If all's fair in politics...
The Conservative Party of Canada is going to air a few attack ads on Stephane Dion, the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, during the Super Bowl. I am not a fan of realpolitik, so I am not condoning or encouraging the messages. I am simply here to offer my take.
Both Warren Kinsella and Jordon Cooper think the ads are suckerpunches.
Kinsella thinks that the ads are at a strange time and reflect the CPC having too much money. The ads show the CPC to be in trouble.
Jordon Cooper thinks the ads reflect strange timing and are concerned with the environment (the Libs leading the CPC by 4 points on the environment currently). The ads are no knock-out blow, either.
Both are right that the ads are suckerpunches, if by suckerpunch you mean a punch out of turn. They are not in an election and so are out of turn. They reflect true criticisms, though.
The point of the ads, in my opinion, is to preemptively strike Liberal ads. If the Libs respond, then they are dragged into a game they didn't start and the Cons think they aren't prepared for. If the Libs don't respond, they had better hope the Canadian public sympathize with them, because the messages are clear and easy to remember. If the Cons are as smart as Stephen Harper, then these ads aren't their only ammunition or strategy for negative ads. Contrary to Cooper, you don't knock someone out with a sucker punch unless you can't beat them in a toe to toe scrap. I'm thinking the Cons are prepped for a toe-to-toe but I'm betting the Libs are too smart to retaliate.
Both Warren Kinsella and Jordon Cooper think the ads are suckerpunches.
Kinsella thinks that the ads are at a strange time and reflect the CPC having too much money. The ads show the CPC to be in trouble.
Jordon Cooper thinks the ads reflect strange timing and are concerned with the environment (the Libs leading the CPC by 4 points on the environment currently). The ads are no knock-out blow, either.
Both are right that the ads are suckerpunches, if by suckerpunch you mean a punch out of turn. They are not in an election and so are out of turn. They reflect true criticisms, though.
The point of the ads, in my opinion, is to preemptively strike Liberal ads. If the Libs respond, then they are dragged into a game they didn't start and the Cons think they aren't prepared for. If the Libs don't respond, they had better hope the Canadian public sympathize with them, because the messages are clear and easy to remember. If the Cons are as smart as Stephen Harper, then these ads aren't their only ammunition or strategy for negative ads. Contrary to Cooper, you don't knock someone out with a sucker punch unless you can't beat them in a toe to toe scrap. I'm thinking the Cons are prepped for a toe-to-toe but I'm betting the Libs are too smart to retaliate.
posted by Aaron Perry at
4:00 PM
4 Comments:
As you have invited me to respond, AP, I will.
On the ads being bad strategy: possibly. But Harper was accused last campaign of bungling a couple of times by the experts (Kinsella was one). He only became a genius after they figured out that his "mistakes" weren't. So let's wait and see.
Second, Dion's honeymoon has been incredible. He is captain green even though he and/or his party won the fossil of the year award 7 times. Ambrose won it once. How many times have you heard about Dion's environmental record on the Canadian mainstream news? That's what the CP's are up against. So go for it, I say.
And one or two more floor-crossings wouldn't hurt, either.
TCrusty
Nice to see that someone agrees with me:
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2007/01/30/3481138-sun.html
Crusty
i've heard they are doing the work of the mainstream media.
you act as though i think it's bad strategy. i don't know if it is or not; only time will tell. i don't think it's necessarily bad strategy as kinsella and cooper have mentioned by being at the time they are in. like i said, i think it's a warm-up and preemptive work. if the Libs think they have some negative PR stuff against the Cons, this lets them know the Cons are more than ready.
and i completely agree: i don't know how the Libs gain in environment by electing dion. and i think darrem hits the nail on the head: get the easy to understand word out to the mainstream public in the Super Bowl...they can understand the messages.
one more thing: people seem to wonder why the Libs didn't work on the environment while they were in power. the reason is simple: because the public didn't care about it.
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