![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Political stuff
Apr. 11th, 2011 05:04 pmMaclean's Bull Meter for political lies is fascinating. I counted, just to be sure there was no confirmation bias going on. If you discount the single-bulls, of which the Conservatives and Liberals each have one (because those are slight twists on the truth rather than outright lies) the Liberals and the NDP are tied at one 3 and one 4 each, while the Conservatives are ahead with 4, 4, and 2.
It's also interesting to note what they're lying about: the Liberals' biggest lie so far is the one about Ignatieff's family coming here from Russia with nothing after the Revolution, so a lie about personal history designed to shield him from Conservative attack ads, while the Conservatives' two 4-bull stories are about a Liberal policy that pretty much doesn't exist and about the danger to the economy of an election. I don't think it's bias to count those as more substantial lies, since they're directly related to the issues at hand, though I do wonder how much of an influence Ignatieff's silver-spoon has on his policies. (I don't think he gets to claim that he's an everyman when his education includes Upper Canada College. On the other hand, I prefer not to vote for an everyman; I think a lifetime spent analyzing international policies and writing lengthy treatises for highly critical audiences of scholars is not bad preparation for being Prime Minister, even if I don't agree with all of his conclusions; I'd be prepared to bet that he no longer agrees with all of them, either.)
At the same site is a promise tracker. It's fascinating as much for what's left out as for what's there. For example, the Conservatives are the darlings of agricultural communities across Canada, but have made not a single promise in regards to agriculture. The only one of the bunch of them promising to do something about the issues with EI (and they are myriad, beginning with the fact that they've set the number of qualifying hours so high that most part-time women, i.e. second-time moms who went back to work part-time after the first, do not qualify) is the Bloc Quebecois. The NDP, traditionally a strong alternative on the environment, has no environmental promises laid out for this election, and neither does the Bloc. The Conservatives are planning to throw money at a panel about hunting and wildlife, which only just barely falls under environment at all.
Some interesting stuff.
It's also interesting to note what they're lying about: the Liberals' biggest lie so far is the one about Ignatieff's family coming here from Russia with nothing after the Revolution, so a lie about personal history designed to shield him from Conservative attack ads, while the Conservatives' two 4-bull stories are about a Liberal policy that pretty much doesn't exist and about the danger to the economy of an election. I don't think it's bias to count those as more substantial lies, since they're directly related to the issues at hand, though I do wonder how much of an influence Ignatieff's silver-spoon has on his policies. (I don't think he gets to claim that he's an everyman when his education includes Upper Canada College. On the other hand, I prefer not to vote for an everyman; I think a lifetime spent analyzing international policies and writing lengthy treatises for highly critical audiences of scholars is not bad preparation for being Prime Minister, even if I don't agree with all of his conclusions; I'd be prepared to bet that he no longer agrees with all of them, either.)
At the same site is a promise tracker. It's fascinating as much for what's left out as for what's there. For example, the Conservatives are the darlings of agricultural communities across Canada, but have made not a single promise in regards to agriculture. The only one of the bunch of them promising to do something about the issues with EI (and they are myriad, beginning with the fact that they've set the number of qualifying hours so high that most part-time women, i.e. second-time moms who went back to work part-time after the first, do not qualify) is the Bloc Quebecois. The NDP, traditionally a strong alternative on the environment, has no environmental promises laid out for this election, and neither does the Bloc. The Conservatives are planning to throw money at a panel about hunting and wildlife, which only just barely falls under environment at all.
Some interesting stuff.