We're on the Home Stretch Now

It's now T-7 days until this very long and tiring campaign finally comes to a close; that being said this could be the most interesting week thus far. I'm going to start a series on each party going into the home stretch before I jump on the bandwagon and get into seat projections etc...

The Liberals

The story so far: This quite possibly might be one of the worst campaigns to ever fly the Liberal logo. Not long ago, a close friend of mine and long time Liberal was bragging to me that the Liberals were going to be in power for life and that Paul Martin was going to usher in a new majority government...well, he seems to have been half right. The campaign has been marred by repeated gaffes from everyone including the PM. Their desperate attack ads blew up and cost them ground. The leadership of the party is already in question and the local campaigns are starting to break rank from the national headquarters.

Campaign reminds me of: Ernie Eves: 2003 (Ontario)

Strengths: This one really took some thought... There aren't any real strengths save for the fact that NDP voters might get spooked with the words Conservative and Majority appearing in the same sentence in more than one Canadian publication.

Weaknesses: Where do I start? Weakness include Reid, Duffy, Herle and everyone else in the Liberal war room. You know it's a bad sign when Freschuk's blog is the only positive thing your campaign has to offer and when people are talking about what that crazy guy Scott Reid said, their taking about YOUR party. Candidates breaking rank, leadership wars warming, and cocktail napkin policy being tossed out at random.

The final week plan: Martin's chance to turn this election around can be measured in hours not days. The Liberals either need a major positive breakthrough or the Conservative's need to trip up in VERY bad way. The Conservative armour is starting to show a few cracks; the costing of the platform is in question. While Harper seems to be rather immune to the Liberal attacks, Harper's team may not be. Some kind of ad featuring lines like "Minister of Defense Jason Kenny...we're not making this up" might be enough to scare voters.

Stay away from: Reid, Duffy, and Herle, talks of leadership, certain founding members of the Bloc and any more scandals.

Harvard still sucks

This was on the FRONT PAGE of the Toronto Star Yesterday.

This gets to me for a few reason. First of all, it isn't news. Honestly I don't see it as much more than a free ad spot for the Etobicoke Lakeshore Campaign and at that it isn't a good one. With so much going on in the campaign in the last few days one would think that there was something better for the front page than this one-sided drivel.

The other thing that should be noted is that while Iggy was at this $300 rubber chicken swaray he was supposed to be attending a locally televised debate on Goldhawk Live with the other Candidates from his riding. You know the one they forced him into with classic Martinite goon tactics.

The Local Liberal Campaign was given almost a month's notice about the televised debate and Goldhawk's people tried to accommodate the falling star candidate's schedule as much as they could. In fact they tried to accommodate ALL the local campaigns meaning that Goldhawk gets something. The Campaign's excuse was that Ignatieff "didn't do TV appearances outside of the riding." The taping was done at Roger's Toronto studio a 20 min drive from the riding and Broadcast on the local channel 10 station.

Apparently TV appearances outside of the riding are out of the question but fundraisers rally's and oh yea LIVING FOR 30 YEARS outside of the riding that's fine.

I may not have a Harvard Degree but the more I read about this guy the more I can't understand why anyone in Etobicoke would vote for him. Not because he's pro Iraq War, not because he's Anti Ukrainian, not because he encourages the use of torture, not even because he hasn't lived in the riding or even the Country for 30 years, but simply because the guy is obviously and simply a self-absorbed, arrogant, elitist prick........hmmm suddenly the connection to The Star makes sense.

The Liberals BIG Oops...

Courtesy of Proud to be Canadian I present to you the pulled liberal attack ad.

Commentary to follow...

And commenting...

In the dying days of disastrous campaigning for the PC party, during the 1993 Kim Campbell campaign, The Conservatives they put together what has been regarded (until now?) as one of the most notable attack ads in Canadian history. (I'll try to find a copy of the ad and post it later)

The ad ran only once but the spot got played by every media outlet ad-nauseum. It was seen as the final death rattle of a seriously dysfunctional campaign. The Liberals seem to be repeating the same mistake this time out. The issue isn't so much the ad but their haste to pull it; then their attempt to deny it's existence. Finally sending John Duffy in to get just spanked about by Mike Duffy on CTV was the icing on the cake.

Watch the clip for yourself. Duffy vs. Duffy is quality entertainment.

The problem isn't the ad itself. Granted it isn't very good, but than neither are any of the others. The Liberals are making a big deal out of it all by pulling it. Once again a really good example of how not to deal with a campaign crisis.

Leadership Debate (Debacle?)

Sorry about the delay of the posts, I know we have been dead here for a bit but I'm taking a page out of the liberal war room and assuming that no one is listening until 2 weeks after Christmas. The difference is, that with this humble blog I'm right. (Mind you this humble blog hasn't been investigated by the RCMP...yet...)

As I'm sure you all noticed, I didn't comment on the last debate much. Considering the coma that it induced on me, can you blame me? When I finally woke up and I saw 43 to 29 with Martin behind Harper in Quebec? It can't be, I must still be in that coma because clearly I'm dreaming.

Last night, the debate was... well something. Here's a breakdown as how I saw the debate both through the television and through the people I was watching it with.

8:00 pm: Random colleague comment about their ties (This is going to be a long night)

8:04 pm: Opening statements and introduction, Steve Paikin the moderator looks like the unfortunate love child of Bob Blumer, the guy from the tv show Surreal Gourmet and a Q-Tip

8:05 pm: The first question is on the income trust leak. I smell a pile on....

8:15 pm: CSL question...YUP! Pile on.

8:20 pm: The opposition answers sound like this: RCMP, income trust, option Canada, Gomery, corruption lather, rinse, and repeat...

8:30 pm: Did Layton just bring up the idea of proportional representation? Again Jim Harris is probably at home doing a happy dance.

8:31 pm: Duceppe may not be winning this debate but he is definately having the most fun. If it weren't for that whole breaking up the country thing I think I'd like him.

8:45: Swingers Question????

8:48 pm: I throw a pad of post-it notes at the tv after hearing the word NDP budget for the 8756th time this election.

8:52 pm: If Paul Martin moves his hands any more wildly he's going to create his own weather front. (Which will probably be the subject of another RCMP investigation)

8:55 pm: Harper looks relaxed and he's smiling. I don't know how the guys at the CPC war room did it but I really like the new Harperbot Version 2.4.6xb model.

I think I was taking a pee or making fun of Layton, but I'm just informed that Paul wants to get rid of the notwithstanding clause. My Coffee is nearly spit across the room. Apparently the liberal war room has given up on the election and has begun passing the time until the 23rd of January by smoking large amounts of CRACK! Someone should remind Paul that his reverse onus sentencing idea will probably need that clause.

More to Come...

Martin vs. Harper

Credit to Jennifer Banks

14 Reasons

Warren Kinsella can be a lot of things; I still can't decide if I'm a fan or if I hate his guts. For every time he refers to my friends and former Frank Mag compadres as any one of a thousand possible names (most of which are at least half true.) He equally hits one out of the park.

Today, December 6th 2005 he hit it out of the park.

This bears noting. I'm not shocked or disappointed about our political leaders bringing this up today. I'm down right pissed...I'm also pissed because my campaign missed it.

There's no punch-line today kids...

Harvard sucks!

To be fair I'm going to state my bias from the get go before I get on this whole Ignatieff situation.

I am helping out on the local Conservative campaign in that riding. John is a good friend of mine. I think very highly of him and his accomplishments.

Having said that, I think the Conservative campaign strategy for Etobicoke-Lakeshore should be to let Ignatieff speak to as many people as possible.

It seems every day there is a new gaffe, and I wonder, could it get any worse? After the Canadian media is done with Ignatieff, we will know exactly how he really feels about torture.

The Conservative war room would love to take a shot at this guy, the sad thing here is- everyone else is doing it for them.

News Flash: Angry ex PC PM doen't like Harper (Not a Joe Clarke Post)

I found this drudging through the various election muck on the CBC website.

In my opinion, Stephen Harper should pay attention. If there is one thing Kim Campbell knows, it's losing elections.

I don't know what is more amusing here. The fact that Kim thinks anyone gives two shits about her opinions, or that the ditziest female politician in Canadian history actually went to the London School of Economics. (LSE)

(Sorry Belinda, but you're a close 2nd.)

Hello? Hrmm, Ohh... Hi!

It appears that I now have a Blog. Every other politico in this country has one. I figured I too, would jump on the bandwagon. In my experience, there is ALWAYS room for more political banter on the internet.

Whatever I do, I promise it won't suck more than this.

I don't think I set the bar too high there.

Here we are, the 38th Parliament is now dead. We are on the brink of being locked into a long and cold election campaign. If the last two days have been any indication, this election is going to suck more than the rest.

I wish the Canadian media could find a way to make this a little more entertaining. This is NOT news, but it is funny!

There's actually something of a smart move to be seen here. You don't need Allan Greg to tell you that the Bloc is going to win nothing short of a whole lot.... how does one say shitload of seats in french anyway? Keep in mind, there isn't a damn thing the Liberals can do about it. (...Or the NDP or the Conservatives for that matter!)

Lets face it kiddies, Quebec is a 2 party system. (one and a half right now.) The Seperatists are doing what they do best...pissing off English Canada to get them to react and therefore pissing off the rest of French Canada getting them to vote for the Bloc.

Its a simple but effective strategy. If you don't believe me check the cover of almost any Sun newspaper tomorrow. If you don't get one, I'll give you the link in advance I'm that sure.

What's my prediction? That the Blue and White flags will be burned in riots by the weekend in Cornwall.

Oh! I got my first Christmas card today; it was from Stephen Harper. Very cute. Festive and not too Christian. It looks like he has kids and a family...and what looks like a personality!! If it weren't for the ohh, so lame and non-denominational bi-lingual greeting on the inside I'd almost buy into it. (and not think it was a bad bit of political pandering.)

I'll post a picture of it soon enough.

Well that should fill the blog up for today...this could get to be a lot of fun.