Attack Ads Broke CBC Copyright

The Conservative Party has not asked to CBC / Radio-Canada permission to use its content for its latest advertising campaign, a political offensive launched this week and includes excerpts of the broadcaster in three ads.

That's a google translation of what's through the link. Looks like the CPoC used CBC footage without asking. Wouldn't surprise me if these new ads never get aired. Who knows if that was ever the intention?

Update: Here it is in English. Bring on the calls to defund the CBC.

Late At Night...

Nicholls criticizes the Torys' "Rising to the Challenge" attack ad as follows: Then the rest of the ad shows Prime Minister Harper in his office late at night working on crossword puzzles or something.

But dig this still from the ad itself.

What's that shining in through the slats, if not sunlight? And you can see other examples of the same anomaly throughout the spot. So maybe we should add crap production values to its list of faults. Or maybe the PMO can't simply command darkness whenever Mr. Harper wants to do a Photo Op.

Or maybe the point of the ad wasn't to show Harper working at night, it was to show that he works all day in his office until night falls without any interruption from kin or colleagues. Which means he has no friends nor family life.

Maybe somebody should give Norm Spector a heads up.

Michael Ignatieff Is Not Jesus Christ

...is what I keep thinking when I hear that "He didn't come back for you." line in those otherwise kind of dull Conservative attack ads. Weird, they are, and then boring.

The Best Response To Those Attack Ads So Far

All new Canadians are Canadians by choice, not a fact to be easily forgotten. We chose this country based on how we perceived Canadians working and living outside Canada. In a war-torn country, as a refugee, jobless and homeless, I based my choice on how I understood the work of Canadian peacekeepers and Canadian war reporters; I based my choice on how I perceived Canadians I met during the Olympic Games in my country; I based my choice on how I was treated at the Canadian embassy.

What I learned and loved about Canada, I learned through these people working far from home, their humanitarianism, civility and good intentions. I wanted to give my kids the opportunity to learn the same values as these great Canadians; I wanted them to earn the same respect I felt for the Canadians I met. What at first was an outside perception, today is a Canada that I embrace, a Canada fit for my kids’ best future.

A Trivial Pursuit...

When you visit the website of Michael Würstlin, the fella behind the CPoC's new ad/on-line campaign , you find a brief reference to the board-game Trivial Pursuit.

And indeed:

Eighteen-year-old artist, Michael Wurstlin agreed to create the final artwork for Trivial Pursuit in exchange for his five shares.

And suddenly I am reminded of something I read just yesterday:

"When you're down in the polls, when you're presiding over the worst collapse in employment in recent memory, when you've got record bankruptcies everywhere you look, the thing you're going to do if you're in government and responsible for this mess is change the channel and that's what they're trying to do," Ignatieff said in Toronto last night.

"Is that serious government? Is that serious politics? That's the kind of government we've got."

The Tories and Mr. Würstlin seem made for one another.

I Am Fredrich Nietzsche And I Approve Of This Message

If Philosophers ran for office...

This one has been floating around for awhile, but I think its funny anyway.

h/t CT.

Unless Tory Supporters Are Allowed To Vote Twice

...I guess we can dub the "oily the oil spot" ads a dismal failure. Although Kinsella (see article for comment) and Taylor insist that everything played out according to the Tory plan, that the ads are a sign their War Room is playing Chess while the rest of us play off-key Ukeleles.

And the whole ugly denoument when Fuelcast, the company hired to run the ads on local gas pumps, realized that doing so might cause motorists to immolate said gas pumps with their own fuel, and backed out of their contract with the CPoC? That was just a double feint so the Tories didn't come off looking too clever.