Harper’s new smear receives united opposition condemnation

Whooee! Imraan’s on the money. Dion’s gotta get tough an’ look tough. Harpoon’s a nasty bully an’ I ain’t sayin’ Dion oughta get inta the gutter but he’s gotta do more than he’s been doin’. He does come off as ineffectual an’ whiny. It shouldn’t be too hard t’ make Harper look like the gutter-fightin’ bully that he is but Dion’s gotta stand up to him. Canajuns expect our PM t’ fight fer Canada on the world stage an’ we need a fighter to do it. Dion lets himself be bullied then he looks fer sympathy.

JimBobby

Gayle -

Dion is acting like the wimp getting his milk money stolen from him at school and all he does is politely ask his bully to stop. The bully, fearing nothing, continues to take his milk money every day….until the wimp finally stands up to him. Dion has to take it to Harper.
Spend money on ads - positive or negative - just get your name out there and don’t let the CPC define you.
Get out from small, private meetings on cross-country tour s and speak to the masses. Let people know why you won the LPC leadership against all odds.
Control your caucus and the LPC message better.
Improve your English so you can effectively convey your ideas so people don’t just listen to you, but LISTEN to you and understand what your saying instead of just knowing you said something but aren’t fully sure of what it is.

Dion isn’t landing any significant political blows on Harper. He’s feigning and jabbing, but not connecting. Harper seems to be providing a huge target for the LPC, but Dion, always playing the victim and the panty-waist, is not aggressive in highlightling the flaws and shortcomings on the CPC - he is merely reacting to what has been said and done or putting out small fires in his own party. It’s unfortunate but true in that you have to get a little dirty in politics.
Asking for apology after apology just opens the door to Harper to lay some more onto Dion.

You suggest Canadian politics was ever above the “mud”. This latest Tory-Grit pillow fighting is turning more Canadians like myself against politics than ever before.

“It is apparent that some people will think Dion is a wimp, and others will think Harper is a bully.”

I think both those things. Harper IS a bully, no two ways about it. An’ Dion IS actin’ wimpy, imho.

I hear-tell Dion’s goin’ fer language coachin’. I sed he’s a smart feller an’ that’s a smart thing t’ do. Good move, sez I.

“You say people are getting tired of him asking for an apology - I say people are getting tired of Harper acting un-Prime Ministerial.”

I agree with you. Canajuns are gettin’ tired of both those things.

BTW, I ain’t rootin’ fer either one. The more damage they do to each other, the better it’ll be fer the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May and our band of treehuggin’ Greenies.

JB

Gayle said:
Personally, I think Dion is playing for the long haul. Over time maybe people will start seeing him as decent and “gentlemanly” - a stark contrast to Harper. Whether that is what will happen is another question, but since I would do the same thing he is I think it is the right thing to do.

Dion and the Liberals do not have much time to wait for a long haul. The time for him to define himself and his party the way voters understand should have been months ago when he won the Liberal leadership. Now he is playing catch up. He needs to get out more into the public and promote his party as an alternative to the Conservatives.

Just a quick thought exercise:
What would it look like if Harper’s French was a bad as Dion’s English?
Would the Liberals be smiting Harper hip and thigh? Do you think?

I think this post proves that Harper knows what he is doing. Uniting the opposition does nothing but unite the left among the three opposition parties - big deal.

Harper has transformed a story about the Defence Minister misleading the HOC into an unimportant story about a few remarks. Of all the comments, Dion’s remarks will please conservatives the most:

“We are all together behind our troops even though we may have different views about this mission.”

Compare this to commentary from every US Democrat:
“We support the troops but……”

The statement is defensive. Anything said thereafter is weakened because the listener is pondering support for the troops.

Much as we would like to believe otherwise, it is naive to think that Harper is just being mean or undignified. He is motivating his base, hoping to pick up a few pro mission moderates and putting the Liberals on the defensive.

“Harper has transformed a story about the Defence Minister misleading the HOC into an unimportant story about a few remarks.”

Maybe, or it is possible the story about the defence minister could have died yesterday, rather than being reported on, again, today. Amongst the quotations of apology requests are comments about the damage Harper is doing to Canada’s reputation abroad, and the suggestion that his comments hurt rather than help our troops.

Oh, and the media have brought up the Bains slur, and the lies about the former liberal cabinet minister appointing her ex-husband (I forget her name and am too lazy to look it up).

I get that the conservatives are trying to spin this, but I do not think they are convincing anyone but themselves.

So, all in all some good mileage.

Canadians aren’t about to fall for that obvious US smear style trap when we’ve seen it for 6 years and derided it.

Scott, I hope you are right. A year ago I would have agreed completely. Now I am less confident. Harper’s Conservatives seem to be in good shape and some pundits suggest the Liberals are in trouble. It hardly suggests that Canadians have seen through the US style divisive tactic.

I get that the conservatives are trying to spin this, but I do not think they are convincing anyone but themselves.

Gayle, fair enough, but motivating the base is as important in an election as winning new votes. It is also a whole lot easier. This is red meat for the Conservatives.

Nasty,

The thing is, most of us who know Dion know that he is the better man. All we are doing here is discussing ways to communicate his vision to Canadians instead of being sidelined by “nasty” conservative attacks.