25 March 2007

Does saying, "It's a rumour..."

Get you off the hook?

Now I'd be the last person in this country to defend celebrity life partner and uber-pinko Member of Parliament Olivia Chow from the slings and arrows of outrageous bloggers... but isn't self-celebrated lawyer and new media consultant Jason Cherniak pushing the envelope of civility and indeed legality, with his unsourced, so-called rumour?

Says Cherniak...
The rumour around TO (Let me be very clear; I am not suggesting that the rumour is true. I am only stating that it is out there.) is that Olivia Chow won because NDP supporters from across the city voted early and often at different polling stations in Trinity-Spadina.
I guess the disclaimer is his inner-lawyer talking.

Regardless, I'd like to see Jason "man-up" and tell us who, besides himself, is spreading, without a shred of evidence to prove it, this malicious rumour.

UPDATE: Civitatensis finds more "weenies" at the roast
The rumour around the internet (Let me be very clear; I am not suggesting that the rumour is true. I am only stating that it is out there.) is that Jason Cherniak sexually harrassed a female member of the Liberal Party by threatening to ruin her reputation after she refused to go out on a date with him.
HOLY SHIT: It's officially out of control
cycles2k Says:
March 25th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

There is a rumour that McClelland has a secret crush on Cherniak and that is why he cannot stop talking about him. (Let me be very clear; I am not suggesting that the rumour is true. I am only stating that it is out there because I just made it up).
LAST WORD: Cherniak climbs down... sort of

No apology for Olivia Chow, just Trinity-Spadina.
So, to be clear, I am sorry for using Trinity-Spadina as an example in my initial post. However, that does not change the fact that I made the mistake in good faith.
And it's not libel, it's, well... a mistake.

CLARIFICATION: Cherniak's not sorry at all

It's actually the fault of his unnamed high-level sources and the rest of the dumbass blogosphere...
Sorry, but I would not have posted this if I had not heard it from credible people.

Frankly, though, I didn't realize that so many bloggers were so clueless about the rumours out there.

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