Fighting truth with lies

Whatever one thinks about the relevance of James Moore's writings on abortion just months before he was first elected to Parliament, surely the more shocking part of the story is his campaign's thuggish response to what by all accounts is an accurate reproduction of what he wrote:

Mr. Moore did not immediately respond to the Globe and Mail's requests for comment Friday evening, but in an interview with CTV News, he affirmed his pro-choice views and called the Liberals' claims “garbage” and “a lie.”

He then suggested if the article was reported on by the media, he would send out a press release falsely accusing the Liberal opponent in his riding, a university student, of cheating on all his exams, CTV reported.

In other words, Moore quite explicitly threatened an opponent and the media to stop telling the truth about him, lest Moore start spreading known lies in response.

That would be a serious enough abuse coming from a staffer who could be thrown under the bus. But coming from one of Stephen Harper's perceived star cabinet ministers, the incident looks like confirmation that the Cons are rotten to the core. And I'd think it's well worth pressuring the entire party - from Harper on down - as to just how many times they've followed through on Moore's publicly-stated strategy of spreading known lies to try to change the channel from the truth.