Son of Flog

Just got back from Quebec City (navy training -- I may explain later) to find out that my traffic had jumped, thanks to the CBC's Campaign Blog. (I have to admit, I didn't expect this one. If John Bowman's in Ottawa this Friday, I'll have to remember to stand him a beer.)

I also discovered that Tories not only have not learned from the mistakes of their campaign flog, but they're going to compound them. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I give you: the CPC Energy Youth Flog.

December 1, 2005 - 7:19 pm
Watching the Liberals try and discredit the Conservative GST Policy is laughable, at best. I still can't decide if they're actually being critical, or if they're just trying to make political hay of a Conservative Policy that clearly has them beat. Remember, this is the same party that has just spent billions of tax dollars attempting to bribe voters with their own money in the lead up to the election; and now they're trying to tell Canadians that they're 'sound fiscal managers'? They have no claim to financial credibility at all today.

December 1, 2005 - 12 pm
I found Stephen Harper’s hidden agenda!
Yeah, turns out he’s looking to cut our taxes by reducing the GST to 5%! Boy, those Conservatives are really out to get Canadians. Can you imagine the gall…putting money back into the pockets of consumers?
Next thing you know, they’ll be trying to tell us that criminals should be put in jail.
Some people…

Okay, the language is a bit more in line with what we'd expect from a good blog -- more first person narrative, for example. Based on internal evidence, we're told that the CPCEnergy Flogger has a younger brother who had a broken arm misdiagnosed by a gynecologist. The Flogger's parents are still alive but getting on in years, and there's also a little cousin named Kristina.

Were it not for that last tidbit, I would have dismissed the CPC Energy Flogger has a completely fictional creation of the CPC's youth committee. The parents and brother story are a little too close to rhetorical illustrations Tories like to pull out to make a point about their policies. The cousin, on the other hand, is exactly the type of throwaway detail that a real blogger might use.

But which real person? As with the TCFlogger, there is no identification, and no provision for feedback or commentary. Not even an e-mail address.

I know that individual Tories understand the online revolution. I'm less sure about the people who run their website.