Getting the word out

The Green Shift slid down the slope into the dung pile and it's all the Conservative's fault. Apparently, according to reliable sources -- get this: the Conservatives disagreed and therefore spoke out about it before the Liberals really got a chance to explain. From the Globe:

The Liberals still have to fight to explain their Green Shift plan because the Conservatives bombarded the airwaves with “propaganda” in an effort to kill it, Stéphane Dion says.

If the Conservatives had just kept their mouths shut . . . those poor Liberals have only had two months since they announced this plan to get the word out. During that whole time the Conservatives actually gave their opinion of it. How fair is that? Their rival actually commenting on their policies? Typical Conservatives. They've got opinions on EVERYTHING and most of the time, you can count on those opinions to be different from the Liberals and you know what? They actually feel free to talk about it in public.

He (Dion) added later: “We are starting to explain it after months, months of propaganda by the Conservatives. I'm sure you and many people thought it was a carbon tax. You didn't know it was a green shift. That we will tax less what we want more of, our income, and we'll shift it to pollution, something we don't want.”

So, there you have it. Now, don't blame Stéphane Dion if you don't get it. The Conservatives probably twisted his words or something because quite frankly, it just doesn't make much sense.

canadianna

A picture's worth . . . ?

Regardless of political affiliation, most people say they support our troops. Personal feelings about war in general and the war in Afghanistan in particular, don't seem to factor in.

Why is it then, that Liberals are still bent on portraying our military as ominous in an effort to malign the Conservatives?

A photograph of tanks at the ready, combined with the word 'Conservative' seems to be a favourite stunt of the Liberal Party's communications staff. This image of Light Armoured Vehicles from the Liberal website, is reminiscent of the Liberal television ad yanked during the election last year. Apparently they thought they'd dust off the idea and give it new life in a different format. With so many other aspects of the Afghan mission to choose from, they have chosen one that could be seen as the most menacing. No faces, just an overpowering machine. Subtlety is obviously not their forte.

The NDP doesn't like the Conservatives any more than the Liberals do, and they like the war in Afghanistan even less. Yet the NDP website doesn't misuse the military to make a point about Harper. Their criticism of Harper's Afghan vision and visit is linked to by a photo of soldiers on the ground, with Afghan children in the background. It appears unstaged and seems unthreatening -- no attempt to draw deleterious connections or conclusions.
Maybe I'm being fussy here, but photographs are used to evoke emotion. You'd think that the Liberals would have learned their lesson and if they want to assail Harper, they'd stop using our military as their weapon of choice.

*** I've edited this post because commenters corrected me (thanks) --The photo is not of tanks, but LAVs (Light Armoured Vehicles). The visual holds the same connotation IMO.

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