23 July 2012

Rae backs Muskrat…sort of #nlpoli #cdnpoli

Big screaming CBC headline:

Federal Liberals support Muskrat Falls project:  Rae

Then you read the story.

“Newfoundland is rich in hydro-electricity, and it's not right that hydro-electricity should be cooped up in one of part of the country and not be able to be used for Newfoundlanders and in the rest of the country,” Rae told On Point host David Cochrane.

Well right off the bat, that’s actually the second thing Rae said in the interview.  What he said first in the interview was that we need more information.

Huge difference between that and what CBC claims Rae said in the Big Screaming Headline.

Then Rae repeated what he describes as his usual response to questions about Muskrat Falls.

So if he is talking about Quebec, then Rae’s entire statement is premised on what was true when he was Premier of Ontario 20-odd years ago.

It is not true today.

Most emphatically untrue.

Devoid of veracity.

False.

If he is talking about something else, well you can just join the rest of us scratching our heads in bewilderment.

When Cochrane asks him about a difference between the federal Liberals and the provincial Liberals he adds the line the CBC story quotes.  With the context of the actual interview, the line has an important meaning:

“The economics of it will always have to be assessed by people who are ready to assess it, and to finance it and to pay for it.”

Then Rae explains that the message he wants to send to the province is that the federal Liberals are not taking the “watertight compartment” view of Confederation, the federal Connies seem to be taking.  Whatever happens, to paraphrase,  the Liberal are there for you, dudes.

Not exactly a ringing, unqualified endorsement, now, is it?

The headline says one thing.

What Bob rare actually said:  something else entirely.

All the MFers who busily retweeted that CBC story should feel pretty stupid right about now.

-srbp-