I may be the only person in Canada who found that (a) a tad funny and (b) not offensive at all. It certainly doesn't hold a candle to that infamous Tory ad that mocked Chretien's facial disfigurement. Stephen Harper was properly apologetic and had the puffin promptly pulled. Problem solved, right?
Wrong.
The stuff in here is scandalous, scurrilous and slanderous. There's humour in here of the "hyuck-hyuck-hyuck, aren't we clever" sort, and it's distinctly and unrelentingly mean-spirited.
Nobody deserves the kind of mockery Dion's put up with for over a year. Attack the man's policies, sure: the carbon tax is a pathetically easy target. Attack his record: it's undeniable that as Environment Minister, Dion presided over a rather spotty environmental record, particularly when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions.
But this stuff goes way beyond any of that into ad hominem snark.
This is the natural continuation of the Starbucks vs. Tim Horton's meme successfully exploited last time out. In that last election, I lauded the approach as playing to the Tories' populist base. (I'm a Timmy's guy myself, through and through...) Of course, Harper failed to win a seat in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, but it seemed, at least at first, that it didn't matter much.
Now--finally, Ken sees the light!--I get it: Harper doesn't understand Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver, and quite frankly doesn't want to. They're all champagne socialists there...them with their 'Canadian values'. Who needs 'em? I don't.
This sort of stuff will play well in Alberta, I'm sure. But Alberta isn't Canada, a fact which Harper often seems to forget.
Last campaign, even Harper's opponents conceded the Conservatives ran hard and relatively clean. This time out they're doing pretty much everything wrong. Right off the bat they're going freakishly negative, a strategy that's sure to backfire right in their faces. They want Elizabeth May kept out of the leaders' debate, when they should be doing everything in their power to make sure she gets in. (Not many lifelong Tories are going Green. I'd wager I'm one of very few.)
Worst of all, and most baffling, they're alienating the very people they need for that majority they keep blathering about. You simply can't win a majority government without at least some representation from MTV (Montreal/Toronto/Vancouver).
I confess I don't understand Harper's strategy here, and I sure don't like what I've seen of it. When the writ was dropped, I privately dared Mr. Harper to win my vote back. He's torn it up and thrown it away instead.
Nice to see Stephane retaliating in kind. What's interesting about this 'Scandalpedia' site is that every one of the detailed scandals is real, not made up out of white "Dionbook" cloth. (Remnants of ConservaKen interrupt: most of these are pretty small potatoes, at least compared to AdScam and Shawinigate and "the normal operation" and...and...and...*smack*)
Sorry, had to shut that guy up somehow. Yeah, they're all crooks, tell me something I didn't know. Besides, Chretien had a majority government for about six centuries. Harper's ran up his fair share of scandals in two and a bit years, considering the minority government and all.
This is gonna be a naaaasty campaign.
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