[LINK] "Online debate more about ‘smear job’ than Layton"

[rfmcdonald]

If Andrea Gordon's analysis at the Toronto Star is correct, and the leak by a former Toronto police officer of a 1996 encounter with Layton in a massage parlour of perhaps dubious repute (currently being investigated by the Ontario Provincial Police) is amounting to little, this says much about the strength of Layton, his campaign, and the NDP.

Jack Layton was calling it a “smear campaign” and by Saturday, so were many Canadians who used social media to weigh in on a controversial news report about the NDP leader in a massage parlour 15 years ago.

Hours after the Toronto Sun reported late Friday that police had found Layton in the establishment but not charged him with any offence, hundreds of readers jumped into the fray on websites that picked up the story. But the conversation quickly became more about the suspected source of the allegations than the target.

Words like “sleazy,” “ugly,” “mudslinging,” and “gutter politics” cropped up repeatedly on newspaper and television websites, Twitter and Facebook.

“This is a smear job pure and simple,” wrote commenter “Berny” on the Star’s website. That summed up the overwhelming sentiment among the more than 200 who commented on the story, posted late Friday.

[. . .]

Layton has said he was getting treatment from a massage therapist, unaware the location may have been used for illicit purposes, and was told by police he had done nothing wrong.

Some commenters said the allegations need to be addressed because they reflect character and judgment.

But even many who claimed to dislike the New Democrats said they would prefer to focus on challenging Layton’s policies and spending promises.