Tuesday, August 01, 2006

The Poll That Wasn't

Commenters have wondered about the news item behind this post from July.

The poll of the title is fictitious. This post was brought on by one of those chatty style things they do at CBC Ottawa, where the show host 'interviews' a reporter who has supposedly done an indepth piece on a particular topic - in this case PMSH's stance on the mid-east situation.

It seems to me that no matter what the subject matter, these exchanges go like this:

Hallie Cotnam: So, person X wasn't very happy with Mr. Harper. I've heard that community Y has also been saying bad thing Z about Mr. Harper?

Evan Dire: Well, Hallie, funny you should say that. They don't like Mr. Harper over at organization A. And Organization B said this nasty thing about Mr. Harper.

Hallie Cotnam: How interesting, I'd heard some other people say that about Mr. Harper. Did you find he was also unpopular with Group D?

Evan Dire: Oh yes, Mr. Harper hasn't been doing a very good job, according to Mr .E, the president of Group D. In fact, if he doesn't earn the support of constiuency F and special interest group G, he may well fail to achieve a majority government.

Hallie Cotnam: Well, Evan, didn't I hear that activist H is committed to stopping the evil, bigoted, scary, demonic Prime Minister from getting a majority?

Evan Dire: Actually, Hallie, activist H told me that the sky will fall if any listeners vote for Mr. Harper.

etc. ad nauseam