Ultra-partisan Liberal blogger, Liberal Party of Canada regional president Jason Cherniak has sent out a call to all Liberal bloggers to stop second-guessing Stéphane Dion's "preference" on election timing.
You see, Cherniak is a big believer in the core-facet of Liberal Party ideology: loyalty to the party. The second most important facet is: doing whatever it takes to get into power. And no, I'm not projecting. Cherniak told me himself, his goal is to "secure a safe nomination" at the Mesh Conference pre-party last year.
Who better to use as the poster child of future Liberal arrogance?
His blindly partisan behavior has been almost comical to watch, over the past few months, as he has serially made a fool out of himself: lashing out with accusations that the Conservative Party steals photos from porn sites, to posting fabricated evidence on Conservative staffers. He has no compunction for going after his political enemies in the most dishonest of ways, nor does he have a problem with being a hypocrite.
Case in point: while Cherniak has been critical about the apparent consolidation of power by the PMO under Stephen Harper, it would seem strange for him to turn around and ask Liberal supporters to submit to the will of Dion. Maybe we can understand now, why so many Liberal supporters are apologists for fundamentalist Islam; it's not that, the consolidation of power and squelching of dissenting opinion is bad. It's how you go about it. Harper takes control, Dion/Cherniak ask that your give it.
It's really frightening actually, and it's no wonder that as a country we find ourselves fighting for our basic rights all over again, against the hands of state apparatuses that seek to enforce the majority view on the minority. And we're not talking about what taxes get cut or what social programs get funded, but a fundamental right to our own opinions.
In the Cherniak-Liberal view of the world, after the debate is over, dissenting opinions are no longer welcome. That is, once Dion makes a decision: line up, boys and girls.
An opinion held by the majority, or the plurality, is not necessary right. At least, it's not necessarily right for everyone. While requiring a party's parliamentary caucus to support the party line is one thing, asking that bloggers submit to the party line is another.
Yes... The Liberal Party of Canada: We need your support. Not your input.
What i find particularly disturbing is the tendency of Liberal members to support the outright falsehoods foisted on the public by the Liberal party and their minions. From the Cadman affair, the distorted and dishonest reporting of the Obama 'leak', the falshoods and fabrication of evidence to smear a Conservative staffer.. the list is growing as the idealogues in the party have taken a page from European leftists, where if you can't defeat a party in the arena of ideas, you smear them in the court of public opinion.
I expect to see more concerted attacks, based on innuendo, half truths and out right lies leading up to the next election.
More and more everyday, Cherniak is personifying the Liberal philosophy. The Liberals are hoping to become the governing party, which is understandable for any opposition party to aspire to. However, in Cherniak's little world of typical Liberal entitlement, God forbid that they actually have to lower themselves to actually doing the JOB of being the Official Opposition; not that they have any idea what that entails from their non-opposing antics in the HOC. So you hit that nail bang on Mike - all Liberals ever want is POWER, everything else be damned, including their duty to this country. The "Natural Governing Party" indeed. How utterly arrogant the Liberals are. The Tory election ads practically write themselves.
LPC partisan hacks are obviously finding it easier to read the writing on the wall, and thus the more desperate they are becoming. I'm betting that it was "suggested" in no uncertain terms to Cherniak that he reign in his fellow Liberal blogging travellers. If you think its bad now, just wait until an election campaign finally rolls around. This is the second failing Liberal leader in almost as many years that Cherniak has gone to the wall and back for. Who will he embrace next, I wonder.
David Frum summed up the Liberals as "Brokerage Party" http://tinyurl.com/2s5d7x .
"Unlike their supposed analogues, the Democrats in the United States or Great Britain's Labor Party, Canada's Liberals are not a party built around certain policies and principles. They are instead what political scientists call a brokerage party, similar to the old Italian Christian Democrats or India's Congress Party: a political entity without fixed principles or policies that exploits the power of the central state to bribe or bully incompatible constituencies to join together to share the spoils of government. "
It is a fitting description and explains their inablity to manage effectively in opposition.
Oh and to think I was just remarking to a friend last night - "Gee almost a week has gone by and Cherniak hasn't said something stupid". Cherniak - the physical manifestation of the Liberal Zeitgeist;)
The whole point of many lib blogs is to discuss liberal strategy - both its strengths and weaknesses. Indeed, for most lib bloggers the internet is the only outlet they have. They are not privy to the inner workings of the Liberal party.
Although airing dirty laundry in public might seem like a bad thing, in the long run the Liberal party will be stronger for it. It's much like a corporation - having a bunch of yes-men for employees is a bad thing.
What's more, I don't think publically disagreeing with official Liberal policy does much harm. The blogging community is relatively small, and most viewers are probably already committed one way or another.
Cherniak always strikes me as being very ... young. His judgement reeks of inexperience.
It is simply not possible for liberals to become more partisan then they have been.
I don't think this is only a Liberal Party facet for some. Read many of the "Blogging Tories?"
No blogger needs lessons on how to be partisan, factional or parochial.
Even those who often strive to consider themselves "non-partisan" will often bend over backwards to prove their loyalty to their particular faction, and demand loyalty of others. If that loyalty doesn't fall into place...
Consider the most predictable example, Canadian Cynic -- a guy who can refuse to donate money that he offered to donate to charity and his sycophants positively love it.
On the other hand, let's consider Halls of Macadamia's Neo -- suggest that he's wrong to launch a personal attack on a political activist in lieu of a criticism of her beliefs, and suddenly he imagines you're on the other side by default.
A lot of bloggers have the "with us or against us" act down pat. Why should Jason Cherniak be any different?