Do thoughts of Harper's assasination make Liberals smile?

Sick... and this from the same folks were all up in arms over a puffin pooping on Dion. This pic was taken from the Liberal Party of Canada's own website (which has now been removed):

That's right... several members, several employees in fact, of the Liberal Party of Canada thought that a photo of The Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper getting assasinated was funny. I'd venture a guess that the vast majority of the Canadian public would disagree with that twisted opinion.

So, a little digging is in order... according to the Google cache, the offending photo was submitted by either "Miles" of Windsor ON, or "Richard" of Ottawa ON, as those are the only two photos that are missing from the cached website and appear to have been pulled down. (see UPDATE IV below) Also don't forget, this is an "OFFICIAL" Liberal Party website... therefore, the offending photos were "approved" by someone at HQ, so we have at least one or I'd wager two individuals involved.

This text has now been posted on the Liberal Party website:

"A note to all viewers:

We thank all participants in this photo challenge who have submitted their entries for consideration. Our intent was to engage Canadians concerned about the Prime Minister’s reluctance to attend the climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The photos here are created by visitors to our website, and do not always reflect the views of the Liberal Party of Canada. Though we continue to screen submissions before posting, we have removed certain images that may have been offensive to some viewers.

We apologize for any offence these images may have caused, and continue to strive to present a progressive and dynamic web experience for our site visitors.

Sincerely,
The Web Team"

That's nice... but members of "The Web Team" surely have names, do they not Mr. Donolo and Mr. Ignatieff? With the whole puffin pooping incident, the Liberals demanded that someone be fired, and Ryan Sparrow did indeed step down over the issue.

But I think we can do them one better and can be more gracious than that. I don't think that anyone needs to be fired over this... but someone at HQ better own up to it pronto. Mr. Ignatieff, Mr. Donolo, please give us the names... no blanket mea culpas here. Besides, it's in your own best interest... a quick response to this will help to nip the impending outcry in the bud.

h/t to rjjago and National Newswatch.

UPDATE: Better hurry up with that naming of names Iggy and DonOLO... the Globe & Mail's Jane Taber (the Globe also has the photo archived here) and CBC's Kady O'Malley have picked it up.

UPDATE II: This comment CBC's from Rick Mercer, when asked about his regular Photo Challenge: “We run a photoshop contest at RMR [his CBC television show, Rick Mercer Report]. I can’t tell you how many pics we get of people’s heads on Lee Harvey Oswald’s body,” he told The Globe today. “Common sense and good taste mean we don’t post them.”

UPDATE III: Oooooh... the tried, tested, but ultimately useless "non-apology apology" is the route the Liberals have chosen.
Wrong move Mr. DonOLO.

AN UNNAMED BUT SENIOR LIBERAL WEIGHS IN: Courtesy of Colleague Barton, here's the latest statement on That Hastily Disappeared Photoshop Picture, credited to a Senior Liberal Official:

The photo contest is a humorous way of pointing out Harper's reluctance to attend the climate change meeting in Copenhagen. It's important to keep in mind that the pictures are created by visitors to our website, and do not reflect the views of the LPC or of the OLO.

Though the pictures are screened before posting, this one slipped through the cracks and was removed quickly. It should never have been posted as it is clearly off-limits and offensive.

The apologies of the web team are now posted at the top of the photo contest page.

Note that, although it does explicitly acknowledge that the image in question was "clearly off-limits and offensive," it doesn't actually include an apology, but simply points out that "the apologies of the web team" have been posted.

All that's gonna do is annoy the folks who were initially willing to cut you some slack, and let you get off with blaming an "overcaffinated staffer"... but now we're playing for KEEPS. Now folks are likely going to demand a firing.

Congrats to all the lowly staffers in the Liberal Party who are going to end up in his eventual sights. Because the high and mighty Iffy and DonOLO didn't have the guts to take responsibility for the disgusting photo, their Christmas gift to one of you will likely have to be a pink slip. Be sure to thank them.

UPDATE to UPDATE III: Looks like that "non-apology apology" is just the "talking point" being distributed amongst Liberals for damage control. This from a comment left by "Bert", who says he got this in response to an e-mail complaint he sent to the Liberal Party:

Thank you for your email regarding the Liberal Party of Canada’s photo challenge.

The intent of the photo challenge was to engage Canadians concerned about the Prime Minister’s reluctance to attend the climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The photos posted to the website are user-generated, and do not always reflect the views of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Though we strove to screen submissions before posting, we have removed certain images that may have been offensive.

We apologize for any offence these images may have caused.

Yours sincerely,

Liberal Party of Canada
www.liberal.ca​

Nice try DonOLO... remind your "Senior Liberals" not to quote the talking points memo almost verbatum when speaking to reporters.

UPDATE IV: According to Kady, the offending photo was submitted by "Richard" in Ottawa... anyone know any Liberal staffers or OLO personel on the Hill named Richard?

UPDATE V: (reposted as new post) Let's review the media coverage of this, shall we? The Globe & Mail, MAIN PAGE OF WEBSITE. The Toronto Star, MAIN PAGE OF WEBSITE. CTV, MAIN PAGE OF WEBSITE. The National Post, MAIN PAGE OF WEBSITE. UPI, United Press International, 2nd story in their International News section.

Our very own, taxpayer funded CBC? CUE THE CRICKETS. Not even LISTED in their "Politics" section. You have to know EXACTLY where to go, to Kady's blog, to even find the story. Now why is that, do you think? Perhaps they're not wanting to inform Canadians of anything that makes their dear Liberals look bad? Good thing you've got someone like Kady to give you some credibility... at least she's covering it on her blog.