CALGARY- Experts are weighing in on the war-of-words between the mayor of Calgary, and a brash political commentator.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Ezra Levant—a host on the Sun News Network—go way back. But on Sunday their storied history went viral, when the pair broke out into an all-out Twitter war.
It started with Levant questioning Nenshi about the city’s use of the Pembina Institute to help develop a strategy on green house gas emissions—and quickly got heated. At one point, Nenshi tweeted a response that some might take great offence to when taken out of context.
Nenshi issued the following statement in regards to the tweet, which reads in part:
“The classic semantic argument for a leading question is “when did you stop beating your wife?” Since Mr. Levant was my debating partner for many years and did attend law school, I know that he knows what this phrase means. In fact, I’ve heard him use that line in many debates himself. He now is trying to make an issue of my use of that phrase.
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“If Mr. Levant or anyone else was truly offended by my use of this phrase, of course I apologize.”
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He added that he has also sent a letter to Sun Media, requesting they address what he calls ‘misrepresentations’ in one of Levant’s columns, but the network has yet to take any action.
“The mayor responded, I think, largely because of a personal relationship that the two have had, and he just couldn’t let it go. And Ezra’s not going to let it go. It’s his whole facade and his career has been based on doing this,” says political analyst Duane Bratt, of the online argument. “He was pushing all the right buttons and the mayor responded in kind, but there is a higher standard of being an opinion columnist versus the mayor.”
He adds that while Nenshi was trying to get his side of the story out, it is hard to do so online.
“The problem with Twitter is the other guy comes back there 30 seconds later with his side of the story, and you’ve only got 140 characters.”
Nenshi isn’t the only Alberta politician who has found themselves at the centre of an online-flub. Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk got into trouble over comments he made about a flood in B.C., while a PC staffer was forced to resign after making a mean-spirited comment about Wildrose leader Danielle Smith during the election.
Experts say while social media has proven irresistible to some politicians, they should type carefully.
“There is a huge upside for this and we shouldn’t miss it,” says University of Calgary professor Tom Keenan. “The problem is people sometimes say what they are thinking, and politicians aren’t supposed to do that. They are supposed to run that through a filter. Twitter takes away the filter.”
Bratt adds that in this case, Nenshi simply got sucked in.
“I think direct engagement is one thing, but he is being provoked. I think ‘provokes’ is the right word by an opinion journalist.”
BELOW: Full transcript of online conversation between Nenshi, Levant
http://storify.com/prentisscorp/ezra-takes-on-nenshi-in-twitter-war-over-sun-artic
With files from Carolyn Kury de Castillo
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