Day 5 Gaffe Alert!

A small Harper gaffe about a Harper gaffe but symbolic for how the campaign has gone so far for the Conservatives.

Little problems being compounded on other little problems. That's been the story of their campaign. They whole tenure as government, in fact.



{Video by HarperMiscue}

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No Questions so PM Can Play Ping Pong?

Not taking questions on local matters? Not supporting your own local candidate's "promise" of federal funding? Reprimanding veterans who volunteer their time on your own campaign? Cutting off questions so you can go for a photo op playing ping pong? Is that a way to conduct a job interview or to connect to Canadians?

This is a small local story but very telling. The over-the-top control and national "bubble" campaign is quickly becoming a side story the Conservatives would rather not have, especially in the first week of the campaign when Ignatieff is quickly closing the gap.

Here's the video. The transcript and details follow below. The really interesting bit comes at about the 3:00 mark.



The story was about a local Conservative candidate advocating on local issues and promising to bring federal funding for an overpass to ease traffic congestion. He's made that promise for the last three elections.

So the feisty local reporter, Shachi Kurl of AiChannel News, asked Harper about this local/national issue and whether the Prime Minister supported his own candidate's promise. Harper totally dodged the question naturally.

And that's when the reporting starts to get interesting.

Shachi Kurl (reporting): We would have liked to ask the Prime Minister a little, OK, a lot more about these issues, but local reporters were told by the national campaign 'Sorry, only time for one local question.' Harper had to go. He was off to a photo op... playing ping pong. [...]

Hudson Mack: Shachi Kurl joins us now with more. Shachi, there's been criticism of the Conservatives in the past for running a so-called "bubble" campaign, very tightly controlled. Describe your experience with the Prime Minister today.

SK: Well, Hudson, the event that we showed you just now was in Saanich, but myself and other local based media were told to report to a hotel in Sydney at 8 am. We then sat around for an hour. We weren't told how many events were planned. We weren't told where we were going. Only that we had to go by bus. And when we were finally able to pry a little bit of information out of a local volunteer, a retired veteran no less, I watched as a young staffer reprimanded this man for just a snippet of how the morning went. I'll leave our viewers to draw their own conclusions, Hudson.

The Harper campaign has made it very clear that they think a reporter is biased if they don't kowtow to their talking points. They've made a big deal about "going beyond" the mainstream media "directly to the local media". And this is how they do it? It ain't workin' folks.

{Video by ANewsVanIsland}

h/t RedTory

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"You people"?

Specifically targetting certain (not all) ethnic groups has its risks. But I suppose the idea is that they have commonalities with your social conservative agenda, right?

So is referring to them as "you people" enhancing that sense of commonality or making them feel more alienated and not one of "us"? If Harper isn't sure, he can always ask Ross Perot or the NAACP. Or Robert Downey Jr.:



Since this came from Harper himself, RevMod is giving this the maximum "prominence" gaffe score.

A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.

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"You deserve a lot better"

"You deserve a lot better for the government you pay for."

I like the tag line. Doesn't work on a poster or bumper sticker but it sums up the themes nicely.



{Video by LiberalVideo}

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Reintroducing... Liberal Video Depot

"Do you remember that video by GritGirl about job losses?"
"Didn't Jeff Jedras post a video about all of Harper's tax increases?"
"Anyone have a link to that video comparing Harper to Nixon?"

If you've ever tried to find a video or ad or Rick Mercer rant, you probably know the frustration of trying to plough through dozens of links and videos and archives and blogs trying to find just the right one. We're here to help.

With The Stephen Harper Goververnment^TM being found in contempt - the first time ever in the British Commonwealth - and losing the confidence of the House, we thought it was a good time to re-introduce this site and what is about.

This site has been set up as a depot for all of the great videos being put together by liberals and progressives.

No longer do you have to go google hunting for some video you missed or remember from long ago. From now on, you should be able to find it here. Over the past couple of years, we've collected all of the most notable Liberal ads, independent ads and videos, and a big dose of Rick Mercer.

Feel free to browse around and to send us suggestions of videos we're missing. While this is a Canadian political site, we welcome videos from US politics and anywhere else if they are good, interesting or something we can all learn from. We will also be posting some of the better and more interesting political advertisements out there.

Come back lots, because we intend to update this site regularly. And feel more than free to send us links to new videos or ads, or even old videos from campaigns past.

Happy campaigning to one and all!

EnoughHarper - "They'll Go Negative"

From a week or so ago, this clever video again using Stephen Harper's own words from 2006 to hang himself in 2011. And it is so deadly accurate.


But let's be a bit more up-to-date and detailed. Here is the Conservative ad updated:

When you've been in power for twelve five long years.

When your party has and 4 of your most senior party members including 2 senators have been named in a judicial criminal investigation into corruption and election fraud and three separate RCMP investigations are underway.

When scandals continue to engulf your government.

What message could you possibly take to the people of Canada.

"PM plans negative campaign"

On January 23rd As quickly as damn possible, let's do something positive.

{Video by EnoughHarper}

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EnoughHarper - What Else is He Hiding?

What else is the Government of Canada The Harper Government^TM and its scandal-a-day operations hiding?


{Video by EnoughHarper}

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"Demand Better." In his own words.

Brilliant.

The Liberals could run a whole campaign just using Harper's own words on accountability or even their own ads from the 2006 election.



{Video by enoughharper}

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Dr. Seuss Comments on Bev Oda and the PMO

When the government acts this ridiculous about important matters, sometimes ridicule is the only way to address them. And what better to ridicule with than borrowing a little Dr. Seuss.


The last line is the killer.

{Video by LiberalVideo}

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Bev Oda's Resignation Letter { not } Leaked!!!

This astonishing letter was leaked to me by an anonymous "friend" who is an "advisor", "conservative" (when it comes to playing defence in hockey) and is regretfully considered "senior" by some (and therefore a "senior conservative advisor who wishes to remain anonymous" in media parlance).



Sure seems pretty genuine to me!


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Stephen Harper... < insert "NOT" here >...

According to the Conservative Party, doctoring a government document by inserting the word "NOT" after it has been signed so that it means the opposite of what was intended and recommended is entirely "routine".

Right.

Some might wonder about the forgery offences in the Criminal Code of Canada, but not this "law and order" party. Once again, folks, Conservative principles don't apply to Conservatives. Or apparently, maybe, Bev Oda's ministerial powers to manipulate words allows her to insert the word "NOT" into criminal laws as well?

But taking inspiration from Ms Oda's odious act, as well as the KAIROS is "NOT" going away t-shirts and this creation, where else can we go?

NOT - Standing Up For Canada



NOT - Honest



NOT - Accountable



NOT - A Leader



NOT - Fiscally Responsible



Let me know if you want the code for those labels and I'll send it to you.

Stephen Harper: "We need to raise taxes"

Stephen Harper: "We need to raise taxes."



Quite the little tax cutter we have in Stephen Harper. Let's see the record:

raised income taxes in his first month in office

taxed income trusts in his first year despite his explicit promise not to, causing seniors and investors to lose millions and millions, including life savings

added a job killing payroll tax increase

added an air tax that Harper had promised to eliminate because it was "crippling the industry"

Harper Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, the one who said a GST cut was a pretty dumb idea, said he "would never presume to say never to a tax increase".

Stephen Harper: "We need to raise taxes."

All this from a guy who said he would never increase taxes. Is there anything Harper says that you can trust or believe?

{Video by JJedras}

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Liberals respond to latest Harper attack ads

... in the most appropriate of ways: channeling Jonathan Swift.



{Video by Laurence}

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How Harper Manipulates the News

A slightly long but good selection of examples of some of the lengths Stephen Harper has gone in shielding himself and his government from media scrutiny:



So much for accountability. This from the party that relies far more heavily on taxpayer dollars and gets a share of political subsidies far in excess of its democratic support.

This video is from Emily Dee, the woman behind "The Army of Us" campaign and "Pushed to the Left and Loving It" blog. As the video notes at the end:

"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."
Is this really your Canada?
Are you tired of living under a news blackout?
Join the Army of Us's
The We's
The 2/3 of Canadians who did not vote for this government
And are sharing the stories the media is not allowed to share
It won't cost you a dime
Just your voice and your vote
Are you in?

And Harper's PMO media army that is replacing public media access to our government, does not come cheap. Not only has the PMO budget increased by over 30% over the last two years while he talks about the need for spending restraint and tells the rest of us to save, not only does he spend a record $140 million on advertising during a recession as the deficit exploded (with nearly 100 million taxpayer dollars just on the self-promoting "Economic Action Plan" ads), not only does the PMO spend nearly $1 million alone on merely distributing its press releases, but Harper is he spending millions of taxpayer dollars just to monitor the media.

{Video by EmilyDee1}

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Lawless Government

This is making the rounds and well worth watching... and archiving at Liberal Video Depot for posterity (and for anyone who is trying to find it later on, like during an election!). If you have a good video, send it to me.



Junius: "The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures."

Mark Twain: "True patriotism means to love your country always but to love your Government only conditionally."

{Video by 23January2010}

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"I don't like Stephen Harper" - An Anthem

Say Anything Steve is truly a uniter, bringing Canadians from all walks of life and all parts of the country together... in opposition.

Here's a bunch of Canadians on the streets singing what could become a rousing anthem for the next election.



{Video by ceejayessee}

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The Ballad of Steve and Tony

Here's another take on the Boondoggle Bay and Stephen Harper's incredible growing G20 waste.

{Video by sprawlville}

If you see any other creative attempts at ridiculing this ridiculous waste of money, please let me know.

For what it is worth, here's my version, penned a couple of days ago:

If I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd buy you a summit - I would buy you a summit
And if I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
I'd buy you a photo op for your summit - maybe a nice landscape or a waterfront
And if I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd buy you a steamboat - a nice old fixer-upper
And if I had a billion dollars I'd buy your vote.

If I had a billion dollars
I'd build a gazebo in our yard
If I had a billion dollars
You could help, it wouldn't be that hard
If I had a billion dollars
Maybe we could put like a $200,000 toilet in there somewhere.

If I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd buy you a Muskoka lake - but not a real Muskoka lake, that's cruel
And if I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd shut down a city - yep, like a Toronto or a Huntsville
And if I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd buy you Lyin’ Bryan's remains - ooh, all them crazy jowel bones
And if I had a billion dollars I'd buy your vote.

If I had a billion dollars
We wouldn't have to walk to the store
If I had a billion dollars
We'd take a limousine 'cause it costs more
If I had a billion dollars
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner
[Ed note: really, what would you change in that verse? It’s perfect as is.]

If I had a billion dollars - If I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd buy you a sidewalk - but not a real sidewalk going somewhere, that's cruel
And if I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd buy you some vid - a Sony or a Jumbo
If I had a billion dollars - if I had a billion dollars
Well, I'd buy you a monkey – I have so many monkeys to spare
If I had a billion dollars I'd buy your vote.

If I had a billion dollars, if I had a billion dollars
If I had a billion dollars, if I had a billion dollars
If I had a billion dollars left, we'd be rich.

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G20 Boondoggle Ballads - Now With Video!

The G20 boondoggle has had at least some good results: it has certainly sparked some creative work out here in the blogosphere.

I dug into my inner Barenaked Lady and penned a quick take on this called "If I Had A Billion Dollars". But Mike Watkins' "The Wreck of the Conservative Party", inspired by Susan Delacourt's twitter call for Edmund Fitzgerald spin-offs, is brilliant and must be read.

But now JimBobbySez has taken it a step further by putting together an audio/video recording of "The Ballad of Fake Lake", also inspired by Gordon Lightfoot's classic ballad.


{Video by jimbobbysez}

As the saying goes, you are in big trouble when they stop screaming at you and start laughing at you.

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It's not what you know, it's who you know

Mercer's rant on Harper's double standard based on his positions on Flaherty sneaking out of the budget announcement without answering question to fly out on taxpayer dollars for a photo op at Tim Hortons, announcing an "austerity" budget while quietly increaseing the Privy Council budget by $13,000,000 (that's $250,000 per week, something I did not know) and Guergis.

So that rant comes before some more recent double standards:
- Jaffer's wrist slap for cocaine possession and DUI, 25 months after he introduced a mandatory minimum sentence bill

- an austerity budget but then voting in favour of taxpayers paying for partisan propaganda with the 10%ers and other savings which would save up to $20 million a year and then saying, even though the motion passed, they will ignore it

- promises in his election campaigns to make MPs and Parliament stronger while he contemptuously ignores and defies (1) a Parliamentary subpoena to produce detainee documents, (2) a Parliamentary motion to cancel 10%ers, and (3) a Parliamentary motion requiring approval of Parliament before prorogation


{Video by MercerReport}

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Tom Brokaw Explains Canada To Americans

Here's a really great short video narrated by Tom Brokaw for US television on Canadian-US relations and history. There are some really great moments in there, like the hosting of stranded Americans during 9/11 and the incredible natural resources and landscapes that we share.

We have our differences and they are important, but there are no two countries that are more alike and whose people are more alike. We deride and undervalue that relationship to our own detriment. We overhype it and think it defines us to our erasure.

Much better to use the Olympics to promote a positive good, then to use the Olympics for petty partisan gain.

{Video by j940651}
h/t
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