Economic turmoil impacts Liberal Party

Bad News Kids. Looks like we may lose the house.

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Sometimes a photo doesn't need a caption...

...you can make up your own...

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Stephane Dion gets tossed under Dalton McGuinty's bus

One of the things that I think that would be a mistake right now is massive shifts in tax burden at a time when there's uncertainty,” said Ontario's Liberal Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

Ouch.

Good night, and thanks for all the fish!

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How is the Liberal campaign going? Watch this video.

The Liberal Party is unravelling. They can't even maintain control of their own press conferences. If you can't handle the whole two minutes, skip to 1:45.

At least a Liberal supporter showed enough leadership save Dion from the media.

Liberal supporter: This meeting is being hijacked by these...media people.

Media person: It's a press conference!?

Liberal supporter: Oh, is it? Thank you very much..the people here..

Liberal Dion handler: Another question from the media please..

Anarchy ensues.

The Liberals should make that guy the new leader!

LOL. This Liberal uses the same video above, to show what a GOOD job Dion is doing. And that he is, "the sort of leader we need in Canada."

No thanks!

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Campaign messaging 101

Stephen Harper: The country's economic fundamentals are solid and Canada will emerge from this period of economic uncertainty in good shape.

Stephane Dion: The economic sky is falling, and me I have nothing to offer but to panic!

Who are you going to vote for? Yep, and so are a lot of other people.

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What's this?

Is this person the same as this person? And if so, does this guy know that?

Garth Turner and Voo-Doo economics

Stephen Taylor has a blog post on another irregularity in Liberal Garth Turner's campaign.

Garth Turner: "I did not think to change the wording on my website from the Garth Turner campaign to the Halton Liberal Association, so cheque-writers would face no delays or hassles in getting tax receipts. Whoops. Screw up."

The gist is that if Garth moved over $1100 from his Garth Turner trust account, into his Garth Turner Liberal Candidate account, it may be illegal, and he is spending money on his campaign that he is not entitled to spend.

Should Turner be called before a Parliamentary committee, so MPs can study what happened, and make sure this sort of thing never happens again?

hocus-pocus

McCain wants to delay the debate, Obama doesn't. Easy solution.

If McCain isn't available for the first US presidential contender debate because he is trying to move a financial package aimed at saving the US economy through Congress and the Senate (aka showing leadership, some might say) then Sarah Palin should debate Obama.

After all, replacing the commander in chief should he/she not be available for whatever reason, isn't that the role of the VP?

Regardless, shrewd move by McCain. Not to mention the right move for the good of their country..they need to focus.


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Would you like a carbon tax with that?

"(The Green Party) budget doesn't balance unless we massively increase our carbon emissions," points out Aldyen Donnelly, who's president of the Greenhouse Emissions Management Consortium. She also faults Ms. May on the facts. Every European country that introduced carbon taxes - including Germany, Sweden and Denmark - has suffered heavy losses of manufacturing jobs. As for Germany's green jobs, they're all subsidized by the government. "Carbon taxes have proven to be an economic death spiral," Ms. Donnelly says.

Good article by Margaret Wente on Green Party leader Elizabeth May, and Carbon taxes like the Greens and Liberals are proposing.

I always wondered how the European countries that adopted Carbon taxes had done.

Now that I know..yikes!

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Jack Layton et al. Smarter than you think?

This: Layton Open To Liberal/NDP Coalition

Was smart.

If you want to steal their voters and replace them as the official opposition, why wouldn't you say you identify with them?

Nice shot, Jack.


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New commercial featuring Stephane Dion is a laugh riot

I laughed out loud at this commercial. If this is the best that can be done to showcase Stephane Dion, then maybe the Liberals want to have a leadership convention..right now!

I LOVE the Dion fist pump at the end! I always thought it would be used in an ad, but I thought the ad would be from the Conservatives or NDP, ROTFLMAO.



Update: Ok, it's not just me...

The ad uses footage of Mr. Dion chairing a discussion of the Kyoto accord at a 2005 United Nations summit meeting on the environment. He is seen chastising a recalcitrant delegate who is neither seen nor named. He pulls off his headset and delivers his big line: "You should ... (pause, shrug) express your case to the world, please." Cut to Mr. Dion hoisting his fists in the air to celebrate victory. Huh? Ottawa Citizen
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Garth Turner advertising a Lisa Raitt DeathWatch

Garth Turner is the king of hypocrisy. What he will admonish others for, is fair game for him.

As a prime example, he's railed against Gerry Ritz for making off-colour Listeria jokes regarding the death of an MP, but he is all for supposedly funny death watches regarding his Conservative opponent, Lisa Raitt. (below)

It is one thing for some random blogger to post such a thing - heck, there's worse stuff than that out there - and it is a freedom of expression thing. But for an MP to post and advertise something like that is another matter altogether.

It reeks of bad judgement.

What needs to happen is clear, Garth Turner needs to apologize, and Stephane Dion must demand Garth step aside as a Liberal candidate. If not, the entire Liberal Party cannot be taken seriously when they claim they want to raise the level of political debate.

Bad timing for a party that was getting some lift from the Ritz comments, but..once again, Garth Turner bites the hand..

Update: Garth has taken down the offending photo. Not because it was the right thing to do, but only because, " rabid Conservative bloggers would love to misinterprete this, accusing me of pulling a Gerry Ritz in Halton". Nice guy.

New Liberal ad more disturbing than original jokes

What's as bad as jokes about people dying? An ad that seeks to capitalize on the jokes made while people are dying.

If it actually makes it to air, this is going to blow up in the Liberals faces.

A new low is right.



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Does the NDP have a "war room"?

And if so, will it immediately pull its people out?



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The NDP is ruining its chances for a 2nd place finish

There is a sense in the air that Canadians are actually considering auditioning Jack Layton for the role of, if not PM, then leader of the opposition.

But, when you come out with stuff like this in your platform, you just scare everyone away.

* "Stop unproductive, untargeted and fiscally irresponsible corporate tax cuts."

* "Create a Jobs Commissioner to investigate shutdowns."
* "Develop sector-based industrial strategies."
* "Stop the export of Canadian jobs overseas through new, manufacturing-friendly trade policies while adopting a Made-in-Canada procurement policy for the federal government and its agencies."

The New...Democrats, need to keep everything simple and have a few select, easy to grasp, and easy to price, ideas if they want to have any hope of replacing the Liberals as Canada's premiere left-wing party.

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Advice: Replace Gerry Ritz with Michael Chong..immediately

The Conservatives can mitigate the damage from the Gerry Ritz story. Resign Ritz..and replace him with Michael Chong.

Chong is a sure fire ontario vote winner..his riding is near the outbreak source..he's young and competent. He's all the media will be talking about.

Better Michael Chong than Gerry Ritz.

What Michael Chong could say about his opposition to the nation motion: "About the Quebec nation resolution, let me say one thing...I may have disagreed with the method, but I agree with the results. And what we have now is a strong Quebec nation, in a Canada more united than it has ever been. I look forward to serving all the people of this great country."

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Bob Rae wins!

If the election were to wrap up today, and the Liberals had to pick a new leader...it would be Bob Rae in a landslide.

He's dynamite on the stump.

You might think that would be good news for the Liberals, but unfortunately, Stephane Dion is their leader for this election.

Looking forward to Ignatieff's shot at making Dion look weak.

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Garthscam: The election's first blog-burner

Here it is, the first major blog fired story of the election.

Garth Turner was been caught red handed misleading, and angering, CPAC. He appeared on a CPAC program, canvassing what he professed were random voters, when if fact, one of the surprisingly friendly voters he canvassed was actually his campaign manager's son.

In the CPAC video, Garth pleads his innocence, but how is it possible he didn't realize he was talking to his long time co-worker's son? Had they never met before? Why didn't Garth immediately inform the CPAC crew that he knew this individual? Why did they both act like they didn't know each other?...so many unanswered questions...

Steve Janke provides the background story, while Stephen Taylor has the video of CPAC anchor Peter Van Dusen demanding Garth explain himself.

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New Liberal Campaign Ad - Let's Get Started

The Liberals need a postive. Is this ad it?

I'm of the opinion that simple works, ads with too much talking and loud music don't.

I don't recall the Goldwater "Daisy" ad having a soundtrack, and that's the type of ad impact the Libs need right now.

This ad, while professionally done, is a bit too complicated; and does not focus enough on a single issue enough to be effective.

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Six words to describe six words

Stephane Dion has been criticized for his inability to explain his Green Shift Tax to Canadians. In response, the masterminds at Liberal HQ came out with a little slogan for him to use.

Cut income taxes, shift to pollution

"Oh!", shouted millions of Canadians, "now I get it!" Actually, when he first used it at a campaign stop, the blank looks on the faces of the media made Dion add, "why is it so hard for you to understand?"

Why? Here's six more words that describes your new slogan: Dumb as a bag of hammers.

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Liberal: Not Dion's fault - Quebec hates successful people

Yolande Thibeault, the former (Liberal) MP for Saint-Lambert...despaired at the treatment given Mr. Dion by his fellow Quebecers. "For some reason, Quebecers, we do not like each other," she said. "It is not only in politics. It is in many other domains. If a businessman is very successful, he will be pulled down by our people. It seems to be the mentality of Quebecers."

So it's not that the people of Quebec don't like Dion because of his weak leadership, and his actions as the bespectacled bully of confederation, no, it's because he is so successful. What?

If what this Liberal says is true, why aren't they at the gates of Celine Dion's mansion, with the pitchforks, tar, etc?

Because it's not true. Thibeault is throwing out excuses and slurs to cover the fact that Stephane Dion just is not an attractive option. Rather, he is the Montreal Mistake.

Free advice to the Liberal Party: Next time, perhaps don't let the booze flow quite so freely at your leadership convention. When people drink, accidents happen.




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Updated: Stephen Harper: So you like handcuffs?

"Do you like handcuffs?"

Watch for Stephen Harper in an upcoming episode of This Hour has 22 Minutes. A brief clip was played on CBC Newsworld this afternoon. Priceless.

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Update..this story is starting - to - spread, it would be wise of the CPC to get some footage of the handcuff line out on the net.

Upperdate..here's the video. At the end you can hear the CBC staff cracking up.

Superdate..Geri Hall for PM!

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Conservative mistakes - or - If a Liberal gaffe falls amongst journalists, does anyone cover it?

It is early days in the campaign, and none of the Conservative gaffes from the first week will affect the eventual outcome, but some things need to be noted.

1. The media is looking for gaffes from the Conservatives, and they will highlight them more than they will mistakes from the other parties. I know, the old tin-foil hat conspiracy of media bias..but it's true. And it's the #1 reason that tight message control is required.

2. The father of a deceased soldier can say whatever he wants, without retribution, correction, or perspective setting. His son paid the ultimate price, leave it alone.

3. The puffin poo. Maybe it was a clever way to drive more eyeballs to notaleader.ca, and had the added effect of an image of Dion being crapped on out into the media. Great, if it was the only "mistake", then you could claim it was perhaps a bit of cleverness. But when other genuine mistakes follow, it gets lumped in with those.

4. Despite the above, the Liberals haven't gained any traction outside of the media and punditry. This shows how weak they really are. Clever stunts aren't required to wipe out the Liberals, they'll do that themselves. All the CPC has to do is run a consistent and gimmick free campaign, and a majority is the likely result.

5. Many of the CPC mistakes are correctable because the Conservatives have a professional organization, with the ability to make change quickly. The Liberal mistakes have not been covered as widely, but the Libs suffer from disorganization and lack of central control, so Liberal gaffes will - continue - to - happen. For Liberal gaffes to be covered though, they need to be the only gaffes in town.

Week one is almost out of the way, lessons have been learned, apply those lessons for the coming weeks.

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Let's see a Harper vs. Dion, True Leaders Debate

Let Elizabeth May and the Green Party into the leader's debate. Hell, why don't we let the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada, the Canadian Action Party, the Christian Heritage Party of Canada, the Communist Party of Canada, the First Peoples National Party of Canada, the Libertarian Party of Canada, the Marijuana Party, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, neorhino.ca, the Progressive Canadian Party, and the Western Block Party into the debates as well.

But there should also be a new debate. A True Leader's Debate between the only two indviduals that have a realistic shot of actually leading the country after this election.

Let's have a debate between Harper, and Dion, about where they would lead the country. The other debate is becoming a joke, a crowded joke. Canada needs a True Leaders Debate.

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NDP an obvious choice for Quebec growth

The NDP, or, as Jack and I like to call them, The New......Democrats, are going to make some noise in Quebec in this election.

(Former Parti Quebecoise Cabinet Minister Jacques) Brassard said Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe has turned his party into a "clone" of the left-of-centre NDP. He added the Bloc appears to have put independence issues on the back burner and questioned the party's relevancy.

Both the Bloc and the Liberal Party are going to be net losers, at the net benefit of both the Tories and NDP. The NDP will most certainly come back to Ottawa with more seats than the Bloc..if not the Liberals. (Wow..could that actually happen?)

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Liberal plane, pooping puffin..that's the best the media can do? Weak.

What is with the Canadian media when a pooping puffin trumps stories about Harper's 50% cut in the fuel excise tax, Dion's claim to double the Conservative $1200 child care credit, and George Bush's pledge to surge troop strength in Afghanistan?

Instead we get exhaustive coverage of the pooping puffin (which drove thousands more eyeballs to notaleader.ca than normally would have visited, although that part of the story was not covered by the media), and Harper saying that if he had to describe himself as a vegetable, he'd prefer to be a fruit, sweet and colourful.

Yeesh. The major media frenzies so far have been about the Liberal campaign plane not being ready, and the puffin. The Conservatives can blame an overeager web designer for the pooping puffin, but the nation's newsrooms have no one to blame but themselves for the thus far pathetic coverage of election 2008.

Thank God for the unfiltered goodness that is CPAC.

--update--

I believe the puffin issue is done..as of..now.

Dion vs. May - Bring on the debate

The broadcast consortium has decided that because three of the four parties did not want the Green Party in the televised debates, they could not participate. The Liberals were the only party in favour of the Greens participating.

Does Dion not recognize that most Green Party supporters are one time Liberal Party supporters? Why does Dion insist on giving them preferential treatment, when all they are doing is stealing votes from him?

Dion needs to start distancing himself from May, his deal is starting to come back to haunt him.


Or, if Dion wants to continue to have his votes drift away, and he wants Elizabeth May in the debates so bad, why doesn't he just debate her himself? I'm sure all the networks would cover it.

Because she would steal thousand and thousands of votes, at almost $2.00 each, from the Liberal Party. The Liberals literally can't afford any more financial seepage, they need to try to get those voters back. A new Green vote is likely a lost Liberal vote. Agreeing to allow the Greens into the debate, while fruitless, was a misguided decision.


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Unsolicited Advice: Make sure your campaign plane is ready to go on election call-day

Media is reporting that the Liberal Party was caught unaware by the Conservative's surprise election call. After a quick search for a jet resource, the party has now leased a thirty year old Boeing, from Inuit Airlines.


They also report that the plane won't be ready to fly by Sunday, the day of the election call. It won't be ready until the middle of the week.

Daniel Lauzon, a spokesman for the Liberal Party, confirmed that its jet, rented from Montreal-based Air Inuit, won’t be ready until Wednesday. Mr. Dion will meanwhile travel with journalists by bus to campaign events in central Ontario and Quebec.

Unacceptable. You need to have your plane on the tarmac, and jet off somewhere on the first day of a campaign. Why?

Both Harper and Layton went from Quebec to the West..today. Both parties will have fresh footage of local rallies in Vancouver and Calgary for nightly local news election coverage out west. By that time, Dion's dated Ottawa presser will be a foot-note.

Knowing their media brethren are jetting across Canada on a daily basis, in a modern jet with seat-back entertainment consoles..how friendly do you think the Liberal bus-ensconced media feel?

People are starting to think of the Liberals as broke and unorganized..why start an election with a move that will reinforce that?

The plane had to be ready, if not for anything other than optics..evidenced from the current, less than flattering, media coverage.

So..at election call time..always have a plane ready, and take your leader from coast to coast on the first day.


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Le Quebec prends les forces

This is by far the best Conservative ad to date.

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The Carbon Tax explained

"Yes, you have a carbon tax, but all the money goes to tax cuts."

Stephane Dion, explaining the Green Shift to reporters.

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Stephane Dion: Still not a leader

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