Rejected

After David Akin and Warren Kinsella let the cat out of the bag on Monday about the Conservative Party accrediting bloggers for their upcoming convention, the call has gone out among liberal and progressive bloggers to send in their applications.

As it happens, I sent in my application over a month ago thanks to a heads-up from a certain constituency office manager. I wasn't really expecting to be accepted - after all, they do list "the readership and influence of a blog" among their criteria, and I'm still pretty small potatoes.

Sure enough, I received my rejection letter today.

To: js****@cogeco.ca
From: "Paul Stickney"
Subject: RE: Blog - Convention

Thank you for your interest in obtaining blogging credentials at the 2008 Conservative Party Convention in Winnipeg.

I regret to inform you that the Party will not be granting you blogger accreditation.

We have received numerous submissions from bloggers for accreditation at the convention in November.

In order for the Party to have a variety of political bloggers, we have unfortunately been unable to accept everyone who submits an application.

Thank you.

Paul.

[snif] Too bad. Oh, well - the U.S. Democratic Convention looks way more interesting anyway (anyone want to pay me to fly down to Denver?)

I made a comment elsewhere that the odds of any liberal or progressive bloggers getting approved were probably pretty slim given how the party likes to control the message. However, after reading that Mr. BT himself is encouraging Scott Tribe to apply, it may well be that at least a few dissenting voices will be allowed to attend.

Maybe I'm wrong - this could be interesting after all.

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UPDATE: OMG I've just been blogged by David Akin!!!

[blush]

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UPDATE THURSDAY NIGHT: Ok, this is getting crazy. Not only did my traffic just quadruple over the past 24 hours, but I`m getting some very strange visits out of this David Akin thing (yes, I`m one of those sad people with an unhealthy interest in their own blogging stats) (shut up).

Out of the 150 or so visitors who have wandered over here from there, 17 have been from the Government of Canada, including 2 from the PCO. Several media people have been by as well - the Star, the Globe & Mail, CBC, CityTV - even one from Al Jazeera, although that turned out to be unrelated. Then there was the visit from the RCMP, the one from what I assume was a military person in Kabul, Afghanistan, and one from Focus on the Family which I cannot begin to fathom.

What the HELL kind of outfit are you running over there, Akin?!