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Sunday, September 06, 2009
The Iggy is Strong
Gerry Nicholls doesn't think much of the new Grit ads. Neither does Hugh. They remind me of some of the early Stephen Harper ads from 2005. The ones which ended with the then Leader of the Opposition saying: "I'm Stephen Harper" or something like that. Leaders of the Opposition have very little visibility. All they can do is bitch and without Question Period they don't have much of a venue to do so. Sure they can and do complain in someone's back yard on the rubber hot dog circuit. But Big Time Liberal Supporter's open pit BBQ isn't quite the same as the Gothic splendours of the House of Commons. Content? How old fashioned of you to ask. People like Gladstone, Peel and our own George Brown used to hold audiences rapt for four and five hours, thundering on about the sound principles of British liberty. Ah, the old days.
Attention spans being what they are, and principles being what they are, the political ad must use more subtle methods. There's a famous picture of Mrs Thatcher, circa 1979, holding a lamb. The point of the stunt was to show that Mrs T wasn't the evil right-wing ice queen many assumed she was. The lamb in arms didn't convince anyone that she was "nice," just not so evil and serious. Same thing going on with Stephen Harper's fluffy blue sweaters last year. Mr Stiff and Proper can be somewhat less Stiff and Proper, provided you coax him hard enough.
What's the message of Iggy in the forest. "I love trees." Well, maybe, but no one assumed that Iggy had a hugh stake in a lumber mill or anything. Grits are seen as moderately pro-environment. The text of the speech is about how Canadians are world class, and government should help make Canadians even more world class, or something like that. Given the old myth about Canadians being hewers of wood and haulers of water, a forest might not have been the best place to talk about our world classiness. Or maybe we are world class hewers of wood, and Iggy would like to build on that. Or maybe the ad is really a clever Tory joke. Look at your leader! He's leading you right into a Tory ambush! Isn't that Rona Ambrose hiding behind the third three from the left!
This wouldn't be a Publius post without an obscure historical reference, so here's one: 1972 Election Campaign. The Grit slogan was "The Land is Strong." What did that mean? Nothing. Their campaign featured lovely shots of the Canadian wilderness - perhaps even the very forest Iggy found himself in - and Pierre just being plain adorable old Pierre. Mercifully for the Grits the Tories retorted with an even worse campaign and slogan: "A Progressive Conservative government will do better." It's not often that the party of Me-Too makes their Me-Tooism so explicit, but hey Bob Stanfield was the most honest man in federal politics in living memory. Perhaps why he never became Prime Minister. The Iggy might be Strong, but he looks and sound pretty much like the guy currently in charge. Perhaps Liberals bums are better than Tory bums - I suspect no - but a bum is a bum to the Canadian voter. Besides, the weather people tell us it's going to be a glorious Fall. No point ruining it with an election about nothing. It's the land that's still strong after all.
Posted by Richard Anderson on September 6, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Christ, that's got to be one of the most rambling posts of yours I've ever read. The only response I can think of is that before you claim that all bums look the same check out the Constitutions of these bums. AT least Conservatives believe in individual rights and private property rights. The Liberals believe in neither.
Posted by: johndoe124 | 2009-09-06 6:39:22 PM
"AT least Conservatives believe in individual rights and private property rights. The Liberals believe in neither."
When they remember that, I'll concede the point. In three and a half years they've demonstrated little commitment to either.
Posted by: Publius | 2009-09-06 8:17:34 PM
I don't necessarily agree. They've made efforts to have private property rights recognized, they've made efforts to give us tax breaks, their child-care initiative enables greater freedom of choice for the parent, business taxes have gone down, they continue to sign free trade agreements, we haven't been enslaved by Kyoto, they are working towards a more democratic Senate, they've attempted to allow western farmers to choose how they want to market their products,... None of these initiatives would have seen the light of day under the Liberals.
I admit that I don't really know what more they could have achieved within a minority situation given that the other three opposition parties do not respect individual rights nor property rights.
Posted by: johndoe124 | 2009-09-06 8:36:45 PM
"The Land is Strong" slogan brings back many annoying memories of Trudeau's arrogance. My favourite is when he opened his victory speech in the 1980 election with, "Welcome to the eighties". That was almost the end to my TV. If many Canadian voters give up on the liberal lite "Harper" Conservatives, you may just get a new recycled twist on Liberal arrogance especially if the video professor jumps on board.
Posted by: John Chittick | 2009-09-07 12:15:24 PM
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