If you read Duffy’s speech — which, by a remarkable coincidence, showed up virtually simultaneously on two of the most widely-read Conservative blogs, each ostensibly independently of the other — it is clear that, at the very least, it was a mildly partisan address. Who, after all, is the “we” to whom the good senator repeatedly refers as being responsible for the avalanche of spending in the province? What party is currently in power, and “moving heaven and earth” to protect Canadians?
There’s nothing remotely wrong with a senator delivering a partisan speech, notwithstanding the response it incites in certain PEI Liberals. That said, there is also nothing wrong with the Guardian having described it as such, no matter how vociferously the senator in question might dispute that interpretation. What is, frankly, ridiculous is to suggest that this is in any way similar to what may or may not have gone on behind the scenes at the Telegraph Journal, which, as far as ITQ can see, is a rather shameless attempt to feed the “biased media” meme that launched a thousand Finley-penned fundraising letters — not that there’s anything particularly wrong with that, either. Heck, ride the wave of outrage — who knows how long it will last this time? Just don’t expect ITQ to sign on to find the real culprits, since, as far as she’s concerned, this is, as the Speaker might put it, a matter for debate.