, such as those governing conflict of interest.

Well, no argument there, although it's not as if the observation first came to life in the Front Street drawing room over brandy and cigars. Pious and paternalistic, but essentially correct. But it's what comes after that triggers the WTF:

The country’s biggest city gave him a strong mandate to reduce costs and attack what Mr. Ford described as a culture of entitlement at City Hall. He has even had some success.

Um ... what?

[Slim Pickens voice]
Did you say "Attack a Culture of Entitlement?"
[/Slim Pickens voice]

Is there anyone who embodies that more than Mayor Stupid and Brother Dumbfuck? A pair of guys who think they can flout the rules and blow off the consequences whenever they feel like it because … because ... shut the fuck up, OK? Taxpayers taxpayers taxpayers, subways subways subways, mandate, drool, release the trolls.

Let's review: here's a guy who thinks he's entitled to

• Phone Andy Byford and demand to know where his bus is
• Abuse and demean public servants
• Ignore the rules whenever they don't conform to his own sense of what's right
• Demand that city staff fix the road in front of his family business
• Blow off his official responsibilities to go coach football, and use public resources to do it

And that's just off the top of my head.

But let's move on, and compare that to the Globe's support for their charming ideological brethren in Ottawa, and ...

• electoral fraud
• robocalls
• naked attacks on dissent
• instructions for disrupting parliamentary committees
• secret "free-trade" deals
• Mordor
• embarrassment and damage to Canada's international reputation.

These are the people, mind, whom the Globe endorses as a way of "finding new ways to protect Parliament."

Are you fucking kidding me?

(But never mind all that just now -- is there a trend we might not be catching? Like, omigaaaawd ... )

In the continuing train wreck otherwise known as the Wente Clusterfuck, it's easy to lose sight of our National Fishwrap's many other acts of civic and linguistic vandalism. While this little corner isn't fit to polish Carol Wainio's flatware, perhaps this one little bit of paint on the cave wall might merit a footnote.

Related posts:

• "Find new ways to protect Parliament?" WTF?
• Woodward and Bernstein are dead
• @marcusbgee calls Ford on his bullshit, but who helped put him there?
• Why it's important to kill off the Pissed-off Taxpayer meme

Saskboy and Jymn rub The Globe's nose in #RoboCon | #cdnpoli

RoboCon: Journalism Failure at the Globe – UPDATED | Saskboy's Abandoned Stuff:

"And what’s the reason that John Ibbitson, a professional journalist for a national newspaper, treats Giorno with so much respect and kid-gloves that he talks him up as some sort of non-lying politician, while a nobody blogger in Regina has quickly demonstrated the exact opposite, using evidence?

And in closing:

They should know by now that breaking the rules can land a party in a world of hurt, no matter who did it, or why.

Yes, they might get another $52,000 fine for overspending by $1.3M on a campaign that wins them the Prime Minister’s Office. Ouuuch."

'via Blog this'

See also: John Ibbitson shames himself in the Conservative daily Globe & Mail, but if you've got delicate digestion, you might not want to look directly at the screen.

It bears repeating: sometimes the blogosphere, for all its tripwires and potholes, shows up the corporate media despite the imbalance in reach and resources. Antonia Zerbisias, bless her, is way out in front in acknowledging that.

Update: At PAID, Lorne weighs in as well.

Related posts: 

• Harper and the electoral fraud scandal | #cdnpoli
• Meme for the week: Harper – too dangerous to govern
• Liberals, NDP, whoever. I don't care what we call them | #cdnpoli
• Lawrence Martin on Harper's proto-fascism | #cdnpoli

Harper and the electoral fraud scandal | #cdnpoli

You know, I really want to believe this thing will grow uglier and get out of control. Massive, systematic and coordinated misinformation, all with the express purpose of disenfranchising voters?

If this doesn't throw the results of last May's federal election into doubt, then God knows what will. Alison's been keeping track of the numbers. A majority without legitimacy? It's a sweet thought. Boris, Simon and the Dawg have been all over it too.

On that whole Nycole Turmel thing ...

While we're on the subject of journalistic ethics, let me just cite pogge and thwap. They've already said it better than I can.

From pogge:

Every year or two I find a reason to point to Declan's post on the Media Failure Two-Step. (And actually I could find a reason much more often than that.) To review, the Two-Step looks like this:

Step 1) Cause something (bad) to happen through your reporting.

Step 2) Report on this (bad) thing from the perspective of an innocent bystander.

And then you just repeat indefinitely.

Our latest example? With the Globe and Mail leading the charge, since yesterday many in the media have been having a great old time implying that a Quebec politician who has previously been involved with the BQ is somehow unfit for her position as an interim leader for the NDP. That in turn would imply that about half the voters of Quebec are illegitimate participants in the democratic process until they somehow redeem themselves to the satisfaction of the Globe's editorial board. And in case it isn't obvious, deserting the BQ in droves to vote for the NDP isn't sufficient for the purpose.

And from thwap:

Whether the NDP has tossed a rope down to allow the Liberal Party of Canada to clamber back up out of the grave is something I'm not prepared to speculate upon, nor is it something I'm inclined to speculate upon.

I'll let the voters decide. And I can't predict that.

It does show that the Liberals are looking to knock the NDP off from its perch as the second party in Canada. For the issues of economic and foreign policy, I hope they fail. I hope, for reasons of foreign and economic policy, that the NDP hews closer to the principles of former BQ voters in Quebec. Because given the failure of mainstream (read: harpercon and Liberal) economic and foreign policies, the NDP might just find that adhering to Quebeckers values will resonate with more and more people in English Canada.

It's just this sort of stupidity from the Village that's brought us to the point we're at now. I'm not carrying water for anyone, but if the NDP chooses not to play this game by these rules, then I say good on them. The reaction from the political and media establishment will, of course, be furious – and predictable. That's up to them. Whether we allow it to matter is up to us.

Related posts:

• Opposing the #HarperRegime: thinking strategically over the next four years
• Woodward and Bernstein are dead
• Working against a permanent Conservative majority
• Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold

#Cdnpoli: Have I got this all wrong?

Is it possible?

I don't know where this doubt is coming from, but I've been having second thoughts about a lot of what I've been saying. Maybe all the sniping and backbiting and recrimination's been more disheartening than I originally realized. Or maybe it's just a little Sunday-evening angst for my inner drama queen.

Liberals, NDP and 'non-aligned centrists' slag each other. Harper laughs. Repeat.

You know, there are days when you just want to pound your head against a wall.

Links after the jump.

Ignatieff's yawning silence on ethics and transparency

A big "hell, yeah" to Steve V over at Far and Wide.

The Harper Government^TM has, for as long as I can remember, been leading with its chin on the question of open government and accountability.

At this point, labels don't matter

Not looking for a big theoretical or semantic foofaraw about partisanship and party affiliation and whether the Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc and Greens can set aside their differences long enough to get rid of the Harpoon Junta.

Coalitions and reclaiming the discursive turf

This is how Steve Harpoon wants us to think about the idea of a coalition.

(All right, all right. I wanted an image for "monster under the bed," and, well ... whaddayagonnado. Cheap laugh.)