The Real Blitz that Buried Dion
Grit Leader done in by the media? You read it first in The Tyee.
Et tu, media?
When Stéphane Dion announced his decision to step down as Liberal leader on Oct. 21, he blamed his dismal showing on a Conservative ad blitz that kicked in as soon as he won the party leadership in late 2006. The advertising onslaught questioned his qualifications for the job, helping "define him with the public and he never recovered," the Globe and Mail reported the next day.
Dion done in by Tory ads became the story of the week in the commercial press, as papers across the country jumped on the bandwagon.
At the Vancouver Sun, Miro Cernetig wrote: "[the Conservatives] spent millions of dollars on ad buys to attack Dion... As a result... Dion was instantly framed in the voters' minds." And L. Ian MacDonald wrote in the Montreal Gazette "there's no doubt that the Conservatives effectively defined Dion as 'not a leader' from the first series of pre-writ television ads at the beginning of 2007."
Some in the media questioned whether the ads alone could make Canadian voters turn their backs on the Liberal leader. "The commercials would not have worked if they didn't seem true to the electorate," offered a National Post analysis. Someone needs to explain to Dion "that attack ads only work if they are grounded, however tenuously, in the truth," a Winnipeg Free Press editorial chimed in.
But nowhere in the discourse was there recognition of a factor even more defining in bringing down Dion -- the reporting and commentary in the news media themselves. Most Canadians have never met Dion. Their knowledge and impressions of him are mediated by the press. And the press, with the Aspers' National Post and Mike Duffy's Countdown on CTV leading the pack, gave Harper and the Conservatives nearly unlimited access to their audiences to disseminate the Conservative message, as The Tyee reported in March 2007.
Media reflected ads they sold
If the commercials seemed true to the electorate, it was because the media were repeating the same message in their news stories and commentaries.
It was the combination of paid (ads) and free (news stories and commentary) messaging that did Dion in. But the role of the media in that endeavour has been pretty well expunged from history.
No sooner was Dion crowned leader than the Conservatives pulled out all the stops to implant a Dion-as-flip-flopper frame in voters' minds, attempting to define Dion for the voters before Dion did it himself.
For this work, they turned to Frank Luntz, then a prominent Republican spin doctor, a master at framing the political debate through his use of language. He's credited with the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 via his bogus Contract with America.
Luntz visited Canada in May 2006 to meet privately with Harper and to address the shadowy Civitas Society, whose members include Harper's then chief-of-staff Ian Brodie, his long-time political mentor Tom Flanagan, and Environment Minister John Baird. Montreal Gazette reporter Elizabeth Thompson heard Luntz tell the 200 libertarians and neoconservatives that voters want someone who is credible and they can trust more than someone who shares their ideas. "More than anything else, they want to know you are a straight shooter," he added.
Pulling from the Bush's 'flip-flop' playbook
Luntz assisted George W. Bush eke out his narrow victory over John Kerry in 2004 with similar messaging. Google "John Kerry" and "flip flop" and you'll still get 250,000 hits four years later. In 2004, you would even have found a brand of footwear called the John Kerry flip-flops, which were perfect to wear to the beach. That's where you'd find Kerry -- or on the ski slopes -- while his rival was busy in Washington looking after the nation's business.
Bush, the straight-shooter; Kerry the effete flip-flopper.
After Bush featured Kerry's flip-flopping as a central theme in his 2004 convention acceptance speech, Luntz asked swing voters in Ohio to give him one word to describe Kerry. The top answer was "flip-flop." The message got through, and Luntz must have been satisfied. Bush won Ohio and Ohio gave Bush the presidency. Of course, we must remember that the state Republican administration ensured that 357,000 Ohio voters, the overwhelming majority of them Democrats, were prevented from voting or did not have their ballots counted.
Harper can't rely on such shenanigans to get him elected in Canada, so the Dion-as-flip-flopper frame had to do some heavy lifting for the Tories. And thanks to an obliging media, it worked here, too.
Harper kicked off the flip-flop campaign in the House of Commons during the debate over the extension of sunset provisions in the Anti-terrorism Act regarding preventive arrests and investigative hearings. The Liberals had enacted the law in 2001 and Liberals were voting against an extension. This was a flip-flop of colossal proportions, they charged. The accusations of Liberal flip-floppery were relentless, occurring 33 times over the next three weeks. Most were about the Anti-terrorism Act, but accusations of flip-flopping spread to Liberal policies on Kyoto and sending troops to Afghanistan. Harper himself used the term five times.
By the time Parliament recessed, the campaign had taken full flight in the media and on the Internet. Dion the flip-flopper was placed prominently on the Conservative Party's home page. Under a banner showing Harper "getting things done for all of us," was mounted the bodiless head of Dion on a blood-red background, interlaced with the words flip flop flip… The title read "Dion's terror flip flop exposes weak leadership."
CTV steps up the message
One vehicle for disseminating the flip-flop message was the nightly Mike Duffy Countdown segment on CTV, where the Conservative frame was provided a friendly welcome. Anti-Dion ads played during the commercial breaks were reinforced by Duffy's guests.
Government Whip Jay Hill led off by slamming "the flip-flop on Afghanistan, or the flip-flop now of the anti-terrorism act ..." Next, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day skewered Dion's flip-flop on the anti-terrorism law and its implications for the Air India investigation. Jay Hill was back several days later, as the vote on the anti-terrorism law extension neared. Harper appeared the same evening, repeating the phrase "abruptly flip-flopped" he used twice in Parliament. Apparently abrupt flip-flopping is worse than gradual flip-flopping.
Conservative strategist Roxanna Benoit couldn't understand why Dion needed to flip-flop, parliamentary secretary Pierre Poilievre hoped Dion would flip-flop once again on the environment and backbencher Garry Breitkreuz accused Dion of being like a fish out of water, going flip, flop, flip, flop, repeating the phrase for the benefit of slow learners in the audience.
Harper has changed his mind more than a few times. Think of his about-faces on Kyoto and taxing investment trusts. But few in the media called him on it. And while Dion's flip-flops demonstrated weakness, Harper's were a sign of strength, at least according to National Post columnist Don Martin. After slagging Dion for most of his column, Martin then writes, "to be fair, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been known to change his mind. Just ask income trust investors." Harper the straight-shooter changes his mind. Dion never changes his mind, just flip-flops.
National Post played role of Fox
Aping the role of Fox News as the main cheerleader for the Bush administration, the Asper family's right-wing bully pulpit, the National Post, led and broadened the campaign against Dion. One editorial attacked Bill C-257, which would outlaw replacement workers in strikes against employers in federally regulated industries. Liberal support for this bill, the Post hectored, "would mark another colossal flip flop of the kind the former governing party has become famous for since Stéphane Dion took over as leader last December."
A week later, in a piece headlined "Liberals go from Dithers to Flipper," Post columnist Don Martin weighed in with the assessment that Dion had a "lousy week." Why? "Not once or twice, but three times in four days we saw Mr. Dion flip-flop on positions he'd taken during the leadership race or his party had supported last fall." The column was apparently considered vital reading for all Canadians, since it was reprinted in the Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun and Ottawa Citizen.
And a few days after that, another Post editorial reminded readers of the "already long list of Liberal flip-flops, which includes … Afghanistan, the Anti-Terrorism Act, Bill C-257... the rehabilitation of Adscam bagmen... and a carbon tax on fossil fuel consumption." Whew! A week later, a Post editorial mused that Dion's "new policy stance on law-and-order issues" incorporated a flip flop.
In case you didn't get it...
Fast forward a year and the Post was still at it. Dion's flip flop on a carbon tax "could not come at a better time for the Conservatives," a May 2008 editorial surmised. That sentiment was mirrored two weeks later by a Don Martin column decrying "Dion's flip flop on the carbon tax."
In case Canadians still didn't get it, the Aspers' Calgary paper helpfully provided two more editorials, the second published after the election was called, with the headlines "Dion's carbon tax flip flop," and "Dion's deficit flip flop."
So it was more than a bit hypocritical when the Post's Kelly McParland wrote in the paper's blog after Dion announced he would step down, that Dion lost, not because of the ads, but because "the ads confirmed what Canadians already thought:" that Dion's "judgement and leadership skills were suspect."
Hmmm. Wonder how that happened.
Related Tyee stories:
- Why Did I Buy CanWest Stock?
It keeps plunging, rocked by a perfect storm of debt and downturns. - Senators Let Big Media off Hook
Committee's long-awaited report shrugs at CanWest, targets CBC. - Will Dion Be Paul Martin 2.0?
Key staff pick shows true economic colours.
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
RossK
27-10-2008
Not so sure.....
Excellent post Mr. Gutstein - thanks.
However, you may wish to reconsider the following point:
"Harper can't rely on such shenanigans (ie. voter suppression) to get him elected in Canada...."
After all, now that Mr. Harper et al., have convinced themselves that Luntzianism works, what's to say they won't amplify the suppressive aspects of their voter ID law next time out.
Especially if such suppressive tactics turn out to work to Mr. Campbell's advantage here in British Columbia next May.
.
BC Mary
27-10-2008
The surprising re-election of Mr No Neck
There's already much to investigate with recent and upcoming elections in B.C., Donald. Thanks for this excellent beginning.
Consider the angst still surrounding the mysterious groups which made those remarkable improvements to Gary Lunn's chance of winning another term as MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands. He was widely expected to be trounced.
Then there was the remarkable gift to B.C. "Liberals" (actually neo-Conservatives) of a FREE 12-minute prime-time TV advertising slot right in the middle of the 6 o"clock News on CKNW, Global, CHECK and CTV. For some crisis or something?
Well, no. Just a free political announcement by their poster boy, Gordon Campbell. With reporters placed in lock-up like as if the Chief Dweeb's announcement was of great importance. It wasn't. See Harvey Oberfeld's blog for that. He is truly steamed. It's beautiful to see. A real Journalist Emeritus lecturing his former colleagues on the duties of their profession. Priceless!
Since then, embarrassed CanWest editorials have been huffing that The Opposition Leader shouldn't be allowed a similar opportunity "because she isn't the premier". They're beyond shame.
Do we still have an Electoral Officer? Aren't they paid to oversee these matters?
.
seth
27-10-2008
Howard dean and Canwest losses
Neocon media turned on him overnight after he announced he was for curbing media concentration.
Another article in the current tyee "Why Did I Buy CanWest Stock?" shows what a money loser the neocon media strategy is. Big Media's purpose is to make money only indirectly by ensuring Canada's low information voters elect Neocon governments, always contrary to their best interests. Hell 4000 of them voted NDP in a riding with no NDP candidate.
Harper's 50 billion and Campbell's billion or so in corporate tax cuts make CanWest's losses seem miniscule.
The real shame is Canwest's "journalist" sellouts like Vaughn Palmer who could have persuaded Joe Six Pack into voting for George Bush if the Harper's Neocons had switched leaders in mid election.
Excellent article on how Vancouver media goosestep in lockstep with their Neoconmasters.
http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/73/The_Death_of_Canadian_Journalism.html
alius_vox_vocis
28-10-2008
Media had something to work with!
You must admit that M. Dion has given the media plenty to work with as evidence of "flip-flopping". There were the regular threats to bring down the Harper government, and then the hiding in the halls when it came time for the votes. There was the promise never to impose a carbon tax, and then a carbon tax as the centerpiece of the election platform, and then the claim that the carbon tax had never been central to the campaign. These are only a couple of examples from many. So, it's a little disingenuous to lay so much blame on the media. M. Dion seems to have been an extremely cooperative subject.
As for shenanigans in Canada... Something smells extremely fishy over in South Vancouver where Justice Dohm seems determined to declare Dosanjh the winner, regardless of what the voters may have said. It strains credibility that Dohm should end the recount after sampling only 15% of the ballot boxes when that sampling narrowed the margin of victory by 33%--from 33 votes to 22 votes. The arrogance of this judge is stunning! This is the sort of thing one might expect in Zimbabwe, but surely not in Canada.
realisticman
28-10-2008
Sure. But...
Anyone who didn't know Stéphane Dion, notwithstanding the posture and position of some of the media coverage has only themselves to blame. He was around for a long time before his Prime Minister campaign began.
In anticipation of by-elections in early 1996, Jean Chrétien appointed two new "star candidates" from Quebec – Stéphane Dion and Pierre Pettigrew – to Cabinet. On January 25, 1996, Dion was named Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. Dion continued to serve as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs until the end of Jean Chrétien's ministry on December 12, 2003. On September 30, 1996, Dion submitted three questions to the Supreme Court of Canada constituting the Supreme Court Reference re Secession of Quebec. The Supreme Court reference launched a public debate between Dion and members of the Parti Québécois government in open letters published in the press. Dion had a prominent role within the Chrétien administration at the time of the sponsorship scandal and the Gomery Commission. He was also Minister of the Environment (July 2004–February 2006).
Sure, a couple of years of bad publicity is to be expected when the game of politics is underway but his reputation has been prominently established over the past 12 years.
relayer
28-10-2008
Blame the media? Too easy.
We all saw Mr. Dion threaten to pull the plug on the Harper gov't, then back away, then threaten again, then back away again... Then there was the poorly explained and marvellously vague "Green Shift". It had all the potential to turn into another gun registry. That was supposed to cost just a couple of million, and has so far consumed over two BILLION without producing any result.
Go ahead, blame the media (it's easier than looking at the leader or his party), but perhaps 43 abstentions in the House and a massively unpopular tax grab had something to do with the election result.
Skywalker
28-10-2008
Maybe too easy but closer to the truth.
Any party can come up with a message about an opponent but when the media picks up the same language they do a rea disservise to the public. These guys are suppose to be professionals and be able to see when they are being manipulated. Even if the news anchor just reads copy he/she should recognize when slant is advanced and change the particular descriptive phrase that falls into the trap.
Maybe too easy for you but a hell of a lot closer to the truth.
urban_lenny
28-10-2008
Images in the media
Another aspect of news coverage that I found really interesting during the election campaigns (both in Canada and in the US) was the types of pictures chosen for each of the candidates. One would find that often with Dion, the media would choose pictures that showed him looking downward, as if he couldn't stand to make eye contact with his public out of shame at being such a "bad leader". Stephen Harper, on the other hand, was often shown in a confident light, making eye contact with the camera or with someone to whom he was speaking. Quite interesting given that the reality is the opposite.
Hillary Clinton was also subject to the same sort of treatment during her campaign for presidential nominee for the Democrats: most of the time the media would choose nice strong pictures of Obama and then some crazy picture of Hillary that made her look really bad.
That type of imaging sets up those unconscious stereotypes in the minds of the voters.
I watched my parents be brainwashed into voting Conservative, after saying for years that they hated both the candidate in their riding and the Conservative Party. Guess that's what happens when someone watches three or four episodes of Global News a day...
G West
28-10-2008
CanWest
Case in point - front page of the Times Colonist after Campbell's little emergency session announcement ~ compared with a tiny mention of James's statment last night.
These guys deserve to have their stock drop right off the board.
David Lewis
28-10-2008
alternate theory
When you lose it is very clear what you failed to overcome. So its either the fault of the forces that overcame you, or its your fault for not overcoming them. When a guy is down, the day he loses, he might say its their fault, but on his better days, he'll get up and say its his own fault, learn from the experience, and figure out how to win next time.
You seem to think the type of politics practiced by Republicans in the US can't be overcome. How is it that it seems possible that the Democratic Party will take over all three branches of government down there?
I'd put a link to a NY Times story which takes an opposite view to yours, which describes how the Obama campaign won in the face of the worst that the Republicans could throw at them, but it seems you've removed my last comment that had a NY Times link in it. I'll put it in a separate comment, as an experiment to see what disappears.
David Lewis
28-10-2008
NY Times alternate view
search on google using the terms:
"power of positive campaigning fish"
RossK
28-10-2008
One Reason For Obama's Successful Pushback....
Money.
Obama has it.
Dion didn't.
macsasquatch
28-10-2008
donna é mobile
The pic with the article of Dion fits the idea in this piece.
If it was Lutz the American (them bad Americans) who pulled this off in 2004 in USA, then he should be really happy with how well it worked up here in Canada the past year and a bit.
I figured there was something of gender politics, with old gender stereotypes in this campaign. It looked to me as if the idea was to label Dion as the woman, fickle, changeable, weak, emotional; and at the same time to label Harper as the strong man, firm, decisive, strong, rational.
These stereotypes worked really well.
In the House of Commons, a Conservative member, especially cabinet members, could not get up on her/his feet without tossing slurs of effeminacy at Dion, and lauding the manly attributes of Harper.
Granted, Dion added (much to the delight of the Conservatives) to the stereotyping by arranging the absentee voting dodge so many times.
But I thought the months of this approach by the Conservtives worked very well for them. It took me aback that it worked so well...I did not think that so many of us would buy into gender stereotyping. But I guess when the reepeated message causes a little dent in our minds, all other info flows into that dent to reinforce the impression, while any info that does not fit the impression is discarded.
I thought that in the election campaign that the NDP took full advantage of the success of the Conservative stereotyping of Dion as 'mobile.' So Layton went right after Harper, knowing that the damage to Dion's reputation had set the Libs back quite a bit.
Myself, I don't see Harper and his PMO as particularly strong. The secrecy, unilateral decision making, avoidance of public intercourse, willingness to say anything no matter how absurd, evasive answers to questions all make me think of a fearful person, or group.
(Such men are dangerous...)
frank2
28-10-2008
Media did play a role. But
Media did play a role.
But the more fundamental point is that Canadians didn't warm to Dion's professorial approach, and his general awkwardness. Harper is a cold fish, wooden in the extreme, with a record which shows he will desert any "principle" which stands in the way of electoral advantage. Why the "ordinary" voter should prefer a controlling slippery politician to a a sincere, intelligent, thoughtful man, with some moral compass, beats me.
relayer
28-10-2008
Come now,
... the article doesn't even address Dion's leadership failings. It just blames the media, as though Dion and his central plank had nothing to do with the result. That's just wilfully naive.
I'm not saying the media is perfect, but curiously enough while the political left believes there's a right wing bias in the media, the political right believes the opposite. Most of us can agree on examples of both: The Toronto Star and the National Post to name the most obvious.
CPAC is the least biased in my view, but they don't get a lot of exposure, do they?
Skywalker
28-10-2008
Media in the U.S.A and Canada
Media in the U.S. is divided between those that support the Republicans and those that support the Democrats. Both parties get donations from the same lobbyists and the lines of policy differences are not very clear. They may become clearer once Obama has the opportunity to change things a bit but to compare Canadian Media with the U.S. scene is completely unwarranted.
I am not advocating for a Conservative Media and a Liberal Media and an NDP Media. I think the media should be impartial and be immune to partisan messages. Overcoming adversity is a measure but only if the playing is on a level field with respect to objective coverage and money for the battle, David Lewis.
I never voted for Dion but it was obvious to me that he was fighting an uphill battle and the media wasn't doing its job. When I hear news anchors using the sma language that a Harper puppet uses, the fix is in.
Terry86
28-10-2008
Perhaps Dion deserved the criticism
I heard Dion say with my own ears "Setting priorities is hard" and a host of other relatively silly things. I hardly think the media can be blamed for reporting this.
giovanni
28-10-2008
Dion blitz
The Conservative Party itself won the election,by calling the election when they did,and not waiting for the legal time>They thought the Liberals were at the end,so they got the PM to call the election,hoping they could do the Liberals in,for historical reasons.They really managed to screw the Liberals.What is it? something like worst Liberal showing in over 100 years.It,was,in my opinion vindictive,nothing else.
The PM lost,the people lost>Those who won were the elected ones,now collecting all that money, with perks,perks, and more perks
Skywalker
28-10-2008
Big deal Terry86
Choosing some priorities means neglecting other priorities might be put on the back burner. Weighing all the issues and determining priorities is not done by throwing darts. Then the general public isn't always clear what it wants and so you might offend some people. It is not easy. Dion could have used the neutral "challenging". But my goodness he's from Quebec. How is your French? You would think the media would have understood what he meant.
alda
28-10-2008
Media campaigns matter
Even I, a layperson so far as marketing goes, could have pulled out my video camera and come up with better ads than either the Libs OR the NDP.
NEITHER of them promoted what I kept waiting for - factual ads featuring black and white news clips of Harper (or Flaherty or Baird or McKay, etc.) saying one thing, then Xed over with a big "No," and contrasting them with short clips with them saying the direct OPPOSITE a few months, later. In other words - FLIP FLOPS.
These kind of negative ads, played over and over would have been far more effective for the public, imo, than cute cartoons and milque-toast statements, proving that there's no way that someone like Harper -- despite his sweaters and Mulrooneyesque silky-voiced tones -- could be seen as the kind of "straight-shooting," trustworthy, all-round friendly, good Canadian guy standing at the family barbecue grilling burgers for friends and neighbours.
I have a few choice words for trough-feeders like Frank Luntz and his ilk, AND the people who hire them - none of them publishable and none of them kind. He's a past master at helping politicians twist the truth. P.R. types like him stink like a cesspool, and if we lived in a society that had one mote of respect for integrity, they'd be shamed onto a plane right back home to the corporate sewers they were spawned in.
carfreed
28-10-2008
ads that last
i voted for my local candidate who ran for the Liberals.
I got frustrated by the media clips of Dion and some of his English. When I went to hear him speak in public in Victoria I was mesmerized. He was tremendously eloquent. I felt as though my skeptical mind dissolved into an environment of truth and integrity built in the room as he spoke. I was won over.
Even the CTV replays showed that he had a better understanding of English than did the interviewer.
But still, after the election I hear passing through my brain: Stephan Dion IS NOT A LEADER.
The CONS embedded that one in my mind and I assume many other minds.
I am going to petition for an end to TV and radio ads from all parties.
Lts have more all candidates meetings!
ME2
29-10-2008
re Dion
There are two reasons why I couldn't have voted for Dion.
The first is that we live in a world where almost every national leader is fluent, or at least competent in English. If exposed on the world stage, his imprecise and mangled English would have been embarrassing, since we are supposed to be a bilingual country. I would not blame Quebec for rejecting a similarly hobbled Anglais candidate.
What makes it worse is that the Quebecois consistently opt for that patois and wave it in our faces like a red flag, though the politically correct pretend not to notice.
Can you imagine the uproar if we promoted a similarly bastardized form of French?
The second reason, widely expressed throughout the nation, was his unsaleable Green Plan advocating carbon taxation.
Even with an opponent as widely hated as Harper, with those impediments even Christ Himself couldn't have won that election.
But with a truly bilingual leader and a more rational platform, the Liberals cannot possibly lose the next Federal election.
murdock
29-10-2008
...that's not FAIR!"
Even DURING the Liberal leadership 'race' this man displayed his inability to conform to the 'system'.
When confronted with a 'cut off' for his speech time ... he responded like a scolded child.
The Liberals got exactly the results that they collectively chose.
Dion has only himself to blame for his own lack of clairity and inability to communicate effectively and with brevity.
If the media has any part to play in this, I say that it is the 'sound bite' and control over that 'bite' that Mr Dion and many in the Liberal party have totally failed to understand.
Budd Campbell
29-10-2008
I agree completely, alda
alda
Even I, a layperson so far as marketing goes, could have pulled out my video camera and come up with better ads than either the Libs OR the NDP.
The question really is why. Why didn't the NDP use real ammunition instead of blanks? It's a good question, one that should be put to high ranking NDP campaign officials, such as Gerry Scott here in BC and Eric Hebert-Daly in Ottawa.
realisticman
29-10-2008
More Negatives, please...
alda
"I have a few choice words for trough-feeders like Frank Luntz and his ilk, AND the people who hire them - none of them publishable and none of them kind. He's a past master at helping politicians twist the truth. P.R. types like him stink like a cesspool, and if we lived in a society that had one mote of respect for integrity, they'd be shamed onto a plane right back home to the corporate sewers they were spawned in."
If we lived in a society that had one mote of respect for integrity... Yet, just above this comment you say that you'd like to see, "negative ads, played over and over".
What you're saying is that you love negative ads but P.R people that produce them are repulsive, yet you still love the ads as long as they are produced by Canadians.
Thanks for the clarification.
alda
29-10-2008
To Realisticman
I didn't say that I didn't respect Luntz and ilk because they make "negative ads." What I DO have a problem with is pr types or marketing people who help politicians avoid, subvert, or obfuscate truth in their messages.
If anything, used with circumspect, I think "negative" ads about other politicians can be extremely useful if they help the public clearly see the facts. In matters of real import, I see nothing shameful in showing an incumbent saying one thing and then doing or saying the exact opposite a while later, thus proving him/her a baldface liar, a twister of truth, a snake in the grass not to be trusted, or a weakling with no sense of integrity.... etc.
Negative ads campaigns can be very powerful tools, and those running for elected office have EVERY RIGHT to call upon the public record.
realisticman
29-10-2008
OK. Any obfuscation here?
from the article:
"Harper kicked off the flip-flop campaign in the House of Commons during the debate over the extension of sunset provisions in the Anti-terrorism Act regarding preventive arrests and investigative hearings. The Liberals had enacted the law in 2001 and Liberals were voting against an extension. This was a flip-flop of colossal proportions, they charged. The accusations of Liberal flip-floppery were relentless, occurring 33 times over the next three weeks. Most were about the Anti-terrorism Act, but accusations of flip-flopping spread to Liberal policies on Kyoto and sending troops to Afghanistan. Harper himself used the term five times."
Remember this, flip-flop or what?
" Liberal leader plays down Green Shift policy after pledges $1.2B in green funding to farmers
Sep 19, 2008 12:34 PM
Toronto Star
Richard Brennan
WINNIPEG–Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said today that his Green Shift plan featuring a controversial carbon tax is not a major part of his election platform.
"You have said it was but never me," Dion told reporters.
His surprise declaration follows by a day campaign appearances in the Toronto area where he failed to mention it once in his speeches. "