“Warren Kinsella's book, ‘Fight the Right: A Manual for Surviving the Coming Conservative Apocalypse,’ is of vital importance for American conservatives and other right-leaning individuals to read, learn and understand.”

- The Washington Times

“One of the best books of the year.”

- The Hill Times

“Justin Trudeau’s speech followed Mr. Kinsella’s playbook on beating conservatives chapter and verse...[He followed] the central theme of the Kinsella narrative: “Take back values. That’s what progressives need to do.”

- National Post

“[Kinsella] is a master when it comes to spinning and political planning...”

- George Stroumboulopoulos, CBC TV

“Kinsella pulls no punches in Fight The Right...Fight the Right accomplishes what it sets out to do – provide readers with a glimpse into the kinds of strategies that have made Conservatives successful and lay out a credible roadmap for progressive forces to regain power.”

- Elizabeth Thompson, iPolitics

“[Kinsella] deserves credit for writing this book, period... he is absolutely on the money...[Fight The Right] is well worth picking up.”

- Huffington Post

“Run, don't walk, to get this amazing book.”

- Mike Duncan, Classical 96 radio

“Fight the Right is very interesting and - for conservatives - very provocative.”

- Former Ontario Conservative leader John Tory

“His new book is great! All of his books are great!”

- Tommy Schnurmacher, CJAD

“I absolutely recommend this book.”

- Paul Wells, Maclean’s

“Kinsella puts the Left on the right track with new book!”

- Calgary Herald



…or Taiwanese TV, in any event.  Watching this, I am reminded (among other things) of how we have the world’s best media.

But the shot at Toronto voters at the end?  It’s funny, but also true.

H/T J. Tetreault!


…no one’s got it, yet.  But there’s a few million people who’d like to see it, following this (who broke the story) and this (who sat on the story, for weeks) and this (who wish they’d had the story) and this (who, like the rest of the world, think we are only “world class” in the “stupid electorate” category).

Until it makes its debut – and it will, unless one of Ford’s well-heeled backers gets to it first, to suppress it – we’ll have to make do with some pictures from the recent past (And a video! and a spread sheet!).  Like many pictures, they tell us we shouldn’t really be so surprised.

(Oh, and don’t forget: this shows that Justin Trudeau is in over his head!)

(Oh, and I’d say some folks owe Sarah Thomson an apology right about now.)





Great assessment by Josh Wingrove, done right, right here.



After what happened to BC NDP, the chances of a Spring election are somewhere between slim and none.


Self-excoriating column to follow.

 

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UPDATE: And, because I didn’t sleep at all last night, and had this rattling around in my head, is what I’ve written for the Sun about why I WAS WRONG, WRONG, WRONG:

I was wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I predicted that the British Columbia New Democrats would win that province’s election. They didn’t. In fact, the scandal and mishap-prone B.C. Liberals won it – and they won a majority, too. It was perhaps the most dramatic political turnaround many of us will see in a lifetime.

What happened? Well, I like to think my two or three regular readers are owed much-better analysis than I gave them on Tuesday. So here are ten reasons why I – along, seemingly, with every other pollster and pundit and prognosticator – got it wrong.

1. The polls: Every pollster messed up. In the weeks and months leading up to the historic vote, not one of them suggested that the B.C. Liberals could win big. The reasons will be hotly debated for a long time. Perhaps it is their methodology – online pools, IVR (Interactive Voice Response) – in an era where landlines are passé. Perhaps respondents are lying to pollsters, and keeping their preferences to themselves. Perhaps polling – as we have recently seen in provincial elections in Alberta and Quebec – has a far larger margin of error than pollsters claim. Whatever the cause, I was wrong to believe the polls. Even when they show 20-plus-point leads.

2. The pundits: Every one of us – including the ones I consider media giants in B.C., like Vaughan Palmer, Gary Mason and Mike Smyth – didn’t see this one coming. Even supposedly-experienced soothsayers, like me, buy into the conventional wisdom. When, these days, the conventional wisdom is neither. Clearly, we are being lazy, and relying on polls (see above) to do our thinking for us.

3. Campaigns matter: The B.C. New Democrats ran a good one, but the B.C. Liberals ran a better one. Christy Clark’s smartest move was to import Dalton McGuinty campaigners like Don Guy, Laura Miller and Ben Chin, who helped give the ruling party the discipline and message it desperately needed. (As a fellow McGuinty Liberal, I couldn’t have done what my friends did, and worked alongside the likes of Stockwell Day and Rob Ford advisor Nick Kouvalis. But a win’s a win.)

4. Christy Clark: Some of us were right about the Liberal leader’s negatives – she got beaten in her own riding, a longtime Liberal stronghold. But Clark’s personal unpopularity, particularly among women, didn’t hurt her party as much as it should have. She is a formidable debater and a campaigner.

5. Adrian Dix: The B.C. New Democrat leader was no Bolshevik extremist, but he had a poor debate performance, and he clearly did not relish the campaign spotlight – while his main opponent reveled in it. His approach was stable and steady, but uninspiring.

6. Stephen Harper: Clark’s coziness with the Conservative Prime Minister and the upper echelons of his B.C. cadre did not hurt her – in fact, it may have helped. Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair, take note: in urban Canada, Harper is not as much of a liability as many reckon. Even after a decade in power, the federal Conservatives – who, in B.C., are provincial Liberals – remain a force to be reckoned with.

7. Going neg: Clark did, Dix didn’t. Only towards the end, when some of his massive lead had eroded, did Dix put together some attack ads. But they were weak and ineffective. Clark’s, designed by Miller, Guy and her friend Don Millar, were better and everywhere.

8. B.C. Conservative Party: To win big, Dix needed the Right-wing vote to split. It didn’t. The B.C. Conservatives party was a serial joke for months, and voters had no confidence in it. Their collapse helped re-elect Clark.

9. The economy: Clark relentlessly focused on it, but Dix didn’t. Big mistake. While economists may insist that the great global recession is over, not many Canadians are so sure. Clark’s message discipline, on the only issue that matters, made the difference.

10. British Columbia: B.C. – where I lived, and which I loved – has nutty politics. Period.

To repeat: I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Now, where is that plate of crow?

 


I, of all people, should know not to trust pollsters. If BC CTV is right (they just called it for the BC Libs), man oh man did I get it wrong! My sincere, abject apologies.

(If CTV is right, that is!)