Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tories Find A Fall-Guy

Who the hell is Owen Lippert and why are the Tories throwing him under the bus?

Statement by Owen Lippert:

'Since the beginning of the election campaign, I have been employed by the Conservative Party of Canada at Conservative Campaign Headquarters.

'In 2003, I worked in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. I was tasked with -- and wrote -- a speech for the then Leader of the Opposition. Pressed for time, I was overzealous in copying segments of another world leader’s speech. Neither my superiors in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition nor the Leader of the Opposition was aware that I had done so.

'I apologize to all involved and have resigned my position from the Conservative campaign.

Typical Tory MO. Find some obscurity to take the blame.

This is Owen Lippert.

17 comments:

Aunty Bertha said...

I wonder if there is compensation involved for taking one for the team...

GAB

Noir Novelist said...

Googling this guy was fun, there's even a Hansard's transcript online for him. He seems rather experienceed to have made such a stupid mistake. Wonder what they're paying him to take the fall.

Bio From the Fraser Inst:

Owen Lippert holds a Ph.D. in Modern European History from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Following his graduation in 1983, he worked as managing editor for the Asia and World Institute in Taipei, Taiwan. Returning to Canada in 1984, he worked first as a caucus researcher for the Social Credit government and, then as a policy analyst for the Office of the Premier until 1991. He joined the staff of Kim Campbell as press secretary during Campbell's tenure as attorney general of Canada and minister of Justice. In 1993, while an advisor during Campbell's leadership campaign, he taught at Carleton University and the University of British Columbia and he was a senior policy advisor in Industry and Science Canada during Campbell's tenure as Prime Minister. In 1994, Dr. Lippert worked on contract for the Canadian department of Justice before going to work as a senior policy analyst at The Fraser Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1996, he joined the Editorial Board of The Globe & Mail in Toronto. His specialties are public policy and legal reform.

Debra said...

Sounds like they want the issue to just go away. Truth is, if Harper really believed the speech's sentiments it shows disastrous judgment that would have led to Canada being mired in a fiasco of a war today. If they weren't his words nor sentiments, why did he sign off of such an important speech, whether our country goes to war, to a junior staffer? Either way he's a loser.

Oldschool said...

• Dion was caught lifting exact words and platforms from his left brain, David Suzuki. I won’t even cite the proof.

• Team Liberal stole the words “Green Shift” from a private citizen without asking, and had to be threatened with lawsuits and agree to settle. I won’t even cite the evidence.

nO question - liberalism is a mental disorder!!!

Anonymous said...

Lippert could hardly be considered a junior speechwriter. He would have known full well the risk of plagiarizing - his career as an academic, civil servant, policy analyst, etc. would be over once it was discovered.

This defies credibility on so many levels: a PhD would plagiarize because he was busy, a Harper speechwriter would give his boss a plagiarized speech without telling him, a speechwriter with Lippert's credentials would plagiarize such a widely distributed speech...it's all just so unbelievable.

Ti-Guy said...

I don't believe any of this for a second.

Maybe Lippert's 15 year-old son wrote the speech, but otherwise...

Jay said...

How strange.

Mr Harper spoke about Howard in an interview back in 2003. Did he not find it strange that his speech sounded just like the one Howard had given?

He obviously HAD to know unless he's even more of a douche than oldschool.

Beijing York said...

This stinks. There is no way Lippert was distracted enough to unwittingly copy another leader's speech.

Also, didn't one of Howard's key advisers help with Harper's 2006 campaign. Another Howard pollster set up the demographics research that Harper is using for the current campaign. IOW, Harper definitely has a record of being very close to Howard. The fact that he didn't recognize the speech as being lifted defies credibility.

Must be a real ouch moment for Stevie. He is acting pretty defensive if he needs to find a scape goat so quickly.

Unknown said...

"Typical Tory MO. Find some obscurity to take the blame."- BCL

You sound a tad snarky BCL. Any evidence that Lippert is a fall guy?

Ti-Guy said...

You sound a tad snarky BCL. Any evidence that Lippert is a fall guy?

Oh, you're so adorable, sometimes. You really are.

deBeauxOs said...

It's not snarky, it's an observation based on the Cons' operating mode.

Throughout this campaign, every lie, offensive behaviour, gaffe, inappropriate comment and rude prank committed by Harper's team of dirty trickters has been attributed to a minion or dismissed as unimportant.

Andy Lehrer said...

This is cute
http://canadian-firebrand.blogspot.com/2008/09/owen-lippert-harpers-plagiarist-is.html

Unknown said...

"...every lie, offensive behaviour, gaffe, inappropriate comment and rude prank committed by Harper's team of dirty trickters has been attributed to a minion or dismissed as unimportant." - debeauxos

So true. And how about the Libs? I loved the Leslie Hughes thingie. How many 9-11 Truthers are there in the Liberal party anyways? I'm guessing at least 25%.

Anonymous said...

Considering that Harper idolizes Howard and Howard adviser have worked with Harper campaign, I doubt it's as simple as the way they want to make it appear.

And any remaining doubt of mine, that Mike Duffy and Robert Fife is turning CTV into Fox news, have disappeared tonight after watching Mike do a team up with Baird in downplaying this scandal.

Ti-Guy said...

Is your name really Ariel?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Who he is exactly? I dont have any idea about him.

Maria[big and tall suits