The MSM has been treating them all as a series of random "gotchas", but I think they can be interpreted to yield compelling political arguments.
In the case of the Conservatives these stories can be used to remind the public that the Party still has plenty of nuts in the cluster and, beyond Harper himself, makes for an extremely weak team. For the most part, Harper has been keeping the crew from the old Reform Party Crazy Train (Levant, Chandler) in the backrooms, sweeping floors and handing out donuts and such. Bloggers like Reid and Warawa serve to shine a bit of light on the political heart and soul of Canada's Conservative movement and the party that exists to serve it.
Several stories involve bloggers who were first asked by CPoC to "hide" their blogs, and then got into trouble when the contents of these blogs became more widely known. Again, such stories can be used to remind folks that the Tories may still harbour a secret agenda, at least at the candidate level. Literally: views that they don't want the Public to know about.
Furthermore, the meltdown of the Tories on-line campaign can also be used to frame a more general narrative of Tory incompetence. Whatever else has gone right for them, and something has or they wouldn't be up by 10 - 15 points, their Web strategy has been an unmitigated disaster, what you get when tiny brains encounter too much money. You have to wonder whether the Tory war-room and Net antics are not their next government writ small, should they achieve Majority status. Do you really want to put the nation into such hands?
Similar arguments can be made in the case of the Disappearing Dippers. I mean, I support marijuana decriminalization, but do we really want some guy that went on Youtube and tried to jam 30 joints in his mouth at once negotiating trade agreements? The seriousness of the Party depends upon the seriousness of the candidates it is capable of putting into the field. These incidents speak ill of the party.
Fortunately, the Liberals have suffered very few of these kinds of gaffe. An argument for their Centrist credentials, perhaps? The party simply attracts fewer flakes and crazies.
BCL - give me a break - you know that the LPC has made a concerted effort to dirty tricks NDP candidates in BC. I would also argue losing two candidates because of pot smoking is nothing to losing two liberal candidates for racist remarks against first nations people that advocated the use of lethal force and/or massacre of natives.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/09/11/mtl-bedardquebec0911.html
"BCL - give me a break - you know that the LPC has made a concerted effort to dirty tricks NDP candidates in BC."
ReplyDeleteSounds like they did a pretty good job, too.
This so called 'racist' ex-Liberal is still in the running:
ReplyDeleteOusted Liberal Quebec City to run as independent
Canwest News Service
September 23, 2008
QUEBEC - A Quebec City candidate who was fired from the Liberal team after proposing the army should have used lethal force to end the 1990 Oka crisis will run as an independent.
''Sounds like they did a pretty good job, too.''
But not good enough. 2 polls have the Libs running 4th in BC.
You know you've said something important when the CPC sends Wilson to troll and change the channel with an off-topic comment.
ReplyDeleteIt's long past time Liberal bloggers gave that little bitch the heave-ho.
Anyway...
Whatever else has gone right for them, and something has or they wouldn't be up by 10 - 15 points,
Well, the polls (many of which I question the validity) won't tell us what that is, the aging punditocracy is engaged in some mystifying internecine battle specific to Canada's ruling elite and there simply aren't enough investigative reporters who can write and think well enough to find out, so for now, we really can't know.
But for those of us who've been observing the unvarnished expressions of the Conservative rank-and-file for quite some time now, what's working for the Conservatives is clear: juvenilia, hostility, pandering to petty prejudices, flattering their egos and making sure no one ever says anything too smart to make them feel dumb.
Let's not forget the two NDP candidates stood aside for the good of the party,(they were not kicked out for some egregious error).Taking into account the media's preference for sensationalism and personality based attacks,as opposed to covering actual policies, both candidates made the right move.
ReplyDeleteParticularly at this point in time when the NDP support is surging.
Why hand the media and others an "issue",to use against the NDP as a point of distraction.
Like Jack said "lets talk about the real issues".