Easy lads, dial it down a notch

Back in the summer, I urged the Liberal caucus to find its stones and start providing a passionate, forceful opposition. I’m pleased to say that this fall they’ve done exactly that. Their performance has improved markedly. They’ve really been taking it to the Harper Conservatives, and I think it has paid dividends. But they need to be careful not to overdo it.

There’s a line between forceful, passionate opposition and going overboard and becoming slightly cartoonish. Cross it and you look silly, people start not to listen to your legitimate points, and you let the government off the hook. Lately, I fear that line is being crossed from time to time.

Take yesterday’s QP, where the dominating topic was Harper’s manufactured dispute with China and his world debut as the first Canadian PM in history to have ever heard of human rights. Definitely lots of ground for strong opposition here, we should take it to the Cons on this issue.

I think Bill Graham was a bit over the top at times though. Like when he said Harper scored a “big fat zero” making headway on getting consular access for a jailed Canadian in China, that Harper is “dangerously driven by preconceptions, deceptions, self-delusions and arrogance” or when he called Harper “a laughingstock.”

Then there was the environmental conference in Africa, where John Godfrey and a BQ MP went over to shadow enviro minister Rona Ambrose and remind people she doesn’t speak for all, or even most, Canadians. A fine idea. Forceful opposition. But “openly mocking” Ambrose during press conferences, laughing out loud while quoting her policies, and calling her positions “idiotic” and “ridiculous” crosses the line and isn’t particularly useful.

I’m not saying any of the points raised in these two examples aren’t true. I think they are. It’s HOW you make the point. This kind of vitrol only serves to distract attention from the legitimate points of our arguments, letting the government off the hook, as the focus instead becomes the attacks themselves, and their tenor. People also tune-out, writing it off as politics as usual.

Draw attention to the issue. Make the point clearly and forcefully, without vitriol and name-calling, and then let the people decide. Particularly as the government begins to step it in more and more in the months ahead. It’s the oldest rule of politics: when your opponent is screwing-up, stay out of the way and let them.

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