...a line from the CPoC's email intro to their new anti-Ignatieff campaign. Here's Andrew Steele on why they probably won't prove terribly effective. I would add to that that Mr. Ignaetieff seems quite capable of leaping to his own defense in both official languages--something that wasn't so much the case with his esteemed predecessor--even if his french accent is Parisian (presumably he doesn't refer to them as "Les Hotdogs").
His response thus far seems pitch-perfect:
"On a day when we've got record bankruptcies, (when) we've got unemployment skyrocketing, all this government can think of doing is running attack ads on me," he said. "This is the old style of politics. We are in the middle of a serious economic crisis. This government needs to grow up and do its job properly."
Spoken more in sorrow than anger, obviously.
Harper jealous because Iggy was/is handsome and Harper poses for photo-ops with pink flamingos.
ReplyDeleteWe all know Harper represents the ordinary people who have pink flamingos on their lawns, whereas, Ignatieff poses on a magazine that working people buy and read.
That's an idiotic response and it shows me Ignatieff is just as unprepared as Dion was to deal with Harper's attacks against him.
ReplyDeleteHere's how I would have responded.
ReplyDeletePrime Minister Harper is up to his old tricks of deciding who is and isn't patriotic enough to serve this country. I find it interesting that he thinks Canadians who leave to pursue a career abroad are somehow tarnished. One of Canada's greatest icons, Wayne Gretzky, left this country, much like I did, to pursue such an opportunity in another nation. Does Stephen Harper think Mr. Gretzky is now just a visitor to Canada? Does he think Wayne is insufficiently patriotic to serve his country of birth? I don't know Wayne Gretzky personally, but I do know he loves this great nation of Canada and I would never doubt his loyalty to it if he were to return and run for Parliament. Apparently Stephen Harper would.Ignatieff would have turned these ads into an attack on Wayne Gretzky. Every journalist in the country would have been on the phone to Wayne asking him about this. It would have spilled over into the hockey world and since we're in the middle of playoff season it would have gotten lots of attention. These attack ads would have turned into a major disaster for Harper.
I tend to agree with Robert. For an intelligent individual who has written for a living, Ignatieff seems to stumble badly when doing on the fly media responses. Perhaps the dazzling expression that flows so easily to page gets wrapped somehow around his tongue when he attempts articulation. Hopefully the blockage isn't in his brain.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and eloquently put Robert but I tend to agree more with Nik Nanos on this one, the conservatives have just provided Ignatieff an opportunity to explain just what he did. Noone ever talks about Don Cherry either. He lived in the US from 1958 to 1980 with the exception of 2 years playing in Canada. But noone ever has anything to say about that bellicose bumpkin's Canadianness.
ReplyDeleteAll of this is making us dumber. The next person who says "yeabbut attack ads work!" in front me will get slapped into next week.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, we should turn on the media for covering these stupid ads so lavishly. And that's the thing: it's not so much the attacks...it's how juvenile they are.
It would be hypocritical of Harper to ever again smile during any staged photo-op, lest he appear in any way "smug". Photo-ops are deadly serious affairs. No smiling.
ReplyDeleteHarper, caught in a momentary weakness.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I see nothing wrong with this picture. But, clearly, according to the CPOC, that man in the picture is a monumental narcissist: Smiling while looking at loads of pictures of himself. Inclduing pictures of him holding what looks like the Stanley Cup, which I'm sure, along with some of the others, was taken at a photo-op. And then Harper had the gumption to send this "smug" card out to thousands of people.