29 January 2012

From the Earth to the Moon… in a sealskin spacesuit #nlpoli #cdnpoli

Over at the Ceeb, John Furlong does his usual superb job of cutting through the bullshit.  This week it’s dissecting the noise this week over what Ryan Cleary said, or what people claim he said and such.

Over at the Telegram, Pam Frampton goes at the same subject with similar observations.

Different style.

Same subject.

Both worth every second of your time.

When you are done with those two gems, compare that with Ryan Cleary’s observations on his own experience rendered by Geoff Meeker in his Telegram blog.

Ryan talks a good tale about what good journalists do and about bravery, the connection between what scares him and what he used to write about and about the relationship between reality and where he is.  Where the first two columns are about Cleary’s comments and reaction to them, Meeker writes about Cleary’s favourite subject:  himself.

The one thread you won’t see in Cleary’s usual pile of self-serving and entirely risible twaddle is the simple fact:  as soon as the first tweet of criticism hit, Ryan Cleary ran from his own comments as fast as someone’s fingers could type the release. He wrapped himself in the sealskin flag. 

He turned his back on the brave position he took and instead held aloft the banner of self-praise for his new role as champion of “conversation”,  debate and that other spin-word “dialogue”.

Cleary told Meeker that being in Ottawa, one is on the moon.  His riding is Earth, presumably the place of reality and presumably where Cleary loves to be.

How odd then, that as soon as he appeared in the real world – the one of his comments on the seal hunt – Cleary could not strap on his rocket pack fast enough and head home.

Read all that this weekend.  Afterward, if you are not better clued into the world as it is,  there’s something seriously wrong.

That’s where Meeker, Frampton and Furlong live.

Their subject?

On the moon.

- srbp -