So everybody knows by now that The Conservative Party of Canada is sponsoring a car driven by news aggregater extraordinaire Pierre Bourque in the Nascar Busch East Series. But not everyone knows that, as of June 11th, out of a field of 46 drivers, Bourque stood 31st with a grand total of $1,650 in winnings. Now, it also looks like he placed lucky 13th in this weekend's race at Mosport, so he might have earned a bit more in the way of pocket change. But clearly he's desperate for a slice of those Conservative millions.This result goes with his rousing 14th place finish at the Featherlite Coaches 200, a 26th place finish at the Minnesota 150 where it doesn't look like he finished a lap, and a 33rd place finish at the Greased Lightning 150, where ditto.
Looks like my Grandma could outrun this car without her crutch, in other words.
And there was an interesting quote in the Globe article on this this morning:
...all well and good, but David Docherty, a professor of political science at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., offers a few caveats.
"What happens if it runs out of gas down the stretch? ... Or it crashes?" Dr. Docherty asked. "This might be one of those things that's too cute by half. It's a great idea and then, 'Oh, what were we thinking?' "
What happens if the driver can't even get his engine to turn over?
28 comments:
I didn't even know Pierre Bourque was a real person.
OMG, what a scandal this is!!!!!!
Far worse than describing the LPC as "Canada's party of convictions".
This definitely shows their commitment to reduce GHG...not.
Whatever it is, if it's Monday, and it's CeePeeCee, it's guaranteed to be stupid.
Oh, and...
Tune in tomorrow when the CPC endorses toilet paper because only hard-working Canadians who have jobs at which they work hard wipe their arses with paper.
...the rest of us use bidets (the Liberals and the Bloquistes), hemp (the NDP) or leaves (the Greens), which of course, isn't normal.
Whooee! Jay's done hit the nail on the head. What this shows is taht the CPC is pretty much out of the loop when it comes to environmental awareness and concern. The eco-Everything talk-the-talk shouted out by the foamin' at the mouth pit bull Johnny Baird is eclipsed by the anti-Earth walk-the-walk of the CPC.
If there were any Earth-lovers in teh CPC, they'd be up in arms an' this would be a scandal. As it is, there ain't any CPC Earth-lovers and the CPC faithful are arguin' that this is a legitimate use of party money.
I'll never support a party that sponsors NASCAR. That the CPC thought this would play well for them is another indication of how diametrically opposed the CPC vision is to the vision of mainstream Canajuns.
JB
Exactly, JimBobby, I KNEW there was a scandal in all this somewhere.
It’s hard to think of a more boneheaded idea than this one. Even if the car doesn’t crash (which was the very first thing that came to my mind) I’d still ask, “What the hell were they thinking?” It really says something about the party that they actually thought this was a good idea. It’s almost too easy to make fun of.
Guys, it's all about marketing...
Sure, you guys are opposed to it... but none of you were likely going to vote CPC anyway, so there's no loss on our part.
However, the millions of middle age, middle class Canadian men who do like NASCAR, and they saw, and will see that same logo, going round and round the track, and will once again remind them that of all the parties, the CPC is the one most like them... which pays off when it comes to the ballot box.
Lots of men in this demographic doesn't vote at all... so if they've been presented an option that actually says to them, "Our interests are your interests", if they do decide to vote, who do you think they're going to consider voting for?
An uppity (in their minds) French professor, or a Party that supports NASCAR?
Just think it through, and you'll see that I'm right.
"...the millions of middle age, middle class Canadian men who do like NASCAR.."
Millions? Thousands, maybe. And will they vote CPC because a car ad?
Thousands? Maybe dozens. The "Busch East" is a regional stock car circuit, sort of like the IHL to the NHL. I'm not sure where you would have to look to find a race on tv. (Also, it seems to be mostly Eastern U.S. based, so as a Canadian you'd have to be a real racing hardcore to follow it.
Missed the leauge he was in, thanks for that BigCityLib.
"the millions of middle age, middle class Canadian men who do like NASCAR"
Where in the name of anything holy did you get the idea that there are millions of Canajun men interested in NASCAR. If you got some stats that say millions of Canadians are NASCAR fans, I'd love to see them.
NASCAR appeals to a small demographic of anti-Earth ghouls. People who load up the RV or muscle car and take their families to an event where their hearing can be damaged and where they'll be close to the poison-emitting tailpipes. If there's a spectacular crash, they'll get their money's worth. If not, they'll just have to be content knowing they helped pump another 40 tons of CO2 into the air.
The Con's is talkin' the green talk but they're walkin' the brown walk. By espousin' greenness on the stump but puttin' their cash into NASCAR, they portray what hypocrits they are. If the idea was to win new votes, it couldn't have been worse.
If the idea was to cement loyalty among NASCAR enthusiasts (who are either apolitical or already CPC supporters), they are wasting their efforts preachin' to the choir.
This is one of the dumbest dumbass move the party could possibly make. It gains absolutely nothing while it demostrates the extent to which the CPC is out of touch with mainstream Canadians.
Those who try to spin this as a positive move must have spent the past 6 months on another planet. Sheesh!
JB
However, the millions of middle age, middle class Canadian men who do like NASCAR
Really? Millions you say? Are you sure you're not bearing false witness? Remember...lying isn't Godly.
Listen, ChristoCon...I know what the CPC is doing. I just think it's crass pandering and the politicisation of a leisure activity to bring the dimension of class war to Canadian politics.
It's stupid. Now, everytime I pass Mosport, I'm going to have think of Ottawa.
Funny thing. If this was such a great PR move, you'd expect the Boogin' Tories to be braggin' it up. Not a single mention of NASCAR at BT today that I can find.
If that bunch can't take the time to pat the CPC on the back fer such brilliance, the backroom boys better smarten up.
Bourque rode a consistent race to a 13th-place finish in the Father's Day event.
says it all really...13th place. ordinary result from a guy who schills for a government that seeks to be merely ordinary.
if the mere presence of the big "C" on the hood of some skid-mobile is enough to win a vote, then canadians deserve what they get.
"Listen, ChristoCon...I know what the CPC is doing. I just think it's crass pandering and the politicisation of a leisure activity to bring the dimension of class war to Canadian politics."
This isn't about advertising. This is about buying Bourque and his headlines.
NASCAR and Canada's New-ish-like Goverment (TM) do have a lot in common though:
- loud
- lot of dark smoke spewing out of the rear
- rides around in a circle and thinks it got somewhere; starts where it began
- like Ricky Bobby, the leader can only count up to #1
You've really jumped the shark, haven't you.
meanwhile, the latest news from NASA backs up the decision to advertise at car races
"The salient facts are these. First, the accepted global average temperature statistics used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that no ground-based warming has occurred since 1998. Oddly, this eight-year-long temperature stasis has occurred despite an increase over the same period of 15 parts per million (or 4 per cent) in atmospheric CO2.
Second, lower atmosphere satellite-based temperature measurements, if corrected for non-greenhouse influences such as El Nino events and large volcanic eruptions, show little if any global warming since 1979, a period over which atmospheric CO2 has increased by 55 ppm (17 per cent).
Third, there are strong indications from solar studies that Earth's current temperature stasis will be followed by climatic cooling over the next few decades."
Courtesy of The Financial Times, we learn of one of the more bizarre side-effects of the global warming scam.
It appears that Britain's electricity generators could make windfall profits of about £1.5bn a year from the European Union's emissions trading scheme. And, as a result of this scheme, the profits Europe-wide could add up to about €20bn (£13.6bn) a year, created because of the way the EU's system works. Simply, electricity prices are higher as a result of the scheme but generators' costs do not rise to the same extent, as they are given most of their permits for free.
For some companies, we are told, the profits are significant. For the company that owns Drax - Britain's biggest coal-fired power station, in Yorkshire - the value of emissions permits could represent about half of next year's profits.
Is it so surprising that industry has become rather supportive of measures to limit global warming?
Umm, Christian Conservative has a point.
NASCAR is the No. 1 televised motorsport series on television in Canada. <-SNIP-> The 2006 Daytona 500 was the most watched motorsport race in TSN history with a national audience of 568,000 viewers.
NASCAR has a strong fan base in Canada with 5.8 million fans, representing one out of four Canadian adults.
Whooee! I seen somebuddy else with that 5.8 million figger. I reckon they must have somethin' to back that up. I'm a small town Ontario workin' class feller. I got a real hard time thinkin' that 1 outta 4 o' my friends an' neighbours is NASCAR fans.
Then agains, I do know one NASCAR fan an' that's Ma's brother. She's got 4 brothers an' one of 'em's a NASCAR fan so I reckon maybe I'm all wet.
JB
NASCAR has a strong fan base in Canada with 5.8 million fans, representing one out of four Canadian adults.
Ummmmmmmmmm....Sorry, but I'd like to see the raw data on that. I'm sure TSN would have no reason to suggest, to adverstisers above all, that NASCAR has almost 6 million fans in Canada, but being reality-based, I'd like to see the evidence.
Can you look that up for me, Closet Liberal? Thanks a bunch.
Didn't they consider the irony?
Well, no of course not. Conservatives don't do irony. But consider this. Whether it's NASCAR or CASCAR the races consist of nothing but a series of continuous left turns. Any attempt to turn right results in a crash along the wall.
I would rather watch curling.
I actually don't dispute the 5.8 mill figure for NASCAR per se. But Bourque is doing a kind of "sub" NASCAR circuit, where the races seem to average about 150 200 miles. I doubt it has anywhere the same exposure, esp. since most of the venues are in the U.S. (which is ironic in itself: the Tories pay to show off their party logo to mainly Americans.
What's missing here is that the CONs are sooo dirty rich with cash that they can waste it on far-flung poop-to-the-wall ideas like this (which may actually connect to whatever demographic). We know how much embiggened Harpor is to the truth; they are almost two diametrically opposing elements, like hydrogen and a pope's nose.
But say Harpor decides to give Eddy 'Fast n Furious' Lettherbender, the 12th fastest racer on the circuit, a little free advertising on his pal Bork's website? And maybe #11 driver, Elmer McDrabey, a plumber in his other life, has a new-fangled interest in serving on some judicial appointment committee? It's long been rumoured that Norm Stobb, the 10th fastest guy on the NASCar jr. B circuit, is a cross-dresser who loves kittens -- fix him up with Baird! And then there's #9 speedster Lash LaDue, whose uncle always wanted to be on Mobile's board of governors -- hey, isn't Stevie on a first name basis with the dude who picks those?
It's a never-ending chain reaction. Since they can't win the majority through public opinion, they'll do it the republican way. From behind the black curtain.
This is a scandal? Did you talk about Bob Rae not being able to be the liberal leader because his wife is jewish?
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