Today, Yahoo News couldn’t contain themselves and had to make hay out of new Liberal leadership contender Michael Ignatieff not once but twice.
One story features him in glowing terms and speaks to his awe shucks farm boy roots—in what to me looked like an attempt at moderate his self-anointed elitist know-it-all reputation which precedes him. Let’s face it: the last thing Ignatieff is, is a “farm boy”, unless they mean he’s from a 80,000 acre palatial ranch in Dallas.
The critical fair and balanced report is headlined: Celebrated academic Michael Ignatieff takes aim at Liberal leadership. I was only surprised they didn’t sub-head it “—Harper still has big belly”.
But then the critique really begins:
TORONTO (CP) – To hear internationally celebrated academic Michael Ignatieff tell it, he’s really just a farm boy at heart.
Forget the impressive pedigree, which includes a Pearson-era diplomat father and Russian grandparents who went by the titles of Count and Princess. Set aside the years spent teaching at Harvard University and the career as an orator at storied schools like Cambridge, Oxford, the University of California, the University of London and the London School of Economics.
And never mind that his name has been bandied about for months as the front-runner to succeed Paul Martin as leader of the federal Liberal party.
Ignatieff says his heart resides in the townships of Quebec.
“I’ve got family ties in rural Canada: my uncle ran a commercial dairy farm in the Eastern Townships for 25 years,” Ignatieff said Friday as he confirmed his leadership ambitions to a boisterous crowd of supporters.
“I grew up in the barns of a farm in Richmond, Quebec.”
[…]
The reader at Yahoo News will notice, at exactly this point in the article, as they are supposed to, the “Featured Video” of the day at Yahoo News, over in the left margin of their page. It’s about the big protest rally held earlier this week by farmers who are demanding cash support from their new government. It’s from the state-run CBC.ca which collects such video memorabilia at our expense, and then apparently farms it out to private enterprise for a fee.
The other article —this one also by Canadian Press (they like liberals so much they gotta write ’em up twice!)— also speaks glowingly of not just Ignatieff but also of the other declared candidate today, Stephane Dion, also known to me as “Who?”
(CP) – The Liberal leadership contest got a double dose of academic star power Friday as a pair of high-profile former university professors declared their candidacies on the first official day of the race.
Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion added an instant touch of gravitas to a race that will feature plenty of back-slapping, burger-flipping and membership sales by Liberals seeking the party’s top prize. Both sought to position themselves as centre-left candidates in a field that could swell to more than a dozen participants over the coming weeks.
[…]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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