Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Art of Spin – Canadian Style

UPDATE: Turns out I was punked. The story about Stephan Dion is a hoax. I should have done more research after receiving the information from a trusted friend, not after. My apologies.
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Canadian politics is in the midst of what, for Canada, is a major kafuffle. The three main opposition parties – the Liberals, the New Democrats and the Bloc Québecois – formed a coalition to topple the minority Conservative government led by non-entity Stephen Harper.

Harper reacted by asking the Governor General to suspend Parliament for 30 days, giving him time to launch a major PR initiative to rile up the public against the coalition. Meanwhile, the Liberals are in the midst of their own crisis as party leader Stephen Dion, another non-entity, was replaced by a third non-entity, Michael Ignatiaff.

Now along comes Judy Wallman, a professional genealogical researcher, who discovered that Dion’s great-great uncle, Robert Dion, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Québec in 1889. The only known photograph of Robert Dion shows him standing on the gallows and the back of the picture is this inscription:

"Robert Dion; horse thief, sent to Québec Provincial Prison 1883, escaped 1887, robbed the Canadian Pacific Railway six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.”

Ms. Wallman e-mailed Stephen Dion for comment and his staff sent this biographical sketch:

"Robert Dion was a famous horseman in Québec. His business empire grew to include the acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and he had intimate dealings with the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave in 1887 to resume his dealings with the railroad. Subsequently, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Dion passed away during an important civic function held in his honour, when the platform on which he was standing collapsed."

This is a re-writing of history that even Karl Rove would envy.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope you're joking. I don't know if Dion's great-uncle was a horse thief, but the "response" you posted was not written by Dion's staff, nor is it very original. The text in various forms has been circulating the internet as long as I've been surfing. In the interest of honesty and credibility, please amend today's post.

Bob Ferguson said...

Come on Charlie, non-entity? This is crazy talk of the kind we are hearing from the Conservatives as they try to defend Harper with cries of "treason" and "it's Uncanadian". These men are not well known outside of our country (except Ignatiaff) but they are certainly not the nobodies you imply that they are. Shame on you for sneering. Let's try to stick to sensible criticism.

Anonymous said...

It is a funny story and one almost wishes it were true ... but wait, isn't the Pinkerton detective agency in the United States? And before we jump to conclusions, perhaps we should read the following two stories, also disseminated widely by those out
to have a laugh (and a lie?) at liberals' expense:

Story #1
Subject: High Profile
An amateur genealogical researcher discovered that Hillary Clinton's great-great uncle, Remus Rodham, a fellow lacking in character, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. The
only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture is this inscription:
"Remus Rodham; horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton
detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889."
In Hillary's Family History, her staff of professional image consultants, cropped Remus's picture, scanned it in as an enlarged image, and edited with image processing software so that all that's
seen is a head shot.
The accompanying biographical sketch is as follows:
"Remus Rodham was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian
assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government
facility, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away
during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."
Story #2.
Tipper Gore, an amateur genealogical researcher, discovered that her husband's great-great uncle, Gunther Gore, a fellow lacking in character, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in
Tennessee in 1889. The only known photograph of Gunther shows him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture is this inscription: "Gunther Gore; horse thief, sent to Tennessee Prison
1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Tennessee Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889."
After letting Al Gore and his staff of professional image consultants peruse the findings, they decided to crop Gunther's picture, scan it in as an
enlarged image, and edited it with image processing software so that all that's seen is a head shot. The accompanying biographical sketch
was sent to the Associated Press as follows: "Gunther Gore was a famous rancher in early Tennessee history. His business empire grew to
include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Tennessee railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally
taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton
Detective Agency. In 1889, Gunther passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."