08.04.2015 08:43 AM

KCCCC is back! And Day 3!

KCCCC5

 

  • KCCCC is back by popular demand! Well, okay. No one whatsoever requested that it come back. But I will endeavour to reprise it every single day of Long March 2015 – unless I’m getting married, or whatever.  Those days I may take off.
  • Winners and losers! To kick things off, let’s reduce complex political events to bite-sized oversimplifications, shall we? I mean, everyone else does it!
  • Gold medal: Stephen Harper. He had a flawless launch, he looked “relaxed, forceful and confident” to a Liberal-leaning member of the punditocracy, and he even took questions from the media.  This guy has done a few of these things, and it shows.  Is greatly assisted, to boot, by HDS (Harper Derangement Syndrome), which has now reached pandemic stage.
  • Silver medal: Justin Trudeau. His Day One was a bit of a disaster – instead of being where the media were, Trudeau was in a plane four miles up, eating pretzels.  Being AWOL for the first part of the news cycle on the campaign’s most important day was stupid – and going all the way out for Pride was not particularly strategic, either, given that Hedy Fry has owned Vancouver Centre for two decades, and is in no danger of losing it, ever.  Since that Day One flub, Trudeau has looked like he’s a man fighting for his life, which he probably is.
  • No medal: Angry Tom.  No questions from the media? No debate after agreeing to debate? No events for five days straight, and “conspicuous by his absence,” as CTV put it? At first, Dipper partisans defended the no-questions idiocy – and then, when they realized they were in trouble, they lied, and claimed Mulcair had to rush out to attend Flora MacDonald’s funeral (the funeral was hours later, and within walking distance).  At first, they defended the no-events-for-five days thing, too – until it dawned on them that it looked arrogant, and suggested that NDP senior staff were worried about Angry Tom getting Angry, and making a mistake.  So they hurriedly threw a Montreal event on the sked.  All told, it has had a net effect of making the NDP campaign the loser so far.  No bronze, just a DQ. (And don’t bother complaining, Dipper Trolls: plenty of folks agreed with this critical view!)
  • Other stuff: I did a CITY-TV hit on the election, here. Also, later today, Danielle Smith is interviewing me for radio!
  • Video of the day: Right here.  This is the guy I want to win! (Cartoon reaction to clip and save here.)
  • Photo of the day: This one, I presume from Vancouver.  It doesn’t exactly scream Prime Minister, to me, but what do I know?

image1

Caption contest!

34 Comments

  1. Joe says:

    So if they had an election and the OLO didn’t show up?!?! Or did Justin win silver in a two person race? Speaking of HDS has anyone heard from Elizabeth? Does anyone care?

  2. JH says:

    Caption contest: Sophie’s Choice? Not!

  3. John from Saskatoon says:

    Did I teach you in kindergarten or was it whitewater rafting? Want my autograph too?

  4. Domenico says:

    Interesting shot of Trudeau. I do not hate it. I agree with the reasoning of “some pundit or other” that the longer campaign might help Trudeau who has shown himself to be a good campaigner. And the fact is that he is personable and connects with people.

  5. davie says:

    Not sure about Gold award here. SH did mention environment in the French part of his opening remarks, but not in the English version of the same topics. He did look okay until I saw JT on tv in Calgary. The contrast between SH’s bogey men are everywhere (though, no climate bogeymen), and JT’s vision and hope presentation was stark enough for me to give the Gold to JT.
    TM must be giving others a head start. (I am wondering if he is okay.)
    GD was his witty self, so, gets the bronze.
    Haven’s seen EM, but I guess we are doing only win , place show here.

    • bobbie says:

      “SH did mention environment in the French part of his opening remarks, but not in the English version of the same topics.”
      No, he didn’t. Mansbridge said he did but in reviewing the French speech Mansbridge and you are wrong on that point. No correction by CBC either…surprise?

      TM is still the unknown. Being AWOL was dumb, lying about it worse. What next?

      The Trudeau pic. just tells me that he’s still the threat and can turn this around.

  6. Mark says:

    “A Sapphic Victory, but Pyrrhic?”

  7. billg says:

    Here’s a question that might not be answered for a few weeks. Who decided to get Premier Wynne into the campaign? Hydro bills have now pretty much doubled for many Ontarians, and, there is a little matter of yet again another work action by teachers set for this September? I’m just curious. Normally Premiers stay out of Federal Elections, but, not this time I guess. I’m not sure who this helps the most, but, bringing up Ontario’s economic numbers cant help the Federal Liberals. Maybe its just me, but, this decision is strange.

    • Mark says:

      It’s definitely a risky move. Although I think team Harper would have attacked the Ontario and Alberta Premiers regardless, so I guess it’s a question of whether you just take it, or go on the attack. What I’m curious about is whether there will be an uptick in 3rd-party attack ads against the Wynne and Notley governments, since these are not restricted by the federal election, but could act as effective proxy attacks on the Federal Liberal and NDP brands.

      • davie says:

        Innovative move, though, federal party running against the provinces!

        • billg says:

          Well, its actually 2 Federal party’s running against the province with the worst economic record in Canada, which, is why I don’t understand that move, but, like I said, could be just me.

          • bobbie says:

            Just wait until the teachers go on strike in September and see how Trudeau likes Wynne’s help then? Or, will the teachers be fooled again?

  8. patrick says:

    Displaying tolerance, acceptance and openness not Prime Ministerial. And heaven forbid smiling and laughing. Hmmmm.

  9. Kraggle says:

    (Getting odd captcha bugs, apologies for possible dupes)

    I think you’re a bit off on JT here.

    Yes, Fry may own Vancouver-Centre. But the Trudeau choice–that he’s willing to both fly across the country and set aside first-day scrumming–shows just how much he values the support of the LGBT community in Canada. It comes across as a huge gesture towards a community that politicians often avoid or denigrate, and I don’t think they’ll forget it.

    Even if it weren’t the right thing to do, which it was, it’ll play well in a lot of urban ridings, and win over those critical Orange Liberals in NDP-Liberal battlegrounds like University-Rosedale, Parkdale-High Park, Toronto-Center, and Spadina-Fort York. The Liberals have been absolutely *terrible* at attracting these voters, which is part of the reason why the Orange Wave happened, and if the Liberals want to win, they need to get ’em back.

    This is a solid step in that direction, and I don’t think we should dismiss it so quickly.

  10. Northern PoV says:

    “Hedy Fry has owned Vancouver Centre for two decades”
    Her margin of victory has been eroding and her local campaign coasts on momentum. Watch for an upset if the national campaign favours the NDP.

    That said …
    I think Trudeau wins day 1 & 2 – looking open, relaxed and yes embracing enthusiastic supporters while Mulcair hides and … has anyone noticed: Harper looks tired and …. . Is he sick? He looks that way – and he can barely mumble his lines.

    And Trudeau had a great answer to the “name controversy”. Don’t let Harper distract you.

  11. BillB says:

    Caption contest —- “Trudeaumania 2.0 …. New Age of Aquarius”!

  12. The Doctor says:

    I still think a long campaign will hurt Mulcair and the Dippers. They want this campaign to be a reflexive, negative referendum on Harper, with the NDP perceived as the go-to anti-Harper vehicle. A short campaign would probably best allow for that to happen. But the longer the campaign goes on, the more time there is for JT to capture attention (he ain’t going away), and the more time there is for people to start talking about the NDP platform — and as much as the Dippers might think that their platform is fabulous, the fact is that their senior strategists would much rather have us all taking about how evil and awful Harper is. Plus if the discussion starts turning on platforms, the NDP has no real advantage there, and some on-the-fence and swing voters might start tallying up the costs of some of those wonderful NDP promises.

  13. Mike says:

    Is the Ontario NDP running Mulcair’s campaign? Because it sure looks like it.

  14. BillyB says:

    (Previously posted by mistake on the wrong topic thread and it should be here, sorry.)

    Harper is up to his old campaign tricks again by announcing a new program each day forcing Justin and Mulcair to react negatively.

    Today Harper announces another government home renovation tax credit within 2 years in relation to the economy improving.

    Mulcair attacks Harper saying “he got rid” of the previous home reno program and is now recycling it for the election.

    Justin proclaims his Liberal party would outdo any Harper promise with more money for the beleaguered middle class.

    Looks like Mulcair and Justin are like dogs chasing Harper’s car and barking in futility. Exciting… and another 60+ days…. eh?

    • BillyB says:

      Conservative commentator Tim Powers on CBC NN P&P has just made the same point about Harper controlling the election daily agenda. He explained that Harper’s strategy is to promote “transactional” change while the opposition is pushing “transformative” change. Harper is promising voters money in their pockets while Justin and Mulcair are promoting drastic change for the sake of change.

      Harper’s strategy may be more effective because it hits home with the middle class voters, while those advocating drastic change must climb a steep hill trying to spread discontent amongst Canadians and may be viewed as bearers of bad news, and you know how people react to bad news, they shun it and block it out.

      So is the opposition strategy to just attack negatively in the first month of the election campaign by necessity, and then when we get closer to election day they will reveal their bags of goodies? So far the hammer is held by Harper and he’s curling right up to the hot button. Will it be enough to stop the opposition attacks? Let the games begin!

    • Don Wilson says:

      Hooray for the return of KC4! Now we can get the scoop each evening in one simple drive-by. BillyB, did you catch Obama’s announcement re his proposed reduction in omissions from coal-fired energy plants? If Mulcair and JT are chasing Harper’s car, Harper has detached his muffler in hopes that none of the audience hears how far Canada has fallen behind the wicked Americans in responding to global warming. If the NDP or Liberal war rooms start performing like war rooms should, Harper’s car will soon pull off on a side road and try to disappear on this issue. With all the drought and wild fires plaguing the West, global warming and the lack of a robust Canadian response will be an election issue. Flaming salvo incoming from Cranbrook U in 3, 2, 1….

  15. Neil Boaz says:

    This will appeal to the core base – and that’s just the problem. Only about 5% of the population has the hots for Trudeau. They deliberately constructed a personality cult – Chippendales-meets-Che – and now you’ve got to ride that juggernaut right to the end.

    Two example of the mores you are trying to tap into:

    Stephanie Mercier Voyer of hipster Vice: “his scruffy face reminds me of a young revolutionary leader who’s about to start a love-making war across the country—one that would render the Canadian soil so damp and oh, so wet. The truth is, my sexual impulses don’t give a fuck about his good looks. My pussy quivers for Justin’s profound desire, and failure, to be cool.”

    “What Open Marriage Taught One Man About Feminism…my children are asleep in their room…my wife is out on a date with a man named Paulo. It’s her second date this week; her fourth this month so far. If it goes like the others, she’ll come home in the middle of the night, crawl into bed beside me, and tell me all about how she and Paulo had sex…I’m glad because I’m a feminist…I am an economically dependent househusband coping with the withering drudgery of child-rearing…When my wife told me she wanted to open our marriage and take other lovers, she wasn’t rejecting me, she was embracing herself. When I understood that, I finally became a feminist.” (NYMagazine)

  16. Cameron Prymak says:

    Caption: ‘Some people call them slackers or dis-engaged youth. I call them my base.’

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