{"id":2838,"date":"2011-01-17T13:20:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=2838"},"modified":"2011-01-17T13:20:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T18:20:00","slug":"just-to-be-clear-we-really-dont-like-michael-ignatieff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=2838","title":{"rendered":"Just to be clear – we really don’t like Michael Ignatieff"},"content":{"rendered":"

According the Conservatives, Michael Ignatieff’s cross-country tour is a sign he wants to plunge the country into a divisive election, something Stephen Harper has consistently opposed ever since September 2008. So the Conservatives have responded the way they respond to, well, anything<\/em> – by launching a new round of remixed Just Visiting attack ads.<\/p>\n

So let’s take a look at the 6 English ads up on the Conservative Party website<\/a> – tomorrow, I’ll break down the 4 French ads<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This video starts with shots of economic uncertainty and rioting in a third world country (or perhaps Toronto) to show it’s a dangerous world. We then see Stephen Harper, in glasses, seriously reading papers and hard at work. After all, being PM is a serious job and we need a serious leader – one who is “here for Canada”. <\/p>\n

On the whole, the ad has a positive message, touting Stephen Harper’s record in office and giving voters a reason to vote for him. So, of course, it will never <\/em>air on TV. <\/p>\n

Now, let’s look at the trash that you will <\/em>see on TV:<\/p>\n

Coalition<\/strong>: Michael Ignatieff wants to form a coalition<\/a> with the separatists and socialists? And Jack Layton too<\/a>? Why hasn’t anyone warned me about this before?!?!? I feel like some of the money wasted on H1N1 awareness ads last year should have been spent to let Canadians know about this dastardly threat.<\/p>\n

Taxes<\/strong>: Michael Ignatieff wants to raise taxes<\/a>. But not the good kind of tax increase, like the hike in EI premiums<\/a> Jim Flaherty is bringing in. Ignatieff is proposing bad tax increases, like a hike in the GST or a carbon tax. Except he’s not so much “proposing” them as kind of musing three years ago about not ruling them out.<\/p>\n

Ignatieff Canada<\/strong>: Again, we find out that Michael Ignatieff likes Algonquin Park<\/a> and has said some not-so-great things about Canada in the past. It’s really “Just Visiting” with a new tag – “he didn’t come back for you<\/em>“. Which I think just underscores why it’s important for Ignatieff to offer a clear vision and explain why he wants to be Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Ignatieff America<\/strong>: Turns out Michael Ignatieff loves America<\/a>. Unlike Stephen Harper<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Overall, it’s hard to say much about these ads that hasn’t been said before because, well, we’ve seen these ads before. As trashy as they are, there wasn’t a huge backlash to them the first time around, so I wouldn’t expect one now. They worked before, so I would expect them to work again.<\/p>\n

Until Ignatieff defines himself better, Harper will gladly do it for him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According the Conservatives, Michael Ignatieff’s cross-country tour is a sign he wants to plunge the country into a divisive election, something Stephen Harper has consistently opposed ever since September 2008. So the Conservatives have responded the way they respond to, well, anything – by launching a new round of remixed Just Visiting attack ads. So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}