This clip was done when the Liberals were trashing Harper in an election negative ad campaign. My point is the Liberals are not pure as the driven snow here either. I don't think the Cons attack ads on Dion come close to what they did in 1993 to Chretien.
Allan Bonner who appears it the clip said this to us regarding the Dion attack ads:
"You may have the governing Conservatives in Canada are running negative ads about the new Liberal leader. This may mean an election is coming sooner than expected, they want to test their readiness, or they want to spend money outside the writ period."
We also think this effort is timed to be spending Conservative Party money electioneering but outside the writ period.
The ads also reinforce what people outside the Liberal bubble have been saying since early December.
ReplyDeleteRemember, too, that they're being aired during the Super Bowl. It'll be a cold day in hell before your average football-watching Canadian votes for a guy like Stephane Dion. We're just reminding them why.
So, progressives don't watch the Superbowl? What an idjit you are, Mr. BR!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Ken, it is a matter of Liberal, Tory, same old story.
HI BR - I actually watch the SuperBowl FOR the ads. The game usually sucks.
ReplyDeleteI have seen these "attack ads." They are more like cheaply done introducTory level powerpoints. They are reminscent of the early SCTV stuff. I think they will stand out as amateurish competing on the SuperBowl. I think they will get laughed at by the "average football-watching Canadian" that day, especially given the millions of dollars of production value the "real" advertisers usually invest in SuperBowl ads.
You are right though, they will reinforce the Cons Reform/Alliance base but not change any other minds.
Do you think Harper's overt sucking up to Quebec has undermined his support from the base so much that you have to "remind them why" the support(ed) Harper in the first place?
With polls showing Harper's support eroding everywhere in the country except True and Blue Alberta, I can see why you have to reaffirm Harper's leadership's and his commitment and credibility to the base.
Too bad the Party feels it has to spend those individual donor's hard earned dollars to tell them what they all ready "know and believe."
Shining a penlight on a mythology about Dion and not reflecting on the Harper damaging policy reversals, will impact the base. Will it be positive?
What if these ads make the base ask even more questions about Harper. Running "attack ads" to reaffirn that support from the base is all you can do really, I guess. Short, of course, of providing good government that is.
BTW - at the risk of sounding paternal, how are the studies going BR ;-}?
The individual donors donated their money so the Conservatives would WIN the next election. I don't think there is a need to go over the research that simple negative ads that are not over-the-top do in fact work.
ReplyDeleteI think the purpose of the ads was also to flex the cons muscles in regards to their current financial situation. The LPC has many financial woes because rules against corporate and union donations. However, I think they have a loophole in the relevant legislation with regards to "loaning" money and then not having it repaid (although I still think this violates the Act). It remains to be seen whether the loans that Dion, GK, Iggy, and especially Rae will actually be repaid. I highly doubt it.