Revolutionary Moderation

The weekend of gaffes (C-5, L-7, BQ-3, ND-0)

The discussion was convincing. Paul Martin's stumbling over the difference between saving the country and losing the country is a gaffe; as commenter JL points out, it is "the very definition of a gaffe." I'm convinced. But it was clearly no big deal by press reaction, and the fact that I was considering it as not a score at all convinces me it was minor. But he's the Prime Minister, so even with a (sig)1, it's multiplied by a (prom)3. Three points for Her Majesty's Loyal Government.

The bigger scores on the board are born of an exchange between Gilles Duceppe and Jean Lapierre. Duceppe said of the Liberals that the BQ was going to "make them disappear" - that they had no intention of giving up one single seat in Quebec. Lapierre said there was "a little bit of a Nazi tone in that." First off, I wasn't going to give Duceppe anything for this at all --- except that he apologized. Fine. If Duceppe thinks it was a gaffe, who am I to argue? (Sig)1 x (prom)3 is a field goal for les partie du seperatist du Quebec a Ottawa.

Some will argue with my score for Lapierre's Nazi comments. I'm going to give Lapierre as much credit as I can possibly can, given he was smart enough to give himself some wiggle-room. He didn't call Duceppe a Nazi, he didn't even call the statement cut-and-dried Nazi. He said there was a "Nazi tone." "A little" Nazi tone. But for being stupid enough to utter the word "Nazi" in the context of anything except a discussion of Germany's emergence/descent from the Great Depression into fascism, war, and genocide, that's gotta be at least a significance of two. Try this one on for size, Lapierre: wait for a scrum, and then say "I hadn't imagined Gilles Duceppe sees an independent Quebec as a one-party state. I have to give him credit - the man is full of surprises." Make the implication, make a little joke, and the point is still made, without you coming off as an unbelievable dick. Well, moreso. (Sig)2 x (Prom)2 = four more points, which also means the Liberals are leading the BQ in la belle province, at least in this poll.