Party Web Watch - Michael Ignatieff's Online Townhall
For those who were at work this afternoon behind firewalls, and couldn't reach the Liberal Leader's Facebook page to join in the online townhall meeting, the transcript is still up and available through an archived CoverItLive.com session here.
The Facebook posts that linked to the CoverItLive.com session can be found here (english version) and here (french version); they have some unmoderated comments as well.
Mr. Ignatieff took submitted questions for an hour on such topics as the prorogation (and various other spellings thereof, ahem), electoral reform, energy and education policy, the economy and so forth. Here's a photo showing the setup in his office. The session was moderated by recently-appointed Communications Director Mario Lagüe (seen seated to Mr. Ignatieff's right with the beard, if I'm recognizing him properly, and sorry if I'm not, Mr. Lagüe; it also looks like it might be newly-appointed Chief of Staff Peter Donolo leaning over their shoulders but the picture is not big enough for my middle-aged eyes).
The Facebook posts that linked to the CoverItLive.com session can be found here (english version) and here (french version); they have some unmoderated comments as well.
Mr. Ignatieff took submitted questions for an hour on such topics as the prorogation (and various other spellings thereof, ahem), electoral reform, energy and education policy, the economy and so forth. Here's a photo showing the setup in his office. The session was moderated by recently-appointed Communications Director Mario Lagüe (seen seated to Mr. Ignatieff's right with the beard, if I'm recognizing him properly, and sorry if I'm not, Mr. Lagüe; it also looks like it might be newly-appointed Chief of Staff Peter Donolo leaning over their shoulders but the picture is not big enough for my middle-aged eyes).
Labels: Liberals, Party Web Watch
posted by The Pundits' Guide at
3:09 PM
4 Comments:
Geez. It takes a LOT of Liberal Staff to make sure LPC Leader Michael Ignatieff doesn't actually SAY anything! They could save a lot of time just tying him to a chair and duct taping his mouth and hands. Love ot see a Rick Mercer or 22 Minutes comedy piece about THAT.
Wow, tough crowd around here!
It looked to me as though it took a lot of people to sift through all the questions, and filter out the ones from, shall we say, grumpy but motivated partisans of other teams.
I take it you had a different perception, Anon.
Oh well, thanks for taking the time to read and comment anyways. My own team of comment-screeners took the night off, but I'll try and struggle through on my own somehow. ;-)
I think a more credible picture might have been just Ignatieff at his computer, preferably with a peek at what he was typing on the screen.
I don't mean to be negative, but the picture does bring to mind the old line about "How many Liberal staffers does it take to change a light bulb/write an answer for Ignatieff/etc."
And to be perfectly honest, the answers all sounded pre-packaged. I realize that in this format you can't expand a whole lot, but the whole thing seemed to lack spontaneity.
Hi jad,
You know, this website and blog are about the practice of politics as a craft and an artform ... and as a worthy profession even.
Is there *anyone* left who doesn't understand that holding an event like this entails fighting off saboteurs from other parties. If even one little thing had gone wrong, or was perceived to have gone wrong, the parties' opponents would be howling all night in the blogs, on Twitter, and in the comment boards at the major national media sites. And the entire effort at sabotage is designed precisely to increase the probability of creating such an error. It's childish, but we can't apparently get people to stop it.
Also, even assuming that all the questioners and commenters were friendly, how on earth would you sift through them all in real time, and present a reasonable selection from across the country, in both official languages, and covering a well-balanced selection of issues, all inside an hour?
I believe we all understand what's going on here, and perhaps we could observe a truce on that type of carping on this website at least, even if nowhere else.
You know the feeling when you run into your worthy competitor the day after an election ... maybe someone you went to university with, or know from the cafeteria on the Hill, and just say to them "wow, you ran a helluva campaign"? That's the kind of community I'd like to maintain here.
I hasten to add, that you can always be counted on for spirited and informed insights, jad, so I'm not picking on you individually.
OK, I'll get off my soapbox, now. Thanks, as always, for stopping by to say hello.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home