The Independent solemnly reports… as if any of this really matters..
Tory bloggers bite back against Labour’s ‘Twitter Tsar’
“Tory bloggers are planning a ruthless demonstration of how much better they are at internet campaigning than their left-wing counterparts by trying to use Twitter to oust the Labour MP who was recently appointed the party’s ‘Twitter Tsar’. Their target is Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East, an assiduous user of the social network site, who was appointed last summer by Labour’s campaign organiser, Douglas Alexander, to train her fellow Labour MPs how to campaign on line.
Ms McCarthy has made enemies of some of the leading Tory bloggers, including Harry Cole, who blogs under the alias Tory Bear, and Iain Dale. They are fronting an online campaign to get her ousted from her seat at the next general election.”
Iain Dale is a good Tory blogger. I’m not a Tory but I enjoy reading what he has to say, even though I may not agree with all he has to say. I don’t agree with everything Labour MPs or the present government do. Yes, he did get blocked by @kerryMP. I recall seeing it unfold on Twitter some weeks ago. It may or may not be that he has taken umbrage. He appears on pretty well every television station to comment on the news and will probably do so until the election. If Twitter and political blogs have any real influence with the broader electorate (they may do) then getting hot under the collar about stunts organised by @ToryBear et al is simply providing fodder for further amusement. I haven’t met @ToryBear – I read his blog and enjoy the reports he does on GUYNews. He clearly enjoys satire and parody as a means of getting his political views across. Quite a few bloggers and journalists use satire – sometimes to greater effect than than the rather dull analyses of recognised mainstream media gurus/mavens. At first, I thought that that the #KerryMP stunt was a bit OTT, with a whiff of bullying about it – but, upon reflection, if Labour can’t take stunts and criticism from Tory bloggers how can they possibly hope to deal with the stunts and very serious matters likely to be thrown at them in 2010 should they be re-elected.
And…remember…all is fair in love and politics. Sauce for the goose?
And… I just could not resist this…
and this… at 8.00 pm tonight…
For reasons that totally escape me, Ms McCarthy has an inflated idea of her own importance. My reading of it is that the whole ‘Kerry Out’ thing started as a piss-take, but when she responded with hysteria, and allegations of misogyny, the campaign took on a life of it’s own. If she’d had any sense at all, she would have either ignored it or responded with humour, thus defusing the whole thing. Then again, that would require 2 things she appears not to have, namely a modicum of intelligence and a sense of humour. She’s now in a vicious circle of her own making, which is only likely to end when she stops giving nonsensical interviews to the media.
well of course iaiaiaiaiaia(etc old joke sorry)n dale is anti ms mccarthy – member of the labour party isn’t she? whatever you think of dale you could never accuse him of balance (fair enough; i’m not balanced either).
and the gedrobinson tweet (if that is how you read it), strikes me as a fairly light-hearted response.
sauce for the goose? really?? when the tories bleat rather than tweet about absolutely anything that they identify as comments against them and perform the neat manoeuvre of simultaneously crying foul while grabbing the moral high ground? remember the attacks on gordon brown’s spelling, handwriting and probably his continuing to breathe at all. when a labour blogger is rumoured to have considered (but, at the risk of introducing a fact, not carrying out) clumsy and tasteless attacks on tories the world is about to end and apologies are demanded from gordon (who even they can’t say had anything to do with it).
personally, i’m so much more interested in cameron’s mate and tory donor who assaulted the eastern european call girl (and then paid her only £50 – tightarse). let’s hear dave’s engine revving as he dissociates himself from that one at twice the speed of spin. bring it on!
@simply wondered
‘when a labour blogger is rumoured to have considered’
Actually, it wasn’t ‘rumoured’ and it wasn’t a ‘labour blogger’ – it was McBride, a public servant working in Number 10, who sent the emails with details of the smears. The same emails that, far from ‘rumoured’, were actually sent from a Number 10 PC. In case it still isn’t clear to you, Mc Bride was a public servant, paid from the public purse, who sent emails from a Govt. building to a Labour Party member who ran a website called ‘LabourList’. These facts were accepted even by Number 10, which is why, if you remember, McBride left his job. But hey, don’t let a few facts get in your way – after all, McBride and Dolly Draper didn’t.
As for your claims about ‘cameron’s mate’, he voluntarily attended a police station, and was interviewed, yesterday. You could have saved the police the trouble, as you clearly, from your comments, are in full possession of all facts appertaining to the incident; not only, that, but you seem to have already determined the guilt of ‘cameron’s mate’, thus saving the cost of any further police investigation, or, indeed, a possible court case. What a good little helper you are – I’m guessing you’re a Labour supporter? The apple really DOESN’T fall far from the tree, does it?
pam
you win the small prize for first place in the ‘jumping to conclusions about someone you don’t know’ competition i presume must be running somewhere. don’t forget to enter the ‘revelling in your own ignorance’ contest that will be coming next; actually I will be in that one myself, so good luck.
you say I am a ‘good little helper’ (bless! why thank you – just what santa said!) and guess that I’m a labour supporter. not as such – had you a moment free you could have looked at my blog (don’t worry, no scary people there – no people at all; in fact it’s rather peaceful) and got an idea of what I think on stuff. that’s not a recommendation; it’s not especially interesting. anyway, I haven’t supported this labour party since they invaded iraq (with the support of the amnesiac tory party who now appear to condemn the whole thing). i am however a fully paid-up hater of tory politics and glad to be so. You suggest the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree in my case and I think from your tone you intend that as a perjorative comment (again bless!); well the tree I fell from was trade unionism and grass roots socialism (if we can torture the image sufficiently to consider that a tree, but go with me here) and i’m rather happy to be from that background – a background that cares about equality, the human being and love rather than wealth, selfishness and the profit motive. i hope you’re a little better informed about me now – it wasn’t really that hard now was it?
next?
and while I’m on about ignorance, an equally small prize should be in order for nadine dorries (we were mentioning someone else with exaggerated ideas of her own importance) for impressive legal ignorance in saying the mcbride emails were ‘slanderous and therefore libellous’ – not just for confusing the two but for conveniently ignoring the fact they both rely on publication. beautifully wrong on so many levels. i hope she doesn’t seek to take action against me for saying that – that would be horrible.