Cheap shots

I recently received some exposure from a Liberal Democrat website run by councillors in Rochford. They highlighted my article on voting in local elections. You can find their post here.

I was then alerted to an article on their Conservative opponent Councillor Stephen Castle’s blog. He said:

I was also struck this evening by two posts on the Lib Dem web site. Firstly one that promotes the Blog of a journalism student in Rochford – clearly the Lib Dems seem pretty excited because there is some implied criticism of the local Tories but the language on the site http://shanecroucher.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/use-your-box-when-voting-locally/ is completely  unacceptable and I am surprised that the Rayleigh Lib Dems need to stoop so low as to promote it.

This rather irritated me. I hadn’t set out to target the Tory Party. I used a hypothetical Tory candidate to illustrate a point I was trying to make. As for my criticism of James Duddridge MP- I can’t help that he’s a Tory. In my post on his expenses I make no judgement on his belonging to the Conservatives. So the “implied criticism” that Cllr Castle seems to have found puzzled me. Frankly, it appears that he was clutching at straws in trying to find a way of digging at the Lib Dems.

He refers to my language as “completely unacceptable”. In twelve posts I’ve sworn seven times. It’s hardly a tirade of expletives. To misrepresent my writing as such is wrong and I once again suggest that Cllr Castle is putting his own spin on things to try and have a cheap shot at his opponents.

I e-mailed him a few days ago to express my annoyance – he didn’t reply. He’s since put up posts on his blog so I expect he has seen my e-mail. I’ve decided to put it up here. Maybe he didn’t like what I said. Do you think any of it is inappropriate?

Hello there.
 
I’m writing in response to the criticism that I seem to have received on your website.
 
I’d like to know in what way the language I used is ‘completely unacceptable’. It’s my own, personal blog. I didn’t ask for exposure, although I appreciate it, from the Lib Dems. Swear words, like it or not, are a part of the English language. If I had been swearing every other word, making my blog unreadable, perhaps I would have accepted your statement. But to misrepresent my blog as some kind of foul-mouthed rant is wrong and offensive. The idea that promoting my writing is ‘stooping’ is unjust. I wonder, if the shoe had been on the other foot…
 
Perhaps if you had read the blog article free from Tory emotion, you would have realised that I was only using a Tory candidate as a hypothetical example. I think most reasonable people would have realised this. So, actually, there isn’t any ‘implied Tory criticism’.
 
As for the blog on Jame Duddridge, where is the Tory criticism in that?
 
It’s this kind of cheap, party-political mud-slinging that’s putting so many people off of politics. Do you actually care about election issues, or are you more bothered about losing face over perceived criticism from a student blogger?
 
I’d suggest that people who stick so rigidly to party politics are politically naive. People don’t care for Labour, Tory, Lib Dem – they care about what you (as an elected representative) can or will do for them.
 
I would appreciate an apology and a retraction.
 
Regards,
 
Shane Croucher

Even if Cllr Castle doesn’t want to apologise or retract his unfair criticism, a reply would have been courteous.

It looks like he’s already been called out anyway.