Where does a person who poses as a progressive Liberal get off saying other political bloggers are ‘damn fools’? More than one blogger called correctly for the Liberal majority on June 12. Babel-on-the-Bay forecast a Liberal majority government in Ontario on June 6. That was no fluke. It was based on experience. Studying and using many polling techniques over the years helps but you also have to have an instinct for how people react and respond to mass stimuli. Babel-on-the-Bay is rarely far from the mark.
This not to say we did not make an interesting mistake in our forecast. We over-estimated the losses of the New Democrats. We were influenced heavily by the feelings of New Democrat supporters in Toronto. Their anger cost the New Democrats three of their key seats in that city. If Toronto New Democrats have their way at the next New Democrat convention, Leader Andrea Horwath will be toast.
It was hardly a surprise that the pollsters were also getting a reading on that dissatisfaction with Horwath and her campaign. If a 100 per cent of the possible voters in Ontario went to the polls, it is likely that the New Democrats would have been reduced to below 15 per cent of the popular vote and seats. The fact only 52 per cent of eligible voters turned out to vote saved Horwath.
In the end it was Conservative Leader Tim Hudak who carried the can for the return of a Liberal majority. Elections are about success and failure. In simple terms for every action there must to be an equal and opposite reaction. The damaged Conservatives yielded the win to the Liberals.
But this does not explain Mr. Kinsella using his blog to call people liars. The bald statement that “anyone who said they saw Ontario’s majority Liberal before last Thursday was a damn liar…” is overreaching. It is also rude. It is also surprising from someone who purports to know something about slander and libel.
While Mr. Kinsell demanded an apology the last time Babel-on-the-Bay mentioned his name, maybe he would like to apologize to us this time. It is his option. We apologized promptly last time because we had said he made money from Sun Media. Since he told us he did not, we apologized. We might have been puzzled that he would do that for free but here we do this blog for free and have a lot of fun at it.
As usual, we always ask that you please keep the e-mails coming…except from New Democrats with no sense of humour!
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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