Every so often, someone in media exposes their cultural bigotry towards the rural west. I just sent a letter to Mr. Martin.
Mr. Martin – as a lifetime resident of the rural prairies, I cannot adequately explain how abhorrant these cultural slurs (“prairie knuckledraggers”) towards our lifestyle and values are becoming.
“Knuckledragger. Redneck.”
For reasons unexplained, these are the favoured terms of elitist politicians and media alike, when referring to those who have committed the “crime” of adhering to the conservative values that have been the mainstay of rural culture since the founding of our nation.
Yet, to you, we are someone that “mainstream Canadians” should fear – indeed, something less than fully human. We are “knuckledraggers”.
(Let me ask you – when writing about an immigrant politician in Toronto, would you refer to those in their community as “spearchuckers”?)
You are devaluing our culture, you are demeaning an entire class of Canadians and in so doing, suggesting we do not deserve a voice in the political process.
I suggest that you owe a great number of Canadians a sincere apology. You may not agree with conservative rural values, but you have no right to dehumanize those who hold them.
Kate McMillan
update – May 30 Don Martin replies;
I can’t believe I’ve been so misunderstood by so many readers. Apologies
indeed for not communicating better. I was attempting to belittle the stereotype, which seems so ingrained around here in Ontario, of Prairie residents somewhere low on the evolutionary chain. They’re anything but . And I know that as someone who in Alberta (rural for part of the time) for 22 years. I only moved here reluctantly five years ago and will return eagerly at the first opportunity.
Again, apologies.
Well, I’ll take him at his word. But if the stereotype was being “belittled”, it was with a good measure of subtlety, considering that suggestion that certain politicians try to distance themselves from it.
I’d rather they attack it for what it is.
In general, Don Martin is quite sympathetic to Harper. If you listened to CFRA Wednesday morning, you would have heard Martin’s exasperation. Basically, he was saying “What does this guy have to break through to you idiotic Ontario voters !!??@#$”
I understand that. However, it doesn’t solve the problem. Conservatives are hammered by the left for every percieved inappropriate usage of language, while they continue to dehumanize conservatives with these offensive terms (quite a different matter than the self-deprecating way we may use them ourselves.)
It’s time to start holding them to their own standards, and even sympathetic media have to be made aware of the trap they are falling into when they use these sorts of terms.
I must have thick skin and have been conditioned for all this. They’ve been calling us all sorts of things over the years and I never really paid attention until you brought it up.
Let’s just say, they wouldn’t want to meet me on the street and discuss there statements with me to my face. There real brave when there 2500 miles away.
Dear Kate:
Of course I wouldn’t refer to an immigrant politician as a “spearchucker”. How could he chuck a spear when his knuckles are dragging?
Sincerely,
Don Martin
The success of propaganda is readily apparent when even a notionally Conservative supporter such as Mr. Newman still uses the emotionally loaded words without even thinking about it.
Kate I am so glad you did that. I emailed him yesterday after he appeared on Countdown with Duffy.
They had a United Church Minister on there, pro same sex marriage and Craig Chandler against.They argues back and forth but when it was over Martin said well Chandler is on the fringe anyway blah blah.
The whole thing was a set up to show that if you are agains SSM then you must be on the fringe. I almost threw my cup at the tv set. I sent both he and Duffy an email. Alot of good that did. But with you emailing him Kate he may stand up and take notice.
Who is Don Martin, and why should I care what he calls me?
If this guy think’s he’s a journalist, I suggest he check his creds again.
Rednecks fine, but knuckledraggers? Get a grip Mr. Martin.
Thanks Kate for pointing this out. I don’t subscribe to this outfit so I miss out on their editorial content. Not that I feel that I’m missing anything.
Oh great… another Rob, that’s all we need… 😉
Jay, now that’s funny… here we are all depressed and you come in and lighten it up… Thanks!
Occaissionally Don writes not too bad a column. To often though, he just sinks into default mode and tosses out the old backward West, stumbling Conservative angle. Nice easy column, doesn’t break a sweat, eastern based publishers lap it up and the Ontario readership opinions are confirmed.
He did so again today in the National Post. An article heavy on the mistakes that Harper and the Conservatives continually make, why they can’t get elected, and what they need to do to improve themselves so that they may realize the elusive Ontario breakthrough.
Same old, same old. Heard it before with Manning. Preston took the advice and did the extreme makeover and … nothing.
While I think that often columns of that nature are self fullfilling prophecies (and great fodder for the left) I am beggining to wonder if it would make a difference if Conservatives and Harper were to get the fair shake they deserve from the media.
I don’t think it matters what the Liberals get caught or convicted of doing. Whole party is caught on tape taking mass bribes and diverting the funds to Syria to support terrorist activities in Iraq? Wouldn’t matter.
Harper comes out, admits he’s gay, moves farther to the left than the NDP, thumbs his nose at the Americans and gets the entire Party membership to endorse the direction as “a great new beginning”? Wouldn’t matter.
The majority of the electorate in Ontario is afraid, and unwilling, to elect a Western leader. Plain and simple.
Install anyone from the East as Conservative leader and the Ontario electorate will begin to warm up a little. Put the right Easterner backed by the right power brokers and you would see Ontario open their arms.
For they would then know that the status quo would not change. Ontario would maintain its status and control over the rest of the country.
Just imagine the credibility that Belinda would have bestowed on the Conservative party had they been smart enough to elect her leader (While that statement drips with sarcasm in the West, the East is nodding its collective head in vigourous agreement)
At the end of the day, what is most important to Ontarians is that they remain in the catbird seat, regardless of what it does to the rest of the nation. Those who pander to this reality are richly rewarded.
Good for you Kate. Before minds can be changed they must first be opened (or so says this son of a prairie farm girl)
Martin can be as condescending as anybody, but with those comments about Chandler, he was OBVIOUSLY trying to aid and distance Harper from Chandler.
Please give credit where credit is due, it was actually one of the few times recently that I viewed Don Martin in a positive light.
Anyone who wants to read the article in its entirety just go to http://www.bourque.org, I believe it’s still posted, probably the 3rd or 4th article down. While you’re there, you may want to read the article that follows. According to Rheal Seguin of the G & M, a poll recently conducted shows that Canadians aren’t really that scared of Stephen Harper, it’s the whole Conservative agenda that spooks them. Kate, I couldn’t agree with you more. When I read that article first thing this morning, my blood immediately began to boil. Irresponsible journalists in this country do as much if not more to advance the Western Separatist cause than any politican could ever do.
I have stopped caring what these people think – and I am from Ontario, but now I’m an Albertan leaning very heavily to being an Alberta separatist.
Kytem2: Obviously you didnt see Duffys program in the same light I did. They bring on a United Church Minister to argue for SSM and Craig Chandler against. When they are finished the debate and I still dont know what Chandler said that wasnt true, but Martin paints him as an extremist. The next thing out of Duffy, is why does Harper surround himself with people like that. So when those two are finished the editorializing, a viewer comes away feeling like the conservatives are extremist and so is anyone who opposes SSM.
Ward;
You are 100% correct. The policies of the CPC are not the problem. It is the terrifing thought that Ontario may lose control of this country. Guess what? It’s happening, like it or not. The economic engines that drive this nation are gradually moving WEST. Without equal political voice to match our economic contribution Western Canada has no place in this federation.
Why Don Martin is wrong
Don Martin of the Calgary Herald offers some friendly advice to his preferred Prime Ministerial candidate in his latest column. Most of what he says is, though trivial, correct. Stephen Harper should…
Hit the summer barbecue circuit hard
St…
Stephen Harper was born and bred in Burlington, Ontario.
Are you saying now that Ontario Liberals fear one of their own?
I wrote him a letter, too… for real. Same old same old from me… maybe one of these guys will actually make note of it one day.
********
Mr. Martin,
I just read your column on Stephen Harper and for the most part, I agree.
Especially your point about people having tuned out the Gomery mess…. except for Quebeckers, of course. If Harper plans to whine to Ontarians about Liberal corruption through the next election, he will take a huge beating.
I would, however, add one more thing he should be doing… and I can’t believe no one else sees it….
For the first time in a generation, the Conservatives are actually on the right side of the ‘national unity’ issue.
Harper’s main problem is that the people of Ontario don’t know it. The media doesn’t seem to know it. And from what I can see, Harper and his people don’t see it.
Every indication I’ve seen out of Quebec is that people are furious at the Liberals for making them all look like crooks. There is a real question as to whether any Liberals will be elected there in the next vote, so strong is their rage at being humiliated and embarrassed by the Liberals. Further, a big Liberal win in Ontario would drive a wedge between Ontario and Quebec that could see a lot more people vote to separate in the next referendum… out of spite against the Liberals.
The bottom line in all of this is that the Conservatives ‘own’ the national unity issue. In a speech a few weeks ago, former Ontario Premier Bill Davis said the most important issue facing the country right now is national unity. David Peterson drilled the same message into our heads. And we believe it.
I listen to radio call-in shows and I talk ‘politics’ with friends all the time… and I’m shocked to hear the same message repeated over and over…. “I don’t care how much the Liberals stole… they will keep the country together….”
This is 100% wrong, given what the people of Quebec are saying.
It is Stephen Harper’s biggest failure that he has yet to make the people of Ontario aware of what their support for the Liberals could mean to Canada. The Conservatives need ammunition to wage this war. They should immediately commission a poll of Quebeckers: “Would you be more likely to vote “yes” in the next referendum if the Liberals win the next federal election?”
My hunch is that the result would be around 75%… such is the level of anger in Quebec.
At that point, Stephen Harper should forget about Liberal corruption… because whether Ontario’s money goes to pay Maritimers ‘not’ to fish, or to pay for nutty projects in Iqaluit, or is passed across a table in Montreal in an envelope…. we don’t care. Ontario accepts that the price of national unity is their continued willingness to dish out billions to grease the wheels everywhere else.
Ontario cares about National Unity. Not for any great love for Quebec, but because the break-up of the country would hurt us worse than it does to dish out $23 billion a year to keep everyone happy.
Stephen Harper’s biggest problem is that he owns the one issue that matters to Ontario… and he’s not intelligent enough to know it. He needs to let the people of Ontario know that every Liberal vote is fertilizer for their nightmare. A big Liberal win in the next election could very likely be the last straw in the eyes of Quebec.
Have a good day,
My point was that Martin tried to distance Chandler from Harper. Do you agree or not ?
PS, Duffy is a LIBERAL SHILL. He is deserving of 0 respect, I would spit in his face if I met him on the street.
It is getting more and more (could you use the word treasonous) scary the way this Government is “Laundering” the news.It seems they are able to deflect every bit of bad news and some how implicate Harper and the CPC.
Money Laundering and News Laundering I guess you could just call it “MARTINIZING”
If you can’t censor the truth, you shoot the messenger. Failing that you label him as inept. Failing that, you commence to make up stories.�All in day’s work for for a socialist.
Lester B. Pearson
I think the most depressing thing about your letter and the related posting is – I read that same article this morning and vaguely remember rolling my eyes at the slur. I guess it’s like profanity – you see it often enough, you don’t even notice.
Re: My Pearson quote – the socialist Liberals couldn’t get away with shooting Harper so he can’t get in office to uncover the truths about where billions of dollars of wasted and pilfered taxpayer’s dollars have gone.
Now they are using the obedient media to “label Harper as inept”.
If that does not work wait for the “making up stories”. They should be doozies.
It’s a Socialist Formula that has worked for dictators all over the world.
Wasn’t Trudeau an avid student of Lennon and Marx? And Chretien his admiring sidekick?
IMHO there is no longer a true “Liberal” Party in Canada. These great pretenders have hijacked the name.
Is not Don Marting from Calgary, or did he just work for the Calgary Herald for a time?
Wondering minds want to know.
Here’s the thing: ( As I see it) : Ontario has to make Harper and the Conservatives look as though they are inept and unqualified to lead, no matter what.
The elite can and will do everything they can to keep the liberals in power because they are the ONLY ones who would actually continue to bolster the auto industry. It is known that the federal government approved a $750,000,000 shot in the arm to the Ontario auto industry. With more to come that will count in the billions. They threatened to leave for the US if they did not get the money. The Chretien government started writing cheques.
Ontario absolutely needs the auto industry but this bailout and the desperation of the Martin liberals only buys so much time.
The liberals and the Ottawa mandarins are terrified of Harper and the Conservatives. They have managed to forestall disaster . FOR now. The gauntlet has been thrown. 4 non-confidence losses makes it clear they skate on thin ice.
They have bought 4 elections with our own money.
The actions of the PM these last few weeks if EVER implemented will have lasting and disastrous repercussions on the economy.
The taxpayer is caught in a squeeze it cannot survive. There is only ONE taxpayer and we are being fleeced clean. Once the money is gone it will be as elusive as the $425 million tsunami relief money that is hiding somewhere in a bank account. When the money is gone, government comes back to the well: the taxpayer. Economic madness having cleaned the job landscape bare, from where then will the money come?
We need to face the fact that the liberals cannot buy their way out of the ills they themselves have created nor can they rely on taxpayers to do so. Martin is ruining this country and it won’t matter to him if he gets away with it. But it WILL matter to us.
Belinda Stronach going to the liberals was the beacon Ontario voters were looking for. That and the Buzz backroom deal. The message is clear. They will do anything to stay in power and they will buy Ontario to do it.
I strongly suspect they have already gone a long way toward buying BC as well.
And just WHAT will the auto industry actually DO when , finally and inevitably they are told no more money.
That surely would be Stephen Harpers answer to such an outrageous deal.
They have already said that Ontario is a backwater as far as they are concerned and are looking to move to a cheaper landscape.
Now that their stock has reached junk bond status that move might come sooner, injections of big sums of cash at our expense notwithstanding.
Kytem2: First of all why did he have to say Chandler was an extremist to begin with, secondly if he was trying to distance Harper from Chandler he made a mess of it. It came out as though both Martin and Duffy were wondering how Harper surrounds himself with extremist. That may not have been Martins intention but thats the way it came out. He should have kept his mouth shut to begin with.
Ward: Thank you for confirming my new found passion for Western Separatism. If Ontarians are such bigots that they won’t ever accept a Western Prime Minister, then the country is doomed. Canada needs to separate itself from Ontario. Funny, how sometimes those who see themselves as the most sophisticated, are actually Emporers without clothes. Ontarian Narcissism is exactly what Canada is not about.
Everybody. CHILL! Ontario has now resorted to eating one of their own.
Stephen Harper was born in Burlington, ONTARIO. He did not move West until he was an adult.
His upbringing was in ONTARIO.
He is a Classic Libertarian just like even the most elite Liberals claim to be.
It is the Liberal party who left behind Liberalism. The Conservatives are the new Liberals adapted for a new century.
Ontario just does not know it yet.
Kate
I find it quite amusing that Harper needs the make over……….
Ever take a good look at the last two Neanderthals leading the Liberals (current included).
Yesterday I read that the problem is Harper, then today I read Harper isn’t the problem, it the social cons. platform. Now Harper needs a make over………….yada yada yada……..
Why doesn’t everyone just cancel their newspaper and online subsrciptions until these sad excuse for journalists quite writing the crap they do?
I for one just did.
Harper’s problem is not Harper or his platform. It is a hypcritical media who would bend over infront of any leftists to help their cause. They backstab Harper every chance they get.
I find it quite hypocritical Kate for some of these media types who keep talking about “tolerance” and chastising others for their so called lack of it, when they can’t even measure up to their own self appointed standards.
Say something about a gay, lezbo, tranny, or any other societal misfit and they are all over you calling you an intolerant bigot.
But it is fine for them to unload on conservatives, Christians, churches and Pastors………..and they are balanced and tolerant??????? (Remember what they did to Stockwell Day?? What is worse is that they got some so called conservatives to believe them!!!)
Gimme a break……….alot of these newspapers would be of better service in the stalls of a public washroom.
Sell the CBC to FOXNEWS !!! (That should drive leftists nuts!!)
“I strongly suspect they have already gone a long way toward buying BC as well.”
Snowbunnie, I’m not sure if you are a resident of BC but there seems to be much confusion about the results of our recent provincial election. The ROC thinks we love Liberals in BC but the truth be told BC does not have a Provincial Conservative party and furthermore the BC Liberal party is in no way affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada but you don’t hear that on the news. The BC Liberals are a coalition of Reformers, Socreds and Liberals that joined forces to defeat the NDP. In the 2004 federal election the LPC won 8 seats in BC (all in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island)and the CPC won 22 seats. I read a recent poll that suggested the LPC had some ridiculous number, like 46% support in BC. I can’t believe it, how could things haved changed that much in one scandal filled year . The polsters must have only called the 604 area code. If I wrong, thank God the AB border is only an hour away.
“….Roll out the next election platform now. Putting aside th same-sex marriage question for a second, what do the Conservatives stand for that’s uniquely theirs? Name something . . . anything. Nadda, right? Almost everything the Liberals propose, the Conservatives embrace. Some opposition.” (Martin)
and:
“….Take an anger management course. Harper appears to have confused signs of firm leadership with flashes of sneering anger. The public hates angry white males. And he’s become Parliament’s Exhibit A.” (Martin)
From Scott Reid’s lips to Martin’s gentle readers ears. Hell, even Rex is singing the party line tonight. While properly dressing down Belinda, he can’t resist pontificating on Harpers “struggles”, call him and the party “grim and glum”.
What I want to know is how the hell did losing a non-confidence vote get spun into a “nation saying no to Mr. Harper and the Conservatives”? *Every* facet of the Canadian treasury and client group were used to *ilegally* buy confidence. It boggles my mind.
GWGM,
You have the issue nailed, but you are not aknowledging the work Harper has put in inside Quebec. Nobody is. Since running for leader of the Alliance, many pundits commented on his inordinate amount of time spent in PQ relative to the liklihood of seat gains. Chantel Hebert has noted on numerous occasions the contacts being forged. Mr. Harper saw this day coming and has laid the foundations of a federalist option within Quebec, knowing that he can fight for Ontario with the Holy Grail of wedge issues.
Will enough groundwork have been done? Only an election will tell. I suspect if the confidence vote went the other way, you’d be seeing pretty much what you describe. Patience.
“Remember what they did to Stockwell Day?? What is worse is that they got some so called conservatives to believe them!!!”
Oh pfft. Stockwell is his own worst enemy and taking him out is no harder than shooting fish in a barrel. Chumming around with Jim Keegstra when you have political aspirations is just friggin’ dumb. Who wants some nutbag Holocaust Denier in their corner come election time? That little stunt he pulled with the school curriculum here in Alberta didn’t exactly make him look like a winner, either. Day is an embarrassment to the CPC and the sooner that turkey is drummed out, the better.
I generally approve of Harper and would even consider voting for him next time around were the CPC to change it’s position on SSM (right now it seems to be the Missionary position). I don’t mind the fact that Harper is religious because he comes across as a rational person, not some intolerant nutbag like Stockwell.
The CPC needs more Harpers and less Days.
Sean,
agreed on the leadership qualities of Day, but you go over the top. (On multiple occasions, and on multiple blogs.) By all accounts, Day has been a formidable Foreign Affairs critic. There is no questioning the limitations he faces regarding any personal aspirations, and I commend him for continuing to serve.
Your irrational fear of social conservatives is vexing. Like so many others who wear their *apolitical* leanings like some friggin’ badge of honor, you do not understand the marginalization you are endorsing. There has been absolutely *zero* relevant discourse in this country for a full generation, and you only seek to perpetuate it. The price is stagnation of a society.
“Your irrational fear of social conservatives is vexing.”
Having been a faithful Mormon for a number of years, I lived in the belly of the SoCon beast. I have since escaped and wish to spare other Canadians that particular agony whenever possible.
“By all accounts, Day has been a formidable Foreign Affairs critic. There is no questioning the limitations he faces regarding any personal aspirations, and I commend him for continuing to serve.”
I don’t give a rat’s ass how well Mr. Day can read from the scripts he has been provided with. The bottom line is that he has been caught consorting with holocaust deniers and helping propogate their untruths one too many times for my liking. The little creep befouls the House of Commons with his presence (nearly as much as Paul Martin does).
“Like so many others who wear their *apolitical* leanings like some friggin’ badge of honor, you do not understand the marginalization you are endorsing.”
Marginalization? Like treating women like second class citizens who are unworthy to hold the priesthood? By denying some of our citizens (gay ones) the legal recognition of the right of association? (Hint: we call it marriage.)
Go lecture someone else about marginalization.
Want to know the difference between organized crime and organized religion? The former threatens you in this life while the latter threatens you in the next one. In both cases the people doing the threatening should be locked up for good.
Take heart, all… I was born in Toronto, raised in Burlington, and live in Toronto now, and the bigotry of Martin’s comment yesterday was obvious to me.
I’ve called out left wing friends on the “redneck” factor before (these are people who are always one step ahead of the terminology game) and their fumbling replies are hilarious. Don’t expect much from Martin.
Thanks Kate for letting some Western sunshine on Don Martin’s dark corner of smear journalism.
For every favourable comment he makes about conservatives he smears them ten times over.
For what it’s worth I have added his name to my “Liberal Lickspittle” roll, rather belatedly, because I had hoped he would publicly acknowledge the cesspool of corruption that are the governing Liberals.
That isn’t happening and Don Martin is in my view just another Liberal puppet .
First of all, Harper is a Torontonian who moved to Calgary… not the other way around.
Secondly, this knuckledragger is suggesting that anyone with National Post subscriptions CANCEL THEM if you feel strongly enough about it. Gotta hit em where it hurts!
Aizlynne
Calgary
Don Martin IS a westerner to BEGIN WITH!!
At the central core of his writings; Don Martin is also a long time proponent “by stealth” of the soft left, big government agenda; even though he writes for the National Post which readers find baffling.
Like Boo-linda Stronach; Don Martin not a REAL conservative…never was..if what he writes is ANY indication.
Just another champagne socialist hiding in the weeds and sniping from cover.
Monty: What about the Nat’l Post makes you think it’s a conservative paper? It used to be, but then the big boot came down and anyone who went after the Libs or Chretien were stepped on by the Aspers. I see the Post the same way I see the Toronto Red Star.
Speaking of Liberal media… even CFRB’s news dept. is getting into the act. Sure, they have some conservative talk-show hosts, but I just about blow my top listening to Taylor Parnaby, Dave Agar and Jane Brown gush about Belinda and Paul Martin.
This morning, they did a piece on Boo-linda being heckled in her riding yesterday. The story painted the hecklers as nuts, and countered that the reaction in most of the riding to her Benedict Arnold move was very positive. To back up that assertion, they interviewed… wait for it… Belinda Stronach… who said that most of the people in her riding support her action.
This is journalism???? Puke.
I remember Martin from his days in Calgary days. He was never comfortable with his fellow Albertans and took every opportunuity to denounce them and distance himself from them as he bitt snorkeled TO editors for a job in the center of the known universe….he was always an elitist little putz with a massive identity crisis.
Hey Don…here’s a clue from the majority of Canadians who live ouside the self absorbed hubris of the GTA: We think the CN tower is just a rectal thermometer in Canada’s sphincter…that makes GTA’s anally fixated media Canada’s proctologists.
Want to know about the state of Canada’s rectum….read what it’s proctologists prescibe.
I’ll take the “heartland” any day. As a matter of fact I’ll take it as far away from the spincter dwellers as possible.
😉
Addendum to the Martin slagging. The “redneck knuckle dragger” slur is an act of intellectual lethargy when the speaker has no tolerance of dissent to his narrow world view.
A confederally stable Canada will not survive cultural bigots or regionalist bigots with national media megaphones like Martin. If I was a staunch western separatist I’d be clapping my hands and asking Martin to spew some more anti-west invective….every insult creates anothe 100 separtists.
I read the Martin column. I read him regularly and will continue to do so.
I disagree with his prescription. I am in the camp with those that believe that no matter what Stephen Harper, or any other non-approved candidate puts forward, the Media will not support the message. Debate is not required, even though that would sell papers. Shaping public perceptions (pamphleteering) is the real purpose of the Media.
Having said that I took the “knuckledragger” remark in the context not of Martin’s view that the folks out west are knuckledraggers but that the message constantly delivered to and absorbed by easterners is that western conservatives are all knuckledraggers. Not to mention rednecks and blue-eyed oil sheikhs.
While we can’t expect much support from the MSM we shouldn’t go out of our way to find criticism, especially when it comes from those few that are more inclined than not to support the cause. These commentators may not always agree with everything that everyone in the party stands for, I don’t agree with everything that they or the party stand for, but it doesn’t help us to slag even those that are inclined to be sympathetic, or at least neutral.
Even in the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail there are columnists I find echoing me. Christie Blatchford and Rosie DiManno come to mind. Even writers like Chantal Hebert, Jim Travers, John Ibbitson, Paul Wells and Lysianne Gagnon frequently make comments complimentary of conservative positions, the CPC and Harper, and yes even Stockwell Day. Even Warren Kinsella has been saying things in print that can be used to bolster our message.
Rather than searching the Media looking for slurs, intentional or otherwise, and then giving them air time, and credence, and enhancing the view of us as being angry all the time, look for opportunities to find quotes from these people that praise the party and play them up instead.
It is the same principle applied to marketing movies and books. The advertising promotes comments from Ebert and Roper eg “a brilliant movie” but fails to add the bit about “except for the beginning, the ending and that long nauseating bit in between”.
We should not rely on the Media to get our message out. But neither should we go out of out way to antagonize those that go some way to providing support, even if faint.
I would suggest less time be spent on trying to find criticism with those that occasionally or frequently support us and more time wading through the morass of Jeffrey Simpson, Rick Salutin and Thomas Walkom looking for words of support for the CPC (unlikely) or CPC positions (more likely) or slaggings of Paul Martin, Jack Layton and the Left (still more likely). Even criticisms based on them not being leftish enough are useful.
Such criticisms display a “fractured party”, “inability to lead”, “parties beholden to left wing idealogues” or alternately “too willing to compromise”. They can even be used to marginalize commentators by demonstrating how close they hew to the party scripts.
This is playing fairly, by the same rules as those employed by the opposition.
As well, while there is a prohibition on political spending during election campaigns by parties and third parties is there any reason why a half hour promotional slot can’t be bought on TV.
Companies put on 30 minute shows to sell everything from grills, to diets, to exercise equipment, life insurance, computer soft ware, get rich quick schemes and soft porn dvds. Can’t a similar slot be bought by the CPC, or a sympathetic party, outside of the campaign period?
The MSM has it right on one thing. We do spend a lot of time looking angry. It is not just Harper. As angry as we are, as frustrated as we are, as justifiable as the anger is, that doesn’t win any friends. In fact it drives friends away.
And in the immortal words of Dale Carnegie it’s all about “winning friends and influencing people”.
21% Liberal, 17% Conservative, 9% NDP, 7% Bloc, 2% Green, 40% “I don’t givadam – IDG”
The issue is not about converting Liberals to Conservatives, although when viewed in the context of the overall voter pool that isn’t such a great challenge. It is about converting one in ten of the IDG party to givadam and get out and support us. We won’t do that by saying that they are all a bunch of apathetic twits who can’t see the light.
We have to show them a reason to support us. A positive reason.
Sorry for rant, rant ends.
Cheers.
“The people who become good MPs aren’t necessarily the people with a big mouth and a high media profile”
– Stephan Harper
Don Martin is an extremely useful person if you are a liberal, he’s a gussied up lib in cons cloths.
Martins words are exactly those used on the conservatives last election .
“It’s nothing so much that we can describe in words they’re just scary “.
Or “there is a certain jue ne se quo about Harper”.
He’s too angry he’s too bland.
He’s too western he’s too Ontario.
It’s all liberal BS there is no character flaw that could not and does not
apply in spades to any other party leader.
It’s a lie.
And every brain dead Toronto Star and Globe and Mail reader and CTV/CBC watcher repeats .
These people can’t explain when you corner them about what do you mean it’s always ” There’s just something about him.”
This is all the liberals have right now.
They have no other fodder to use against the opposition so they resort to what got them elected in Ontario last year, unprovable ad homonyms.
I truly believe that GTA voters are so cynical about politicians and so pretend sophistication that they can never truly decide on either liberal or conservative .
Most never bother to even investigate the party policies.
“Oh I’m so busy ,The kids have soccer or we’re at the boat/cottage all summer blah blah blah.If they are hearing over and over and over that the
liberals are stealing 1/3 of our money in a slush fund they are quickly going to look for something comparably bad about the conservatives. This
knee jerk in their minds protects them from falling for a political trap of
being suckered by a politician again and retains their precious “I’m smart self centredness” without truly informing themselves. “Oh well the conservatives are (sub in any crap that
comes out of Mike Duffy’s giant pie hole)
These sophisticates much like sean then end up in the polling booth 3 months later voting for the party that employs their wife or some other
personal welfare project or canard like ssm.
We are in trouble in this country , the socialists have brainwashed and bribed half the population, pissed off our neighbour and only trading partner and set up a huge pipeline of cash to banks in the Turks. In every
single conversation I’ve had about politics in the past 2 years where there are more than two people every time I explain how much damage the liberals have wrought, the only response I get is Molrooney airbus,Harris 407 , Ernie Eves too greasy or too corrupt.
In Ontario the tactic has to be a sneering snub at politically correct over reaction.
We can never apologize to liberals about calling Belinda a whore instead we should openly mock the eternally offended thin skinned politically correct when they pretend to be offended.
Let them know that we know that they are really not offended and that the liberal party is insulting our intelligence with their contemptuous
laughable bad acting.
When Don Martin shoots off about nothing call him a liberal that has exhausted all rational objections.
Every time we name Duffy call him “Liberal Party Advisor John Duffy”
Most people think he’s a news correspondent.
Phhht,Crazy!
Every time a liberal can’t explain his motive for voting lieberal ask him how he’s getting paid.
No longer can we let liberals explain the talking points to everyone. No longer can we wring our hands at not offending the always offended.
We must call them bribed or liberal or corrupt or whores or worms .
We must totally forget about targeting the Forest Hill hospital administrator who just got out of the weekly “How to identify racism in
the workplace class” and look to the average Canadian driving an hour and half through stopped traffic both ways every day to give away half of their earnings to some liberal mafia duochebag.
Tell the average Canadian that ssm is a canard that gays can and do come to Canada to get married right now and only Belgium yes that Belgium(government officials involved in kiddie porn Belgium) has totally open ssm, and if you
elect these low down scummy thieves we’ll continue to be openly and agreeably robbed albeit at in improved speed and the average gay will not have his or her life changed one little bit.
We must identify conservatism with the true values that Canadians hold dear
,honesty , hard work , loyalty ,family and fraternity not multiculturalism ,
whining victim hood and smug elitist P.C. superiority.
We have to attack!
We have to label those liberal talking points as just that, empty enslaving BS.
Run the video footage of gas sniffing native children falling in the streets of Iquilat.
Read the reasons given why our snipers were not able to be decorated by the
US Army for there heroism and get the brave sniper to explain it in his own words.
Read the list of illegal immigrants that have killed or committed heinous crimes since their arrival.
Than read the numbers of immigrants that have been given ministerial free passes.
Explain how the richest fishing grounds in the world (grand banks of NL) have been emptied.
We must explain that smug P.C. thinking has got us to this position in the
world were even the NY Times is calling us a fraud, and compare that to what
Laurier said about the potential of what we should be. We must explain that this parasitic leech on our back sucks out $7000 dollars a year more from the average Canadian family than the average American family even with our advantage of bountiful natural resources.
Most importantly ,we must then lay out why this will never happen again.
Sean:
youve been suckered by the media.
Day never endorsed nothing of Keegstra.
The media draws those conclusions on THEIR OWN.
Actually prove where Day said he endorsed them Sean.
Day has been a supporter of the Jewish State, that is more than I can say for Liberals who do business with terrorist organizations.
Look further than what the media tells you Sean.
And please….show us all where Day IN HIS OWN WORDS endorsed Keegstra
I second that motion notasocialist. Come on sean show us where M. Day said that. Back up your statments with some facts.
I came to the same conclusion as stated in many of the above posts: Don Martin is a coward. He will bend with whatever way the wind blows, he is a TRUE Liberal with the stink of a Liberal: the gagging smell of two day old fish kept at room temperature.
A person should watch and read the MSM, so one never FAILS to make post on the internet about the lack of professsionalism they exhibit, laugh at their phony ‘theories’ and never believe anything they report without looking it up on Fox or on the internet.
I really like your letter, Kate. I think I will write a short one too as I am from the beautiful Cypress Hills in SW Sask. Probably the most CONSERVATIVE spot in Canada. HATED by Lib and ND alike the beautiful hills of my home keep the likes of Pale Paule and craven Calvert (also a preacher) out of spitting distance because the people there IGNORE socialists. They figure (rightly) that a person like Paule would have nothing interesting to say – end of story.
Mr Day is liked and respected around the world, have any of you read his speech on Communism in China in the EpochTimes? Mr. Day would do something FOR Canadians if he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, because he would be respected. Mr. Graham is laughed at because he only knows how to HAVE foreign affairs.
What really made me laugh about Duffy was that he thought that Craig Chandler would be ‘kowed’ by that silly ‘cow-tow’ he had on there masqurading as a preacher. What a joke she was!!
Way to go Craig!
Way to write Kate, kytem2 notasocialists,candice,ward….poor sean, jay gwgm -go “over” to the yellow haired gal in HRDC – she could probably ‘use’ some moral support at this ‘difficlt’ time.
Correct my post -that should have been Mr. Day not M. DAy.
Correct my post -that should have been Mr. Day not M. Day.
Chris (the rant) is right. It’s not about converting Liberals (though that helps), it’s about getting non-voters to vote Conservative.
In last weeks by-election in Labrador the Liberal vote was virtually unchanged, but the Conservative vote rose from 1,400 to 3,400. If
repeated across the country at a General Election this would result in an enormous number of gains for the Conservatives.
And the Conservatives should be putting across a more positive message. Everyone knows the Liberals are corrupt. They want a positive reason to vote Conservative.