For Whom The Bell Trolls

One of the things I like about being to the left of centre is the possibility of self correction and knowing that there is no final purity of ideology to be adhered to. Unless, that is, you happen to be everyone's favourite all season troll, the ubiquitous Ti-Guy. There's a reason that Ti has been banned by at least one other left leaning blog, he's an unapologetic, trolling shit mouth.

The shame of it is that in his lucid moments he is entirely capable of valuable insight and erudition. Sadly those traits aren't his claim to fame nor are they his default comment mode. And since he has found it in his bowel shaped heart to include me on his list of those who fail to pass his personal purity test and since I am one of the front page writers here, I figure it be time to respond.

From my post regarding the latest Liberal ad here is Ti's contribution to the discussion:

Ti-Guy said...
Shorter psa:

I scream all the time. I'm an asshole when it comes to politics. Oh, look, Karen Redman is safe, I'll vote Credidiste.

Huh? Karen Redman lost by a few hundred votes. How'd that happen?

I hate politics. Shriek! SHRIEK! SHRIIIIIIIIIIEK!
10:25 PM

Now this has been a bug up Ti's well cinched ass since the last election. I did not vote for the Liberal incumbent in what, at the time, appeared to be a safe riding. I don't hold my nose when I vote, ever, if there's no one on the ticket I can vote for I'll withhold my franchise. So, here's the frightening low-down for Mr Trollypants, Karen Redman didn't run a campaign in the core of her riding. She barely ran a campaign in the suburbs of her riding. At every step of the race she was out hustled by her opponent. She didn't deserve to win on the basis of her campaign. I contacted her riding office on a number of occasions, before and during the campaign, by email and by phone and not once did her riding office see fit to even acknowledge those letters or calls, no robo-response, nada. Stephen fookin' Harper's office emailed me back when I wrote and yelled at them, as did Layton's, as did Duceppe's, as did Dion's and Prentice's and every other minister and member of parliament that I wrote, expressing my kudos, complaints, opinions and concerns. But not my own MP, she couldn't be bothered. Quite frankly, Karen Redman actively lost my potential vote.

When it came time to cast my ballot, I did what I always do, I voted for the candidate whose platform I liked best and who seemed most likely to represent my interests. I voted for an independent who had no hope of winning but who presented what I felt were the most positive policy positions. Had I felt that incumbent Redman was in peril of losing that Liberal seat to the dreaded Conservatives, I still would have voted for the best candidate. And just to make sure that Ti has a good load of crap in his pants for his inevitable tantrum, had I thought that the Conservative candidate was running on the best policy platform, I'd have voted for him. Hope that clears things up on the Redman issue once and for all, Ti.

As for screaming all the time and being an asshole, well, I'll leave it to the individual readers of this blog to determine who's screaming and who's shrieking and who's an asshole. Which isn't to say that what Ti writes isn't without a grain of truth, the best lies usually do generate from a speck of truth. I often don't like politics because the act of politicking has a tendency to work against the best interest of the nation. It is too often about gaining and holding power than about serving the public. I do detest the falsity that our system seems to generate in these stage managed times and I feel it is well within my rights as a public commentator to criticize any party and any leader, at any time when I think they are betraying the electorate or attempting to mislead.

And finally, Ti-Guy, you are welcome to hold forth at length in the comments to this post. Call me every name in your vitriolic lexicon but from here on forward I'll be moderating your comments on my posts. Since you feel it is appropriate to behave like a Patrick, I'll treat your comments with the respect due a Patrick. If you fall into your default mode of mindless invective I'll delete you. Oh, and here, this is for you. You deserve it.