“How do you erase everything I’ve said so far?”

Those are the words of Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien after he clutched the CBC’s tape recorder and tried to erase comments he made to reporters during a pre-arranged interview. On the tape you can hear reporter Alistair Steele tell the mayor, “Well, I can’t do that Mr. Mayor.”

On the tape O’Brien shot back at the CBC reporter, “Oh yah? Watch me!” and then kicked the reporter out of the room and ended the planned interview. Well, I’m still “watching” but I’m also still “listening” and yup, I can still hear those comments that the mayor was unable to erase. Hmmm, if you can’t work a tape recorder….

The reporters were inquiring after it was confirmed by the mayor’s own adviser that O’Brien’s eldest son posted comments to this blog, apply-liberally.com, that were deeply offensive.

hi

i think you are a scumbag..

true/false?

http://applyliberally.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/even-if-our-mayor-escapes-jail-time-he-still-wont-win-in-2010/#comments

Notice the fake website that was used to post these comments “www.darrenmcewenisapieceofshit.com”.

and…

i didnt think the mayor passed the budget by himself?
council votes on passing the budget as a whole
is that correct?

why do you misrepresent the truth? youre the equivalent of the rest of the angle shooting fackers in ottawa

http://applyliberally.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/is-ottawa-the-worst-managed-city-in-canada/#comments

His son admitted to me that he himself made these “INCREDIBLY stupid and short sighted” posts. According to the CBC, an adviser to O’Brien also confirmed that the mayor’s son did in fact post at least one message. So enter Mayor Larry himself who tried to “clear the air” by speaking to reporters during an agreed upon interview with the CBC and the Ottawa Sun.

O’Brien first targeted me saying, “Obviously he’s connected politically to the Liberal Party. NDP? Liberal? How old is he? 22, 23-year-old Liberal?”

I’m 24-years-old and I’m not a member of any of those federal parties. In fact, his comments go to show what political bias he might have! It certainly is nice to see that he sat down to clear up that whole me not being a “scum bag” “piece of shit” thing too. I’m a vocal critic of the mayor. I think, given the past few months, I’m likely in the majority on that too.

O’Brien then lost his cool and grabbed the CBC’s recording device and you can then hear what some are calling the ‘quote-of-all-Larry-quotes’ muttered into the mic, “How do you erase everything I’ve said so far?” Despite the reporter telling the mayor that can’t be done, the mayor said “Oh yah? Watch me!”

The CBC reporter was then asked to leave.

That, my friends, is how you badly, badly, badly mishandle media when you’re trying to defuse a story as a mayor.