Flimsy fabrications

More than a few other bloggers have already pointed out the Cons' trickery surrounding the Lib leadership convention. But one part of the story seems to demand more attention, as the Cons are also bragging that they fabricated "internal documents" to be leaked to the media:

One Conservative aide took pride in pointing out that his party fabricated an internal party memo suggesting their troops were most afraid of Michael Ignatieff - and most anxious to face Rae.

The ersatz memo was leaked to a pair of English-and French-language newspapers and ran under headlines that cast it as a behind-the-scenes peek at Tory strategy.

The name of Tory campaign chair Doug Finley, the supposed author of the memo, was stamped on the document as an afterthought.

The Tories then made arrangements to get the memo leaked through a third party to English and French newspapers, Tory sources said.

Not that the tactic is much of a surprise in from the Cons - even if some less canny Libs seem to have been taken in entirely. But if it's expected that the Cons would see fit to lie to the media, their willingness to gloat about it afterward speaks volumes about the Cons' contempt for both the media and the Canadian public. And it would only seem appropriate for the media to take at face value the Cons' proud declaration that they shouldn't be trusted.

Indeed, in light of the Cons' public admission that they've fabricated documents for media consumption, one would think that any responsible journalist would now have to call into question everything emanating from PMS and his party. That added scrutiny could take multiple forms - whether in terms of declining to publish stories in the first place when they're particularly suspect, or simply putting a proviso in each article to alert the public to the Cons' history of fabrication. Which would allow the Cons to still get their message to the public, while at the same time highlighting the obvious need to doubt anything the party has to say publicly.

Granted, the U.S. press has shown no such inclination when faced with years of similar manipulation, and it's possible that the same attitude will spill over into Canada. But Canada's Press Gallery has already shown somewhat more of a spine than any portion of the U.S. media. And given the chance to both put the Cons in their place and give a more accurate picture of each story by noting admitted facts about the Cons' past actions, it would seem an obvious choice to make sure that the Cons' pattern of deception doesn't go unmentioned in future reporting.

Update: Robert has more.