It is considered one of the truisms of journalism: in war, the first casualty is truth. In the political wars, the rule also applies.
As they get closer to an election, political warriors seem to believe even more than usual that information is merely a weapon to be used for advantage, rather than a medium for conveying truths.
How else to explain Ralph Goodale’s absurd argument that the bedraggled remnants of the federal New Democratic Party are really nation-destroyers?
In a recent House of Commons speech, Goodale claimed the NDP and the separatist Bloc QuŽbecois are allies, working to the same end.
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“Both of these parties, devoid of any national vision, without a serious commitment to Canada as a whole, resort to the small and petty politics of fostering regional divisions,” he said.
In support of this rather breath-taking claim, Goodale cited two incidents – the fact that both BQ and NDP MPs initially opposed back-to-work legislation during the rail strike and in the budget debate, both argued that the federal budget had hit farmers in their region hardest, unfairly sparing farmers from elsewhere.
It is not exactly what NDP speakers have said.
Even if it was, it is flimsy evidence on which to build a case that the NDP are BQ fellow-travellers, contributing to the demise of the nation.
The current sorry state of the federal NDP does bring to mind some unflattering adjectives: confused, irrelevant, defeatist, invisible.
Nation-destroying is not one of them.
So let’s assume that politics are at work here. Rather than stating a truth, Goodale was trying to score a point.
Why would he resort to such rhetorical excess? To be fair, there is some context.
With Saskatchewan election talk in the air, the federal agriculture minister and Saskatchewan Liberal godfather clearly believes that to discredit the NDP federally will be helpful to provincial Liberals fighting the provincial NDP government.
As well, as a lonely Liberal in Saskatchewan, Goodale for years had to endure the fall-out from the NDP view that the best way to win the hearts of Saskatchewan voters was to attack federal Liberals.
In this NDP-created truth twilight zone, Liberals always were mere stalking horses for evil capitalists out to control and enslave honest farmers. Virtually every Liberal agricultural policy presaged the end of the family farm and rural Saskatchewan as we know it.
Perhaps, having heard such NDP rhetoric for years, Goodale believes it is the only way to carry on a political discourse. Perhaps, as part of a government still riding high in the polls, he simply cannot abide criticism and lashes out at those who dare accuse the Liberals of being wrong.
Or perhaps he really believes that New Democrats are political evil incarnate, guilty of any charge that can be leveled.
Whatever the true reason, Goodale’s handlers would do well to tone him down.
Rhetorical over-kill may be normal currency for the political class.
The voters they are trying to impress are more moderate and more sensible.
