A political strategist of some experience once described the cardinal rule of political advertising to be STAND BY YOUR AD.
So I found it amusing to read this transcript, as Prime Minister Stephen Joseph Harper not only didn't stand by his ad, but seemed to want to get out of the same room as his ad as quickly as possible, 'lest he contract some sort of communicable disease.
Away, dammed ad, begone!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Stand by your ad
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4 comments:
The PM understood the question perfectly fine. It is the interviewer who obviously had comprehension problems with the answer he was getting. He just didn't get the answer he was looking for.
Why would the PM have to explain Ignatieff's own words as outlined in those ads? They are pretty self-explanatory, as he said. Everyone knows what they mean. When Ignatieff says "it is just as much your country (USA) as it is mine", there is nothing to take out of context - he is calling the USA his country.
I know its uncomfortable to have to face the things Ignatieff himself said. Harper also had to face this. And the Liberals were jstu as ruthless in that pursuit.
Video here.
There's just got to be a youtube counter-ad in there somewhere!
Michael, we seem to have different interpretations of the interview, and you seem to have misunderstood the point of my post.
The PM understood the question just fine, he just didn't want to answer it. And the interviewer understood that, and wasn't going to let him off the hook.
Trying to explain or disprove what Ignatieff said or didn't say isn't the point, that wasn't what the interviewer was asking, and you're dodging that point. What he was asking was if Harper agreed with the thesis of the ads. The ads raise the issue of Ignatieff's time out of the country, and question the sincerity (and duration) of his commitment to Canada.
The interviewer asked Harper repeatedly if he shared the view of the ads, did Harper agree Ignatieff's motives were suspect, did he agree he's just visiting, did he agree that spending a length of time outside the country impair's one's ability to lead?
In essence, he was asking Harper, again and again, do you agree with the attack raised in your ads? Do you stand by your party's ads?
All he had to say was yes, of course I do, they're my party's ads and they raise fair issues. But he dodged and weaved. He refused to validate what has been the central attack line against the Liberal leader by his party for months.
My point isn't at all about whether the ads are fair or not, that's another debate. My point was why was Harper backing away from his own ads, and the talking points that have been repeatedly parroted by every party surrogate religiously for some time now?
Interesting that Horkov seems to think this interviewer had comprehension problems. I'm sure he was stating the exact same thing about 8.5 months ago...
Context means nothing to these CONs. Apparently, we're all just members of a second-tier socialist country that has a culture of defeat about us.
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