The Green Party has threatened legal action over a YouTube video that purports to show leader Elizabeth May calling Canadians "stupid."
"It’s an attempt by the Conservatives through a front website to attack the credibility of Elizabeth May," Green spokesperson John Bennett told The Tyee. "They took what she said, cut it up, then put it back together."
But the man who made the video, Conservative political activist Stephen Taylor, denied doctoring the tape.
"I produced the video," Taylor told The Tyee in an e-mail. "The audio is taken unedited from an episode of TVO's The Agenda."
“You can go to TVO website, you can compare the time frames," Taylor said in a telephone interview. "The audio is undoctored."
Green spokesman Bennett insisted the tape was spliced, and threatened legal action.
"Stephen Taylor is a surrogate for the Conservative Party," Bennett told The Tyee. "We're considering legal action. TVO is considering legal action as well."
Bennett said the Tories leaked the video anonymously through a blog website so that they could deny any hand in its creation.
"The Conservative Party has nothing to do with this production. I’m acting independently as someone who wants to see them elected," Taylor said.
Conservative spokesperson Mike Storeshaw also said the party was not involved.
“(May’s) representative should take off the tinfoil hat and join us in the real world,” Storeshaw told The Tyee. “We’re not in the business of making staged videos.”
In the disputed clip, May appears to say: “I think Canadians are stupid… I fundamentally agree with that assessment."
The video was posted to YouTube and Stephen Taylor's website on Wednesday. A blog called Buckdog posted an item about the YouTube video sometime last night. And widely read Bourque Newswatch posted a link to Buckdog morning.
The Greens initially threatened legal action against Buckdog. But the Canadian blogger took the link off his site, and replaced it with correspondence from the Green Party.
Taylor is a fellow at the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, which bills itself as "a builder and supporter of conservative research, training and communications vehicles."
“I’ll let the video speak for itself, people can verify it online," Taylor said.
Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for The Hook.
May shoots self in foot
You quote of May's words are accurate, proving May is unfit for office. Earlier this morning the clip had about 400 views and now it has over 4,000 and counting.
Attacking bloggers over her own own stupid musings is laughable.
Called Bennett
I saw the clip at Small Dead Animals. I called John Bennnett - the apparent director of communications at the Green Party. He told me the tape had been "spliced".
Steve Taylor, who I know quite well and trust, states that it is a direct sample. Listening to the tape it sounds very real. TVO has the tape and should release it immediately.
If it matches up to the video the Greens should fire Bennett forthwith. (Though I do admire him for answering his cell.)
Meanwhile, basic rule, never threaten a blogger - even a lefty blogger....the rest of us will make damn sure that the object of the threat goes viral. At this point the May tape is up at SDA, five feet of fury, borque and my own wee site. Right there you have about 20K uniques a day. And it will spread. Eventually, even other, slightly clueless, lefty bloggers will pay attention to Mr. Bennett's attempt to SLAPP leftdog. Even Matthew Good may be given a clue.
Ask her during the debate
I hope someone asks her what she said during the leadership debates and plays the quote to refresh her addled memory.
I checked the Greens web site and there is no mention or clarification because she said what she said.
Most galling is the spurious attack by Bennett, if thats May's answer to political attacks she's less than a leader, more like a whiney teenager who wants to change her comments after the fact.
Anyone stupid enough to say voters are stupid deserves the backlash exploding in the blogosphere.
The video clip has over 4,000 views and climbing. No way she can change a monosyllable world like "I" into the word they, nice try though.
TVO site
The original video is available at TVO's website. It's an episode of The Agenda. The comments are 38+ minutes in.
The comments certainly sound like an insult to Canadian voters, but if her syntax was just garbled, the appropriate response would not be to threaten a blogger with legal action, but to explain what was meant.
Ms. May's autocratic and bullying leadership style has been an open secret among those who have had to deal with her for years. This is entirely consistent.
Will the same Green partisans who leapt vigorously into the fray to force their idol's inclusion in the debate start a petition in defence of free speech demanding that Ms. May retract her flack's legal threat?
Green partisan answers
Will the same Green partisans who leapt vigorously into the fray to force their idol's inclusion in the debate start a petition in defence of free speech demanding that Ms. May retract her flack's legal threat?
I don't think a petition will be required. I'm one of those Greenies who leapt vigorously into the fray. I was heartened by the number of NDP bloggers who added their weight to the demand for democratic debates. Even ol' Jay Currie was on board and I appreciate all the help we got and I reckon I can't speak for Lizzie May but she did publish a public thank you message to all who supported her bid to be in the debates.
Along with a number of other Green bloggers and members, I sent out some urgent emails to Elizabeth and to party muckety-mucks. I have been told by a top official that an apology will be forthcoming, probably today.
Does anyone really think that if Elizabeth May stated on public television that Canadians are stupid, the other panelists or moderator wouldn't have jumped in and asked her if they heard her correctly? Wouldn't professional interviewers have picked up on such a politically incorrect slur? I suspect that if the meaning of her words was in question or if the other participants had the least suspicion that she was hurling an insult at all Canadians, they would have been right on it.
The NDP and Cons got some egg on their faces a couple days ago at the expense of Elizabeth May. I see this attempt to portray the remark as a blanket statement that Canadians are stupid as a pure partisan play to discredit May. It's retaliation for embarrassing them publicly.
That said, I think Bennett's actions were ham-handed and ill-advised. Apologies are in order and like the Con's and Dippers, the Greens are going to eat some crow.
How about the election reporting and discussion start focusing on policies and platforms and we quit looking for every gaffe that we feel we can pounce on to make the other guys look bad. Let's listen for politicians who speak on the issues and explain their policies instead of dwelling on these dumbass gaffes and then kvetching that the level of discourse is too low.
JB