When I quote most blogs, I'm usually satisfied with simply copying the relevant text and setting a link.  But with Jason Cherniak, past experience tells me that a screenshot is required.  Embarrassing posts have a habit of disappearing.

So with that in mind, here is the screenshot in which Jason Cherniak links the reporting of Stephane Dion's gaffe with Peter Kent's employment with CanWest Global:

I hate to repeat myself, but the question of Peter Kent's role at CanWest Global has been asked and answered, and not just on my blog, but over and over again in the mainstream media.  Peter Kent does work for CanWest Global, but he is deliberately kept clear of editorial because of his role in the Conservative Party.  Instead Peter Kent lends his skills and experience to questions of infrastructure, technology, and convergence:

[Peter Kent] has been out of editorial management since May 2005, instead focusing on apolitical questions technology and infrastructure for Global News.

He has been out of editorial management since May 2005!

And guess what?  That was exactly the time he was nominated as a Conservative Party candidate!

So Peter Kent stepped out of editorial management as the price of being nominated to sit for the Conservatives, stayed out all the way through the subsequent election, an election in which he failed to secure a seat, and has stayed out since then.

When Peter Kent was kind enough to write to me to help fill in some of the blanks, he signed off his email in a way that lent no room for misinterpretation:

Peter Kent
Deputy Editor  (though a firewall away from the editorial stream)
Global TV News

Now Stephane Dion, in a room full of reporters, is quoted as saying the following:

We are going to have to discuss that very actively if they (the Pakistanis) are not able to deal with it on their own. We could consider that option with the NATO forces in order to help Pakistan help us pacify Afghanistan.

One day, we are going to have to act because our soldiers are cleaning out some areas, but in fact very often they are only clean in principle. The insurgents go take refuge in Pakistan and they are going to come back (to Afghanistan) at the earliest opportunity. This could last very long if we don't tackle the problems that often originate from Pakistan.

Now it seems clear to me that Stephane Dion is advocating NATO forces entering Pakistan to root out the Taliban. 

Liberal Party luminaries have been out in force, explaining to dullards like myself that the phrases like "NATO forces" and "pacify" and "tackle the problem" refer to diplomatic notes only.

I'm not certain where Stephane Dion got the idea that "NATO forces" are involved in diplomatic efforts.  And he talked about the "option" of using "NATO forces".  Since when did diplomatic efforts require careful consideration as an "option"?

As many people have pointed out, either Stephane Dion doesn't understand the nature of NATO, or he really thinks NATO needs to go into Pakistan.

Personally, I'm leaning to the second explanation.  I think Stephane Dion meant exactly what he said.  The problem is that it is a singularly stupid idea.

But Jason Cherniak doesn't concede the possibility that Stephane Dion could be either mistaken or foolish.  Instead, there must be a Conservative behind this nefarious plot to make Stephane Dion look bad:

The Ottawa Citizen is owned by Canwest. As I reported last week, Conservative candidate Peter Kent "is currently working in senior editorial management as the Deputy Editor of Global TV News and with the print and new media divisions of CanWest MediaWorks".

Thursday, the Canwest Ottawa Citizen published an article titled "Fix Pakistan, then Afghanistan, Dion says".

So Stephane Dion did not say what everyone thought they heard him say.  Instead, Peter Kent took editorial control of the Ottawa Citizen, and rewrote the story by Marianne White and Mike Blanchfield, thus manufacturing the controversy as a way of furthering Conservative Party interests.

Or maybe it goes deeper than that.  Jason Cherniak doesn't actually say Peter Kent did anything.  Just that he works at CanWest Global.  Just that Peter Kent has editorial control (which he does not).  Perhaps the suggestion is that where you find one Conservative, others might be lurking nearby.  The fact that CanWest Global could tolerate the having Peter Kent control the editorial content (which he does not) brings all their reporting under suspicion. 

Anything CanWest Global reports, through any of their media channels, that makes the Liberal Party in general, and Stephane Dion in particular, look bad, must be the result of Conservative manipulation.  Peter Kent works there.  It must be a conspiracy.

I really thought this Peter Kent nonsense was put to rest.  I was wrong.  Jason Cherniak is being consistent in his view that Peter Kent is some sort of editorial Svengali, manipulating the media to manufacture slurs against the faultless Liberals.

And you know what they say about consistency, especially the sort that flies in the face of the facts and common sense:

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.