Yelling into the Vacuum

In the Canadian political blogosphere, criticism of the Conservative government tends to follow one of two specifc frameworks. The first one:

1. Somebody criticizes a policy or decision made by the government
2. A government supporter criticizes the criticism on philosophical grounds.
3. Discussion ensues with no real resolution.

The second one:

1. Somebody criticizes a policy or decision made by the government.
2. A government supporter points out that the previous Liberal government acted in the same manner, if not worse.
3. Partisan sniping ensues.

The second framework is the one that frustrates voters like myself. Saying "Yeah, but they did it too" is not an acceptable justification for bad actions. Especially in this case, when the Conservative party campaigned on the promise of delivering a different style of government than the previous government.

So when a story like this comes to light, you can guess what the response will be from the right wing pundits.

(I should note an exception: Andrew Coyne is willing to criticize the government even though he is more likely to support it than any of the other parties. Also, Greg Weston has one of the better takes on the subject - pointing out what the implications could be and how they would affect our judicial system.)