You people (Cons 3, all others zero)
Mrs. Revmod and I were watching the news on Sunday night when we first heard the "you people" from Harper, speaking in front of an audience of South Asians. And when I say "in front of", what I mean is that every brown face in the room seemed to be sitting behind him, playing the role of wallpaper to his speech. When the broadcast took a wider shot of the room, the crowd facing the other way seemed to be entirely white.
Now, the Tories can make legitimate claims at diversity. I'm sure they're falling short in several ways that opponents could itemize, but they're diverse enough to deflect most criticism. Still, they're making specific efforts, some of them questionable, to appeal to recent immigrants. That's why the "you people" was so tone-deaf.
I wanted to find an escape route for Harper. I wanted to find him using "you people" commonly in non-racial contexts. I wanted to prove to myself that I'm just being lefty-sensitive. I failed. I'm tentatively awarding prom3 x sig1 depending on the legs this story has (so far, to my surprise, none). The scoreboard has to wait until the end of my work day.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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4 comments:
This Harper gaffe insulted me. It was very ignorant at it's heart. It wasn't a "simple mistake". I've been on the receiving end of the "you people" comments. It stings.
It was his Ross Perot moment.
Sorry - I looked and looked but couldn't find any video of the comment or him clarifying/apologizing afterwards.
Glad to finally see some points on the board! Though I didn’t expect the ‘you people’ gaffe was the big one mentioned as I didn’t personally see any media coverage of it. I see another Liberal one:
AD AWKWARDNES: The Liberals were scrambling Monday to edit a French-language TV ad that debuted over the weekend. The spot contained a still photo of Ignatieff talking to what appears to be a group of students. However, the woman at the centre of the frame ran for the NDP and immediately asked the ad not be used. The same ad included images presented as typical Canadians that were actually generic stock photos purchased online.
Probably just 1x1. It was something that was immediately seen to be an error by the party and quickly addressed.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Internet+rumours+Harper+candidacy+illegal/4522736/story.html
===================================Still looking forward to reviews of the submitted posts for the (quickly reversed) Bloc blunder of banning Macleans from interviews and the Liberal MP/Finance Critic saying the party would increase taxes, but then apologizing for going off message (which was on National Newswatch for several days). This was what I thought was the ‘big one’ to date.
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