Do They Not Expect To Be Reminded Of This?
While Stephen Harper dispatches his crew of merry little researchers to comb “All the BBC programs Ignatieff hosted, C-Span call-in shows he participated in, and books he wrote” for attack ad ammunition do they really think that we’ve forgotten things that he has said — let me remind you.
Now, having given you a compliment, let me also give you an insult. I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it’s legendary that if you’re like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians.
Translation: Canadians are stupid
First, facts about Canada. Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States.
In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don’t feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don’t feel bad about it themselves, as long as they’re receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.
Translation: Canadians are not only stupid, but they are lazy.
It is a source of constant amusement to me how the party leaders seem to believe that
- people are too stupid to remember this stuff
- the Internet forgets
Ah, but most of those people watching TV attack ads don’t know what we know.
Truth is irrelevant. Remember, us “reality-based” persons are clueless.
The Liberals simply don’t have the cash to fight back on the same level.
And — maybe — that’s a good thing. Attack ads responding with attack ads is a recipe for nothing more than further voter apathy.
Harpers quotes are old news, and have been trotted out by his opponents at every opportunity. Anyone who could be effected by them already have been.
The CPC are going to try to define a pretty much unknown entity in Ignatieff. Attack ads may be cynical and intellectually dishonest, but they are brutally effective.
At the very least it will make some pretty interesting political theatre. Grab your beer and popcorn and enjoy the show.
Most people don’t enjoy the show, though. Most people aren’t like us – they don’t care about politics because they don’t take/have the time to care. Constant political bickering over who said what stupid thing years ago, is what helps turn people into political zombies, and that only helps the incumbent powers.
Haha – what a waste of time and money when Ignatieff can be counted on to say all kinds of NEW crazy things on and off the campaign trail. Gawd, New Conservatives are a new kind of stupid, aren’t they?
I vaguely remember something about Ignatieff once saying he never really considered Aboriginal Canadians in his political ideas for Canada.
On the one hand, neither have the majority of Canadians. On the other hand, he is aspiring to lead all Canadians. Including us.
It isn’t that we don’t remember these things and may, in our own small ways post reminders of such, but there is a world of difference between that and a multi-million dollar smear ad campaign on tv and radio playing with few likely interruptions for the next couple of years.
They wrecked Dion this way, and even if Iggy proves a better communicator than Dion was, without much of a budget, the Cons can simply drown out any response and therefore make certain Iggy’s framed the way they want him framed in the public mind.
I don’t know or really care if Harper still thinks like this since nothing he has done indicates he believes it. We’re still a northern European welfare state.
It seems to me that both sides could trade body blows forever over who made the most boneheaded comment of the 1990s (is it Ignatieff saying American empire is the best thing since sliced bread, or Harper saying that Canadians are a bunch of lazy, wannabe Scandinavian socialists?). Approval ratings will stay low, people will get a little more cynical, voter turnout will ultimately drop a few more percentage points. But if there’s going to be a big shift in opinion, it’s not going to be because of something someone said five or ten years ago, but something they say in the campaign.
Unless of course someone finds a quote of Ignatieff admitting that he’s a reptilian kitten-eater or something, I suppose.
One of the things that made me happiest about Obama’s victory was that it might – MIGHT – signal that the strategy of vicious, malicious slander of an opponent was no longer effective. A couple of studies released during the campaign suggested that Americans were simply sick of it, and that negative campaigning was driving voters into the other camp.
There are fashions in political strategy, and the flat-out personal attack may have reached the end of its cycle. If that’s true, this may backfire. On the other hand, if the Liberals choose to sling back, we’ll not get to find out.
The Liberals are off balance and taking bad advice – they’ll fling back.
While it is true that the scare quotes have been trotted out repeatedly against Stephen Harper during election campaigns, the Liberals have a new leader, and a new means of both responding to the Tory tactics, while at the same time retreading the old ground.
For every quote the Conservatives bring out against Ignatieff, the Liberals could match with a quote made by Stephen Harper at roughly the same time, which would highlight the silliness of the whole exercise. Finish off with “people change, don’t they Mr. Harper? Why don’t you have Canadians assess the merits of our parties based on their current platforms?”
Ooh… the “Tit for Tat” advertising campaign, eh… Okay, Bow – you’re hired!*
*Sooey is not a REAL advertising executive, so pay no attention to her.
The Liberals may not be able to pay for that. They’ll have to hope for a lot of viral videos.
Are you kidding? Give me a week, CPAC recordings of parliamentary proceedings and a list of campaign promises, and I could make Harper look like the biggest liar since Frank Abagnale Jr.