Working backwards
I've been asked to pass judgement on a few more gaffes, some dating back to the opening weekend. Let's get to them:
Stephen Harper has some trouble putting on a pair of gloves. A Google News search for "Stephen Harper work gloves" produces the story I linked, and only that. This, plus a single tweet from one reporter, even repeated by Kinsella, does not a gaffe make. No score.
John McCallum discussed the Liberal plan to roll back the most recent corporate tax cut, acknowledging under direct question that "minor job loss" may occur. He went on to argue that there would be a net job gain as that tax money was redistributed toward the middle class who would create jobs by spending it. One blogging Conservative have tried to make some hay of this through a tightly edited youtube audio post (we can't hear McCallum's follow-up answer? And this is supposed to prove something?), but I refuse to punish candidates for spelling out policy. It was close call, but no points.
Finally, when campaigning in Montreal, Michael Ignatieff messed around with some guy's lute (? I'm going with "lute"), and as he returned it, the lutist (loutist? I'm in pretty deep water here) acknowledged that he'd be voting for Thomas Mulcair, the NDP candidate. That's what you get in a democracy - voters can tell candidates to their faces that they're voting for the other guy. So what? Better that than the sort of super-tight controls a campaign would need to make sure this never happens. No gaffe.
Did I get them all? The score remains unchanged: 3-0-0-0.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
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8 comments:
FWIW,it wasn't a lute; it was a mandolin.
OT - seems gaffish to me that Harper suggested a one-on-one debate himself yesterday around lunch, only to meekly chicken out on the whole idea inside of 24 hours.
If they go on the record backing out, rather than just ignoring it, you're probably right. Whispering through Bob Fife's twitter account hardly counts, though. Think the reporters will ask him about it at campaign stops? Let's see how it goes.
Nope - still two unreviewed gaffes on the comments boards from the past 2 days (both Quebec related so easier to miss in English media)
1) Bloc party official says Macleans magazine banned from interviewing their candidates due to 'Bonhomme' cover. Duceppes spokesperson quickly apologizes and retracts this position.
2) Liberals release Quebec ad featuring an NDP candidate as a supporter, as well as stock photo supporters. Complaint results in ad quickly being pulled by party.
In addition to the above two Quebec incidents cited as still up for review, today we have two more in the news. One Conservative, one Liberal.
1) Justin Trudeau billboards across Montreal have misprint which leads people to porn site. Liberal campaign staffers rush to cover up mistake. Maybe 2x1 just because it is Trudeau Jr.
http://blog.fagstein.com/2011/04/01/liberal-candidates-qr-code-leads-to-porn-site/
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2)Well known for gaffes backbench Conservative MP calls Ignatieff 'Igaffi' in possible references to Gadhaffi (but more likely referencing gaffes). Follows up with apology. Likely 1x1, it would be more surprising if Gallant went an election without a gaffe.
http://thestar.blogs.com/politics_page/2011/04/cheryl-gallant-issues-late-night-twitter-apology-to-michael-ignatieff.html
The Trudeau thing, I'm almost certain, is an April Fools joke. Among other problems in the story, there is no "luberal.ca", and the Trudeau twitter account the story links to only has one entry. But it's a better joke than any I heard on local radio this morning, so credit for that.
I was wrong about the twitter account. Still a joke? Trudeau been suckered in? Or perhaps playing along?
just to confirm... i am a friend of Steve Faguay and also happen to live in Papineau riding. C'est vraiment un poisson d'avril, tout le monde, 'stie.
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