Thursday, January 27, 2011 3:34 PM EST
Would Tories use an Ignatieff clip out of context? ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’
Jane Taber
Talk about a quick turnover. The Tories have added a new meme to their stable of TV attacks – or to their “chamber of horrors,” as Michael Ignatieff refers to it.
They took a judiciously edited clip of Mr. Ignatieff’s Howard Dean moment from his rousing speech to the Liberal caucus this week and incorporated it into two new attack ads.
In the first spot, called “Needless Election,” the narrator asks whether in a time of economic uncertainty we should jeopardize the recovery with an unnecessary trip to the polls. And then he says, “Let’s ask Michael Ignatieff” – at which point, the Liberal Leader pops up screaming “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
The clip was taken from the speech Mr. Ignatieff gave to his caucus only on Tuesday in which he asked whether Liberals were ready to govern. And Mr. Ignatieff very passionately – with passion reminiscent of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean’s famous scream – answered his own question with arms pumping and voice raised.
For the record, the full sentence the Conservatives used from Mr. Ignatieff’s speech went as follows: “Are we ready to serve the people who put us here? Are we ready to fight for the Canada we love? Are we ready to fight for the Canadian family? What’s the answer to that? Yes! Yes! Yes!”
It was expected the Tories would use that in their ads to make fun of Mr. Ignatieff; what wasn’t expected was how quickly they did.
The second Tory ad released Thursday, called “Job-killing taxes,” focuses on Mr. Ignatieff’s demands to reverse the Conservative corporate tax cuts. It asks whether in a period of fragile economy recovery “it makes sense to raise taxes on job -creators?” The narrator again says, “Let’s ask Michael Ignatieff” – who again is shown shouting “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
My thoughts:
With an election strongly rumoured but not yet announced I wonder how dirty this electoral race is going to be. Are the liberals using attack ads against the Harper government as well? It worries me that our politicians have to stoop so low to gain any interest in their respective parties as to take statements out of context and portray their opposition as the enemy rather than the competition.