The New York Times recently published a harsh op-ed about Stephen Harper's tenure as prime minister. It was big online hit, with close to 90,000 Facebook shares as of this writing.
The column's appeal for some was that they saw it as the New York Times itself giving a verdict on the Harper years.
The New York Times sees Harper as failure. The Closing of the Canadian Mind http://t.co/Nv5sIJsRA1
What the New York Times thinks of Stephen Harper http://t.co/mavJA6hr2Z #stopharper
Even the New York Times is blasting Harper. Let's hope this election brings a close to his time as Prime Minister http://t.co/wNa8WlMJmJ
Which, of course, wasn't the case. The piece was Marche's opinion.
Then there was the fact that Americans Were Publishing Things About Canada. Attention must be paid!
It's like catnip for Canadian pride/insecurity.
Marche's argument was that Harper's current campaign and time as prime minister both reflect a "peculiar hatred for sharing information."
He wrote:
... the nine and half years of Mr. Harper's tenure have seen the slow-motion erosion of that reputation for open, responsible government. His stance has been a know-nothing conservatism, applied broadly and effectively. He has consistently limited the capacity of the public to understand what its government is doing, cloaking himself and his Conservative Party in an entitled secrecy, and the country in ignorance.
Today, another Canadian writer took to an American publication to talk about Harper. Conservative writer David Frum offered a rebuttal of Marche in The Atlantic.
To which Marche replied:
@davidfrum also I am not particularly well bred.
So far, it was a respectful, Canadian dispute. Each wrote their piece. Marche took to Twitter to point out what he saw was an omission in Frum's column, and to make a playful objection about his lineage.
Then Canadian Senator Linda Frum weighed in with praise for her, yes, brother's takedown of Marche's "overwrought screed."
No, Stephen Harper isn't killing Canadian democracy. @davidfrum responds to Stephen Marche's overwrought screed. http://t.co/yfKzHBzJQb
Marche replied that as a senator she is "strictly a burden on the country." OK, so things were getting a little heated.
@LindaFrum you're a Canadian senator. You are strictly a burden on the country. Your opinion is meaningless.
"I'm not going to be lectured to by Canadian Senator about this stuff," Marche told BuzzFeed Canada. "There are limits to who I'm willing to talk to here. ... A Canadian Senator is someone who leeches off of a failed system, and we all know that."
Senator Frum thought Marche was being hypocritical.
@StephenMarche Defender of the Canadian Constitution urges disregard of the Canadian Constitution?
And on it went.
@LindaFrum You take taxpayer money and serve no function and call yourself a conservative. You are a member of a national joke. Literally.
David Frum chided Marche for a lack of "self-control."
@StephenMarche If you seek to rebut charge that Harper critics are driven by irrational rage, start by showing more self-control
Marche didn't think much of that criticism.
@davidfrum the sure sign of a defeated orator is that he or she doesn't like the tone of his or her opponent.
But as for David Frum in general, Marche said, "I like David and admire David a lot. He is a really interesting writer who I always read, and who has taken pretty courageous stands."
Meanwhile, Jeet Heer, a Canadian writer for U.S. magazine the New Republic, saw the exchanges as evidence of the "myth" of Canadian politeness.
Again, Canadian politeness is a myth: https://t.co/f5AqR6FrOm