Lest we forget about the official opposition
With all the buzz about Danielle Smith (little known fact: her tears cure leprosy), it's easy to overlook the Alberta Liberal Party. But the ALP have released a commercial:
It's interesting to see Smith in the ad since a strong Wildrose Party is the best thing to happen to the ALP in a long time. But just by mentioning her it guarantees that the media, starved for all things Danielle, will report on the ad (which is the main point of an Internet-only ad). And, even though she's the "target" of the ad, it's clearly an attack on Stelmach.
Or, at least it should be. My only concern with this is that it comes across as an attack on conservatives in general, rather than on Stelmach and the PCs. I know I've been out of Alberta for a while, but last time I checked, Conservatives were fairly popular there. As is that Harper chap who gets lumped in with Stelmach, Reagan et al.
Regardless, Stelmach's weak on financial management, and the ALP took a shot at him. Good on them for that.
It's interesting to see Smith in the ad since a strong Wildrose Party is the best thing to happen to the ALP in a long time. But just by mentioning her it guarantees that the media, starved for all things Danielle, will report on the ad (which is the main point of an Internet-only ad). And, even though she's the "target" of the ad, it's clearly an attack on Stelmach.
Or, at least it should be. My only concern with this is that it comes across as an attack on conservatives in general, rather than on Stelmach and the PCs. I know I've been out of Alberta for a while, but last time I checked, Conservatives were fairly popular there. As is that Harper chap who gets lumped in with Stelmach, Reagan et al.
Regardless, Stelmach's weak on financial management, and the ALP took a shot at him. Good on them for that.
Labels: Alberta Liberal Party, attack ads
posted by calgarygrit at
9:56 p.m.
14 Comments:
I love all these lefties who crap all over Bush for a "1 trillion dollar deficit". Um. No. Under Bush the deficit was $452 billion when he left office. Obama -- the biggest lefty-Lib there is -- has ballooned that to 1.42 trillion which is due to his 1 trillion dollar "stimulus" package that has done zippo for the American economy. Give me any of these "fiscal conservative" in this ad (Stelmach excluded) any day versus these idiot lefties who claim they have all the answers but can't even start by being honest about the failings of their own side.
By
Irritable Canadian, at 10:10 p.m.
Danielle is getting compared to Reagan, and Mulroney!
Plus AB deficit is $6.9B right? If you want to talk about added debt, or switch from surplus to deficit or whatever, try and be specific. Also, get the numbers right, $10B isn't any of the possible answers.
The Mulroney deficit number is also off. It seems like none of the numbers used are on point, just as the politics are pretty lame/misguided.
Of course, we are talking about the ALP here. They've been in opposition for decades and look to be swamped by a startup party that just elected its first leader. It hasn't really been a secret that the Tories were vulnerable to a well organized right wing alternative. Just the Liberals wanted to run a TC-Rosedale campaign in Calgary SW.
Epic Fail.
By
Hey, at 11:26 p.m.
I don't get it, what was the point of the ALP releasing that?
There is no by-election coming up, no big announcement.
Grit, you're absolutely right, most Albertans would see all those pictures of Conservatives and there is a good chance Albertans like at least 2/3 of them.
Strange ...
By
Anonymous, at 12:27 a.m.
"little known fact: her tears cure leprosy"
Too bad she has never cried.
By
Jacob, at 1:29 a.m.
I don't think attacking the WRA is good strategy for the Liberals. If anything, it'll increase the likelihood of them falling victim to an Alberta version of the federal NDP's perpetual problem: Liberal supporters get scared of the Wildrose and vote for the PCs to stop them.
You make an interesting point about this being a creative way for Swann steal some of the Smith-mania for himself, though.
By
The Invisible Hand, at 4:26 a.m.
"Liberal supporters get scared of the Wildrose and vote for the PCs to stop them."
The PCs have been in power since 1971 and it is time to vote the bums out.
Perhaps the Alberta Overton window being the way it is, the PCs should become center-left and Wildrose becomes center-right.
By
hitfan, at 9:17 a.m.
Irritable - But a lot of the stimulus was Bush's, that Obama just followed through on...
By
calgarygrit, at 9:33 a.m.
CalgaryGritL:
What’s driving Obama’s unprecedented massive deficits? Spending.
■President Bush expanded the federal budget by a historic $700 billion through 2008. President Obama would add another $1 trillion.
■President Bush began a string of expensive financial bailouts. President Obama is accelerating that course.
■President Bush created a Medicare drug entitlement that will cost an estimated $800 billion in its first decade. President Obama has proposed a $634 billion down payment on a new government health care fund.
■President Bush increased federal education spending 58 percent faster than inflation. President Obama would double it.
■President Bush became the first President to spend 3 percent of GDP on federal antipoverty programs. President Obama has already increased this spending by 20 percent.
■President Bush tilted the income tax burden more toward upper-income taxpayers. President Obama would continue that trend.
■President Bush presided over a $2.5 trillion increase in the public debt through 2008. Setting aside 2009 (for which Presidents Bush and Obama share responsibility for an additional $2.6 trillion in public debt), President Obama’s budget would add $4.9 trillion in public debt from the beginning of 2010 through 2016.
For more info: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/
By
Irritable Canadian, at 10:18 a.m.
With all the legitimate facts and numbers that damn their opponents, it always amazes me how partisans decide to embellish and exaggerate instead.
It's totally not necessary. The truth reflects badly enough on your opponents - stop making $hit up!
By
Robert Vollman, at 10:33 a.m.
"a lot of the stimulus was Bush's, that Obama just followed through on"
I think anyone who looks at the numbers will disagree, as does Obama the Candidate, here.
But how did we move so quickly from the ALP to this particular juncture?
By
Paul, at 5:08 p.m.
Even one of the Liberals own is saying they're irrelevent. 'nuf said. Thanks for the clarity Mr. Lovett.
By
Anonymous, at 11:08 p.m.
What a stupid ad, particularly since the Tories under Klein vanquished deficits AND debt. Moreover, I wonder who they are targeting - it certainly ain't the average voter.
Average people don't know what a "fiscal conservative" is. When Canadians were asked to place parties on a right-left scale, few did so accurately. Canadians have a weak understanding of ideology, because our politics is really about regionalism (something you notice when you talk to people outside the chattering class).
Also, by comparing Klein to US presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers, who have much larger deficits, they actually make Stelmach's deficit (which they inflated) look smaller.
By
french wedding cat, at 4:32 a.m.
This is excellent strategy. The Liberals are hoping to legitimize the WRA by attacking them.
Remember, the WRA is a young and inexperienced party, who likely will have serious struggles in the coming months.
On the federal level, politicians have consistantly attempted to ignore fringe parties for fear of giving them legitimacy.
The Alberta Liberals are attempting to help the WRA gain legitimacy, thereby splitting the vote.
The more the Liberals attack the WRA, the more the WRA looks like a legitimate frontrunning party.
This is obviously a dangerous strategy for the Liberals. If the WRA builds too much momentum, the Liberals will be hard pressed to stop them...
The WRA could respond by attacking the Liberals, and ignoring the PC's. I imagine the WRA would gain by removing the PC's from attention. Unfortunately for the Liberals the WRA will be content to simply attack the PC's, while the Liberals give legitimacy to the WRA in the hopes of splitting the right.
What will in fact happen is the PC's will be ignored, and the WRA will look like a party capable of governing. The liberals will look like a weak and aggressive fringe.
By
Anonymous, at 7:11 p.m.
Who do the Alberta Liberals think they will win over with this ridiculous video? Attacking Ronald Reagan? The people included in the video are all individuals that most Alberta have voted for, or in the case of Danielle Smith, will vote for. This video speaks volumes about why the ALP is in such trouble. Good grief.
By
John Murney, at 3:59 a.m.
Post a Comment
<< Home