Remember how Harper defended his cuts to certain cultural programs with the line more or less saying that artists and such are just elitists going to fancy galas with fancy dresses and suits not worthy of being funded (when in actuality, the average salary of an artist is around 20 grand)?

I guess with this brochure platform Harper has released hastily, he has now decided he wants to recapture the elitist gala vote, if I get the subliminal messaging of this photo in his brochure platform:

Look, It’s Harper with a couple of cellos! There’s a kid! Harper’s smiling! (Ok, it’s a little frozen, but give the guy a break.. he’s not naturally touchy-feely warm). Harper LOVES artists and galas!

(H/T Red Tory)

The new Harris-Decima poll shows a narrowing gap of 4 between the Cons and the Liberals based on, you guessed it, economic worries:

The latest Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll gave Harper’s Conservatives 31 per cent support across Canada, just four percentage points clear of the resurgent Liberals. The New Democrats had 20 per cent support, with the Greens at 12 and the Bloc Quebecois at eight per cent. Four of every 10 respondents – particularly women, city-dwellers and older, affluent voters – say the roller-coaster markets are causing them to rethink their vote, largely at the expense of the Tories, said Harris-Decima president Bruce Anderson.

The Liberals remain well clear of the Cons. in Ontario, the Cons remain mired in 3rd place in Quebec, and here might be the most important part of the poll:

Wednesday’s poll also suggested newfound support for Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, who is “marginally more popular” than Harper for the first time in the campaign, Anderson noted. Positive impressions of Dion stood at 41 per cent, with 48 per cent of respondents reporting the opposite. Some 51 per cent of respondents said they had a negative impression of Harper, while 40 per cent were positive.

This poll was taken, I suspect, before the nation got to hear the PM tell everyone that people were panicking and there were great buying opportunities out there in the stock market. I’ll be interested to see how that comment reverberates with the Canadian public over the next day or 2.

UPDATE @ 11:40 am: Haha. Great snark by Kady O’Malley:

…for the first time ever, the Most Leaderiest Prime Minister in the History of Ever is one point below the European-schooled sociologist when it comes to having a “favourable impression” : 40% - a new low - with Not A Leader at 41%

The Nikkei Market as of this morning has suffered its worst drop since the 1987 Stock Market crash. 250 billion $ in shares were lost (so far) today.

But hey, according to Prime Minister Harper, Canadians shouldn’t worry. as that plunge will result in great buying opportunities in the stock market as a result of all that panic.

Don’t worry, be happy, Canadians!

UPDATE @ 8:20 am: Great bit of snark from one of the folks at the Globe and Mail today over that “buying opportunities” line Harper used yesterday:

Because you see, as an economist, Stephen Harper knows that if you have just lost half your retirement savings, your job is in jeopardy and the value of your house has plummeted, the best thing you can do - really, the smartest thing you can possibly do - is to go sell an organ, a kidney, maybe your liver, then take the proceeds and see if you can get a bargain basement price on some CIBC shares.

“Stephane Dion won’t give out stock tips. Leaders tell you to buy stocks in a plummeting market. Stephane Dion hasn’t told anyone to sell their TV to buy twenty shares in RIM. Stephane Dion: not a stock pusher. Not a leader.”

(H/T Impolitical, for finding that.)

The media are picking up on that line.. as I said yesterday, let’s make him wear that line.

UPDATE 2 @ 8:45am: If you missed Harper’s “Dont Worry, Be Happy” spiel on CBC yesterday, Red Tory has the video that should inspire you all to plunge into the stock market.

The first one, as you might guess, again goes after Harper’s economic record.

The only regret I have about this ad is that it wasn’t planned for release tomorrow, because I think that line of Harper’s where he said “there are probably some great buying opportunities emerging on the stock market as a consequence of all this panic.” could have been added to great effect in this ad. That comment is going to bite him big-time, if it gets repeated to the Canadian public, but there’s still time to use it, of course. Anyhow this is still quite hard-hitting, particularly with all the media quotes.

The 2nd ad is a bit more of a feel-good “Why I’m voting Liberal” theme:

….though it does add a few digs at Harper.

You can say what you like about how the campaign has gone, but the Liberal War Room and the ad-makers have done in my opinion a very good job with their ads. Some others agree.

As I said earlier, I think we should be punching Harper in the mouth over and over again with that “great buying opportunities emerging in the stock market as a consequence of all this panic,” line he did. That shows him out-of-touch with ordinary Canadians, and damages him and the Conservative Party far more then anything the Liberals or others could say about him. Dion needs to be bringing it up at every stump speech, and I think we need some more commercials hammering on this.

James Carville, a Democratic operative and strategy guy who was very good in the Bill Clinton Days, once said that when your opponent is drowning, throw them an anvil. In my opinion, that quote is a self-inflicted wound of Harper’s, and is potentially the anvil. We just need to throw it at him over and over.

The Liberal War Room has been quick to pounce on these Harper plagiarism revelations:

Remember to visit BushHarper.com to see more of Harper copying his American Idol, George Bush in deeds as well as words.

Oh.. and don’t forget this video from Creative Revolution of some more copying Harper did from his American Republican conservative friends on the “fundamentals of the economy being strong” line conservatives like to use.

Well, we have another new website for you to check out today called Harpernomics, which is a compilation of all the things Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have done while in power, which makes a mockery of their claim that only they can be good economic stewards for Canada. An example:

Harper now presides over the highest spending government in Canadian history, having increased federal government spending by 15 per cent.

$19.2 BILLION in pre-election spending between June and September 2008.
A $13-billion surplus blown in just 30 months and now on the brink of deficit.

A very slick looking website with a lot of information there. Check it out.

BushHarper.ca by the way, is going to be interesting to watch to see if they add any more such ads that show how much Steve is copying his American Idol, when he isn’t busy copying what John Howard has to say.

Someone came up with this in a hurry after yesterday’s discovery that Harper used Australian PM John Howard’s Iraq speech word for word (and for all intents and purposes, he has copied Bush’s foreign policy - if not in words, in practise):

Brilliant.

(H/T: The Galloping Beaver)

Another creation by our blogger friends at A Creative Revolution. I said “ouch” when I saw this one. Very hard hitting.

I was away all day and missed all the fun in finding out not only do Harper and the Conservatives claim that certain experts in their field support their specific policies when they really don’t, but they also like to copy stuff word for word from other leaders - commonly known as plagiarism.

This was a word-for-word copy of John Howard’s speech over reasons why countries should join the US in going to Iraq, which makes this new campaign ad of the Liberals rather timely: