Section 15 (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
A while back Tom Flanagan nailed a phrase which I think may very well come to epitomize the entire reign of 'The Harper Government:' It doesn't have to be true. It just has to be plausible. As I outlined yesterday ( Harper risks denigrating our soldiers ) and as many others have done too, the Roveian theme that to investigate the growing Afghanistan detention scandal is to not support our troops...
A BCer in Toronto (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
As the Conservatives prepare to hurriedly rush-in legislation on child pornography that absolutely has nothing to do with distracting public attention from the Richard Colvin's testimony and the growing scandal about what the government knew about allegations of torture in Afghan prisons and when, here's what Tom Flanagan, a senior adviser to Stephen Harper and former senior campaign staffer,...
The Galloping Beaver (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
What exactly do you mean by this ? “But that’s actually another interesting debate or seminar: what’s wrong with child pornography — in the sense that it’s just pictures? But I’m not here to debate that today.” I hope and pray that this is only some sort of misquote or vile piece of abstracted intellectualising. ( h/t Dawg )
Section 15 (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
A must read. Lots of nuggets in this interview: Ignatieff 'quality guy,' Flanagan says
Accidental Deliberations (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Shorter Tom Flanagan : To learn the true measure of a leader, one must ignore his instinctual reaction to a perceived crisis in favour of whatever image he now finds it most beneficial to project. (Warning: only applies to Stephen Harper.)
Macleans.ca (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
Tom Flanagan talks to the Winnipeg Free Press about Michael Ignatieff, attack ads, the coalition and political party funding. During last winter’s constitutional crisis, Flanagan wrote in The Globe and Mail that “Gross violations of democratic principles would be involved in handing government to the coalition without getting approval from voters.” A week earlier, Harper,...
Far and Wide (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
Tom Flanagan outlines the thrust of the entire Conservative strategy, and it isn't pretty: On CBC Radio’s “The House,” top Conservative strategist Tom Flanagan said this about ten-percenters: “Canadians seem to be willing to tolerate attacks that are based on half-truths or things taken out of context, or misstatements, partial misstatements, distortions. I mean,...
The Gazetteer (Free subscription) | 12/01/2009
... that, as Mr. Francis also points out, it was Mr. Harper's former chief strategist and confidant Tom Flanagan who once said: "It doesn't have to be true, it just has to be plausible...." OK? .
Globe and Mail (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
Jane Taber on Tory MP Gerald Keddy's outburst, Tom Flanagan's advice to Liberals on 10-per-centers and another Senate seat for Stephen Harper to fill
liberal catnip (Free subscription) | 11/22/2009
... have always accepted the press, but Harper's essentially said, 'Fuck you'," he explains. Tom Flanagan, Harper's 2004 campaign manager and 2006 campaign editor general, says that Harper's fine without the Gallery. "The Press Gallery is a bunch of self-important, preening prima donnas who think they're crucial because they're stationed in Ottawa and they've watched All the President's...
Dawg's Blawg (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
An aside from Indian-fighter Tom Flanagan: But that’s actually another interesting debate or seminar: what’s wrong with child pornography — in the sense that it’s just pictures? But I’m not here to debate that today. And here, revealed in all its splendour, is the concept that lies at the rotting heart of social relations under capitalism--commodity fetishism. The...
Macleans.ca (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
In today’s Ottawa Notebook, Jane Taber describes Tom Flanagan as “super Tory strategist.” Does she mean “super,” as in “especially good at what he does'” Does she mean “super,” as in “possessing extra-human powers such as the ability to strategize faster than a speeding Stephanopoulos'” Or does she mean “super,” as...
Section 15 (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
I love watching theory be put into practice. "It doesn't have to be true, it just has to be plausible." -- Prof. Tom Flanagan Now go read Impolitical .
Scott's DiaTribes (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
... Conservatives’ competence into question . UPDATE: This is a rather curious quote from Professor Tom Flanagan, former mentor of Stephen Harper. I’m not sure whether its a defense of the Conservative government or a criticism: “People get sick every day and people die. It is too bad, but not an emergency… The government was bullied by the World Health Organization and by the media into going...
Denver Post (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
The Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, a Colorado business coalition, elected longtime banker Tom Flanagan, a division president for Citywide Banks, as chair.
