Ricki Bobbi

The Conservatives could present an unpalatable budget and force an election, but they won't. Harper won't get into majority territory between now and budget day. He doesn't want an election unless he can win a majority.

Ahhh, there is the rub. The Conservative Party of Canada spending its own money on contrast ads is completely separate from Government. They are not spending Government money to run these ads and nobody is accusing them of doing so. Yes, it is politics. How is this change going to come about? Seriously, Canada probably has some of the cleanest campaign finance laws in the developed world. You are never going to see all the major parties adopt the high road purely for human nature. The winner is always the one who plays smartest, works the hardest and gets their vote out. Taking the morale high ground when your opposition doesn't is not smart...

Of course not. It's all a stupid attempt by the Liberals to get the Conservatives scared. Look at how scared Martin was for most of that minority he ran. Harper is a much stronger leader, and will be able to keep control over his caucus.

Politics are always about us versus them. Why haven't the Liberals, or NDP, or Bloc declared they won't campaign negatively? You feel sorry for me? Why I thank you for your pity? wtf? Yes, I feel I understand the current level of politics and believe Prime Minister Harper is doing a great job. And will continue doing so after the next election. There is no way the budget gets voted down. Guaranteed the Conservatives will get support from the NDP on this budget.

Sending a copy of the final report to somebody is far different than giving them access to your full set of books. Something tells me the new contrast ads will bring the nightmare of Liberal corruption back to the forefront of everybody's mind...

I'm going to guess at what you were trying to say. You feel the CPC is running contrast ads because they were weak on the environment last year? Hmmm, well no. They are running the contrast ads because they want to win a majority. Is one guaranteed? No. Is this a move in that direction? Yes.

This would be the line the Liberals stepped over repeatedly to stay in power for 13 years? Canadian and US politics is filled with failures who tried to take the political high ground. George McGovern, Michael Dukakis, John Kerry, Robert Stanfield, Preston Manning etc, etc, etc... We will *always be mired in this crap* because it would take everybody taking the high ground at once. Why don't we do this? Have the Liberals take the high ground in the next election and see how successful it is for them? Moral victories are for chumps!

Wow, very interesting..... Uhhh, there are those of us in the Conservative Party that aren't that hardcore. Like 99% of us.

You somehow see this as the CPC running to be opposition? Jean Chretien won three straight majorities by running against his opponents record or potential *scary* *scary* *scary*. Methinks you are just upset because the CPC is emulating that success and Dion has to bust his butt to defend himself instead of doing his own attacking...

The Conservatives won't go after Dion's looks. He ain't *that* funny looking. Had the PCs not issued those Jean Chretien ads in 1993 they would have held onto party status. Harper is too smart to repeat that mistake.

And the Liberals have hammered him repeatedly with them. Lack of agression with contrast ads is what cost the Conservatives the 2004 election. Win or lose it won't be because the Conservatives have allowed themselves to be defined by the Opposition.

Good link. Definitely worth keeping an eye on for the upcoming numbers. I'll bet by week five they aren't even getting 300,000 viewers.

Scroller-coaster Paul Wells said it best about contrast ads on his blog today. Anybody taking offence to the Conservatives for running these ads really needs to look at the recent history of political advertising in Canada.

The Government has been involved in healthcare for a long time. The Canada Health Act was passed in 1984. Does it really make any sense to have National standards in an area of provincial responsibility? Your second question doesn't make any sense. Please clarify?

How did the joke bash anyone? When did you lose your sense of humour - or did you ever have one? The joke was just stupid. Typical response Saturn, good work. 1. You falsely misprepresented the issue with Little Mosque. It is terrible. I bashed it because I knew it would be terrible. Had any of the redneck jokes on that show been about natives you would have gone on and on and on. 2. You missed the main argument of the thread, i.e. waste of taxpayer dollars....

Again with the changing standards. Any reason you picked Top 15 out of the air? Could it be that the show was 14th? If the trend keeps up you will have to move your line to top 30 next week, top 45 the week after. And so on, and so on, and so on...

There is negative and honest, and negative and dishonest. The tories might be the former, the Liberals are certainly the latter (soldiers, with guns, in our streets). And there is another level below which is advertising which is potentially damaging to Canada, but done anyway because you hope it is good for your party. That is something only the Liberals do. That negative and dishonest sums up all of jdobbin's points exactly. His standards for the Conservatives are ever-changing. Always moving so that the Conservatives just can't meet them. Poor, poor Harper-haters.

They wouldn't give $1.14 million to their *friends* through the sponsorship program. They haven't.

Are you calling the ads indecent and immoral? A little bit of histrionics me thinks...

Exactly. After 13 years of Liberal rule because the conservative minded parties took the morale high road, the CPC should not use ads that point out prolems with their opponents? Why even have elections? Let's just name the Liberals dictators for life?

Exactly. Children really shouldn't be treated as commodities.

It is good. Dion has flip-flopped so much in his almost two months as leader you gotta keep it fresh in people's minds. My favourite flip-flop was on his French citizenship.

Wow, there is a lot of anger there. Are children really a commodity like any other in your mind? That's really the only way your argument for specialization works in this case...

No, because that would be inappropriate and evidence of Conservatives bias against Quebec.

You'll have to show me the negative ads. Interesting how you have already called the Conservatives ads as negative without seeing them, but you have to see the Liberals negative TV ads as proof of their content? Any reason for the double-standard?