Douchebags on Parade: The Blogging Tory Chronicles.

Like so many intellectually crippled members of the BTs, one Russ Campbell wades into the fray, and does to logical analysis what hillbillies once did to Ned Beatty, only with slightly more girlish squealing.

Witness the dumbassitude:

Former cabinet minister Bernier was personally responsible for a breach in security; Lisa Raitt as a minister is responsible for the actions of her staff, but not personally responsible.

Yes, let's quibble over semantics, despite the fact that the overlooked document -- the "secret" one that was missing for days without anyone noticing it missing -- was in fact Raitt's own personal copy:

"Sources have told CTV that that briefing document actually was the minister's document," CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said Wednesday. "Why did the minister not ask, 'Where is my briefing document? Why is it missing?'"

The documents also featured Raitt's own handwriting on them. Raitt did not learn they were missing until CTV reported on the documents Tuesday night.

And all that fancy talk about Conservative "accountability?" Eh -- not so enamored of it these days, are we, Russ? Always easier to find a patsy when you completely fuck up with classified documents and don't even realize they've been missing until someone points it out. But here's the best part of Mr. Campbell's squealy whining:

Notwithstanding CTV staff’s assertions to the contrary, Canadians do not have the “right to know” what is in secret government documents. To invoke the “public’s right to know” as justification for publishing secret information is a canard not worthy of a news service of the stature of CTV. Are standards of integrity less for media organizations than they are for the rest of us?

Ah, but Russ, my adorable little retard, as I have already pointed out here, it's somewhat curious that the Stephen Party of Canada would designate as "secret" what is simply their disbursements of the public purse. It's odd, don't you think, that a govermnent that ran on a platform of openness and transparency thinks it has the right to classify as secret what is nothing more than numbers from what should be a publicly-available budget? Under what justification does this government defend its attempt to conceal its use of public funds, Russ?

Really, Russ, I'm devilishly curious as to how you juxtapose that kind of weaselly behaviour against the idea of being open to public scrutiny. Because, Russ, quite simply, since it's the taxpayer's cash, we do in fact have the "right to know," regardless of how desperately you want to hold your hands over ears and hum loudly to yourself.

This is a mind-numbing clusterfuck of the highest order, Russ, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that you and your BT colleagues have circled the wagons and have, well, pretty much divested yourselves of every hint of your vaunted principles or openness, transparency and accountability. Because, as we've all learned by now, those are just terrific principles ... as long as you get to apply them only to other people.

BY THE WAY, even Canwest Publishing chops the BT talking points out from under them (emphasis leg-humpingly added):

While [Maxime] Bernier's documents contained information that may have compromised national security, Raitt's seemed to have simply been political talking points which contained more detail about how the funding announced in the federal budget for AECL and Chalk River was to be spent.

Bernier, in his comments to reporters, seemed to suggest this distinction was important.

"The most important (thing) at the end of it will be, what will be the threat against our country? So, if there's nothing, so what?" Bernier said.

Gosh, isn't that special ... even Maxime Bernier is shrugging his shoulders over the non-value of all that Super Duper Top Secret information that was so scandalously revealed by CTV. And, furthermore, CTV was quite careful in what it did report:

CTV did not publish the documents left at its studio and only reported on excerpts. Raitt had visited several television studios and newsroom on Parliament Hill last Thursday, including Canwest News Service and Global National, after announcing that she had started a process to private part of AECL.

Her stop at the CTV studio was one of the last media interviews she did that day.

CTV said it found a hand-written note in the documents that listed total funding for AECL since 2006 at $1.7 billion with a suggestion that the Conservative cabinet minister characterize this is "cleaning up a Liberal mess."

Yeah, exposing the fact that they plan on blaming the Liberals. There's a national secret.

Quite simply, the Cons and their shrieky, mentally-handicapped defenders are trying to have it both ways. On the one hand, the CTV has committed a hideous, egregious violation of national security by revealing critically important information to the general public. On the other hand, it's not so important that a minister need lose her job over it so let's just forget the whole thing and move on, m'kay?

Always the clowns, those Cons.