Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

...because the Tories haven't used it yet, though they have pulled those latest attack ads.

Just to recap for NN readers. Yesterday, the CPoC released a pair of attack ads so ghastly that even a few of their saner supporters were appalled . Today these ads have been disappeared, and the official line seems to be that the party never intended to air them. Others say otherwise, and skepticism is the order of the day.

Tory Attack Ads Have No Discernable Effect

The latest from Angus Reid:

The poll reveals that the Liberals have support of 33 per cent of voters nationally, the Conservatives have 31 per cent, the NDP 17 per cent, Bloc Québécois 9 per cent and Green party 7 per cent.

Actually, that's wrong. The AR from late April scores it:

In the online survey of a representative national sample, 33 per cent of respondents (-2 since March) say they would vote for the Conservatives in the next federal election. The Liberals are also supported by 33 per cent of respondents nationwide (+2), with the New Democratic Party (NDP) in third place with 15 per cent (-1), the Bloc Québécois with 10 per cent (=), and the Green Party with six per cent (-1).

So, while we are still within the margins, I guess its fair to say that the ads have had no effect on the Tories downward drift in support.

I don't really buy the idea that the real effect of these ads is long-term, that Canadians will wake-up on election day with the notion--a notion to which they can assign no origin--that Michael Ignatieff is a dangerous alien and they should vote for whoever sounds most like a farmer. PR campaigns "work", sometimes, it seems to me, but how and why they do is still more art than science and if this is all we are seeing from the one set of ads, then I suspect that's all we'll see, period.

Now lets wait for SteveV to analyse the hell of these numbers.

Stephen Taylor Appeals To Ex-Pat To Smear Ignatieff For Being An Ex-Pat

Stephen is still trying to justify the Tory's disastrous new ad campaign and, not being a particularly coherent thinker, he calls upon Canadian born, New York based writer Elisabeth Eaves to sling his mud for him.

The guy is irony free.

Why Keep The Tory Attack Ads In The News,

...which responding to them surely does?

Because you think you are winning the debate they initiated, and that debate will continue until the ads stop running (not when the chattering classes grow tired of them). So you want your counter-argument in the news as well for as much of that time-frame as possible. At this point I think the Libs would like to keep these various CPoC attacks center-stage as long as they can; the ads provide a nice contrast with what Ignatieff is up to these days.

By the way, aesthetic merits aside, what is the point of a website like Ignatieff.me? Is anyone but the hardest of hardcore poli-junkies going to ever visit it more than once? Unless you're going to run a continual stream of updates, it essentially becomes a one-off gag. And the official party website exists for that kind of thing (updates, not gags).

This isn't just a Conservative fault. It seems parties are continually launching static web-pages that nobody is likely to visit a 2nd time. I don't see the point to it.

Jesus Travelled Abroad!

Jesus Christ did show himself unto the people of Nephi, as the multitude were gathered together in the land Bountiful, and did minister unto them; and on this wise did he show himself unto them.
Now he's BACK! And he wants to be King!

JESUS CHRIST: WRONG ON TAXES, WRONG FOR THE HOLY LAND

هو فقط يزور

لا زعيم

Born In Arizona, Moved To Babalonia...

h/t

He Smugly Posed On The Front Cover Of Magazines

...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.

Virtual Boycott Kills Tory Ad Campaign?

The Harper Conservatives' plan to run anti-Liberal attack ads on mini-television screens at gas pumps in Southern Ontario is backfiring because the company that was to place them is refusing.

Did the Fuelcast Network kill their deal with the Tories because they sensed a rising fury in the Liberal Blogosphere? Who really knows, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

When confronted with a choice between History and Myth... print the Myth.

Tory Gas Ads: Stage Left Has The Right Idea

"The first time I see one of those gadgets on a pump I’m at will see me putting the nozzle back in its holder before one single drop of gasoline has fallen, walking into the office, and telling the owner/manager that until the propaganda machines disappear s/he has lost my business."

This should work well in the GTA, and its something I will be trying as well. Be sure you let Paul Wells know about every station running these "fuelcasts" that you've told to go shove it. It would be very cool if a few major petro-suppliers could be forced to recant their participation in this campaign.

PS. The stories I am reading suggest these ads will run mostly in GTA and Southern Ontario. This is where a boycott may be most effective.

Update: Bloggers calling for a fuelcast boycott now include Dr. Dawg, Red Tory, and John Waugh. If anyone else wants to join up, please post on the topic.

Further update: Kady the Wunderbabe is reporting that the company the Tories say was hired to coordinate fuelcast ads with GTA gas stations has denied everything. Our boycott has succeeded before it even got started! Paul Wells is reporting that gangs of Tory Yellowshirts have descended on downtown Ottawa, harassing motorists and other passersby. Oh the Humanity!

Yet Further update: It looks like a Toronto-based fuelcast campaign would be illegal in the first place.

Help! I Am Being Stalked By The CPoC!

Well now that's weird. I got the following email from Stéphane at info@willyoubetricked.ca:

Hi BigCityLib,

Stéphane wanted to tell you... Having trouble setting priorities? Friends don't know what they speak about? Billions of dollars of spending promises got you in a big debt hole? Well don't worry. If you answered yes to any of these questions, there is an answer. A permanent new tax on everything!If you agree click here.

Weird in that I didn't ask to get email when I visited the site, so this must mean someone in the party has taken time to read the blog and send me an annoying email...on a Sunday, no less! That's Scary! It's like I'm being followed by "PC" in the Mac commercial. Has anyone else got these this morning? Maybe we can report this guy (it must be a guy) to the DWEEB police.

Just kidding Stephane. But you should try and get out in the sun a bit.

Only A Party With Money To Burn

...could afford a stunt like this. Not sure how well it will work, myself. Lorrie Goldstein thinks it shows a certain amount of fear on the Tories part:

Clearly, they're worried Dion's carbon tax, whenever he releases it, could appeal to voters concerned about global warming, particularly if the Liberal announcement is backed by environmentalists, economists and business groups stressing it will be effective and "revenue neutral," a claim the Tories mock. You don't put this much effort into attacking someone you don't think is a threat.

But whatever. Ads right at gas pumps. Gangs of young Tories at petrol stations, engaged in guerrilla marketing. (Careful with that. Motorists with a dark sense of humour might just hose 'em down with gasoline and torch 'em for kicks. Not me, obviously.) Is the fact that the website goes out of its way to reference Jason Cherniak personally a sign of the Harper governments all seeing, all knowing nature, or a sign of the fact that they are spending zillions on something really "inside baseball" in nature, and therefore just...don't...get...it?

Tories Use Porn Star In Youth Advertising

Here's the Tory Ad:

And here's where they found their girl:

Wonder what she's looking at? It seems terrifyingly huge, and its frankly hard to imagine something like that belonging to a Conservative. (Except maybe to Stockwell Day who, I am told, is hung like a horse).

h/t to Jason, who never visits porn sites but apparently knows someone who does.

Update: Contrary to some of my commentors, there is no contradiction between being a girl in a stock photo and being a porn star. You might say our girl became a porn star the moment she appeared on the porn site. The definition of the term "porn star" is very loose. Girls have said to me, "Jesus, BCL, you're a regular porn star. I should be paying YOU."

I would never correct them.

Kyoto Dog Blog Deathwatch

An already intensely unfunny blog actually deteriorates in quality! Today's installment is only the third and its author has already run out of stupid canine puns:

Poor Stéphane, he’s been having a rough go of it lately. First, he gets blown off by his own Senators over Senate terms limits. And yesterday afternoon he got booed off the stage by the very unionists for whom he was proclaiming support. Ouch! It’s a good thing he didn’t get onto the topic of how much C-288 would cost their industry. He’d be signing soprano for a week!

I give it a week and then Dog Blog disappears into the ether. Meanwhile, the writer does not include this bit of work experience on his resume.

Somebody Kill That Dog

The Tories Not a Leader Web Site, features, among other things, a blog allegedly hosted by Stephane Dion's dog Kyoto. A couple of observations:

1) I think we've found the Liberal mole. A good pet never talks behind its master's back. Sell the damn thing to Mr. Pong and it can end its life as chow-mein.

2) More seriously, are they paying somebody to write this stuff?

Stéphane was very upset when he came home from the Hill today.

It’s those new Tory ads about the Liberal Senate blowing him off on term limits. He was whining like a homeless mutt. "This is unfair!"; "You don’t know what you speak about"; "Harper is a bully."

I could eat a bowl of beans and fart better lines than these! You want to absolutely kill Tory fundraising? Link to this and show their supporters where the money is going.

PS. I give this site a month before somebody inside the Tory brain trust realizes its crap and pulls it. As for the author, they're almost unfunny enough to work for CBC.