Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

"Got" who, exactly?

by kadyomalley on Friday, October 10, 2008 8:12am - 0 Comments

“Some of these stories are ridiculous examples of ‘gotcha’ journalism that have nothing to do with anything the voters care about in this campaign.”

-Stephen Harper comments on the controversy surrounding Conservative candidate Lee Richardson over remarks he made, and then attempted to clarify, to a local newspaper.(September 27, 2008)

The Tories delayed their flight so their leader could watch the tape and comment on it. Stephen Harper usually talks to the media only once a day, but last night he met journalists again.

“When you’re running a trillion-and-a-half-dollar economy you don’t get a chance to have do-overs, over and over again,” he said. “What this incident actually indicates very clearly is Mr. Dion and the Liberal Party really don’t know what they would do on the economy.”

-Stephen Harper comments on the controversy surrounding Liberal leader Stephane Dion over his attempt to clarify a question while appearing on CTV News. (October 11, 2008)

Tags: duffygeddon, gotcha!, Stéphane Dion, Stephen Harper, what a difference narrowing polls make

More by kadyomalley

Sacco

If that is the extent of Dion’s hearing problem, I wouldn’t apologize for him I’d be worried that he hasn’t gotten a hearing aid.

Sounded to me like he got confused by the subjunctive and the present perfect.

This may be amusing TV for anglo Canada, but I suspect more than a few in Quebec – where these battles are fought – will empathize with the befuddled Dion.
john g

A note to Kady and Andrew Potter:

In your mad zeal to close ranks around the Liberals and award the election to Stephane Dion based on the actions of Mike Duffy(?), you come off as more partisan than the “Calgary Grit” (who seems like a Tory shill compared to you guys) and even Jason Cherniak, the guy who is paid by the Liberals to run Liblogs.

I wonder if Andrew Coyne realized when taking this job that he’d be effectively presiding over a bunch of professional LibLogggers.
Gord G.

Kady, are you collecting your check from Macleans or the Liberal party?
Don Mitchell

This morning the CBC is in full “Poor Dion” mode. It was actually sicking to watch the CBC Morning anchor act like a caring social worker to the poor misunderstood Dion. If he wins the election over this then we are a castrated nation.
Alex In Winnipeg

The real problem is;
When a Prime Minister is making decisions for Canada’s economy or that effect the lives of our brave men and women in uniform you don’t get three chances to get it right.
TomB

Mr. Dion seems to have interpreted the question as,”What would you realistically do, in the fantasy world I have just created where anything is possible?”. Trudeau , IMO, would have sneered. Harper, again IMO, has learned to play along. Mr. Dion just didn’t seem to know what to do. If he didn’t like the question, that should have been the start of his answer.
keith by the Bruce

For harper’s employers , mentors and little people robot employees .

The whole world is taking the economic issues seriously with mega meetings.

Thank God steve is an open , honest team player . His ability to take advise and think on his feet outside the box without being influenced by partisian politics is his forte . Lay it on us oh great communicator .

If you are worried about a turkey day debate wih Dion may I suggest a fireside after dinner chat type message reassuring Canadians on staying the course ? Cut and running is a taliban trait ?

p.s. please consider gary lunn to represent us in Washington this weekend ? He has been at the bunker for weeks and has our true pulse
john g

Some of these stories are ridiculous examples of ‘gotcha’ journalism that have nothing to do with anything the voters care about in this campaign

Kady, are you seriously trying to suggest that what Dion would do or would have done about the economy is “nothing to do with anything that voters care about in this campaign”?

You are without shame.
http://www.macleans.ca Kady O’Malley

John G. Of course not. But the fact that he misunderstood the question, and had to do a retake? No, I don’t think that is what voters care about in this campaign — and I think Harper, deep down, realized the same thing, because he clearly wanted to criticize Dion’s plan – which is, as I’ve probably written seventeen times in the last twelve or so hours, totally and completely legitimate during an election campaign. Unfortunately, his aides dropped him into what was, to put it kindly, a somewhat contrived context to do so. It was a bad call on their part, and the fact that the PM didn’t stick around to take questions – which would have been about why he felt the need to respond to the tape, and not simply counter Dion’s plan – suggests that Harper realized that as well.
Gord G.

I have to say I agree with John G., you are without shame Kady.

Gord.
keith by the Bruce

comment by Alex In Winnipeg on Friday, October 10, 2008 at 9:56 am:

The real problem is;
When a Prime Minister is making decisions for Canada’s economy or that effect the lives of our brave men and women in uniform you don’t get three chances to get it right.

Trillion dollar one man corner variety store ?
When the phone rings in the middle of the night has not been coined yet ?
john g

I think Harper, deep down, realized the same thing, because he clearly wanted to criticize Dion’s plan –

Indeed he did. The majority of his comments were about the poor quality of Dion’s so called plan. All he said about the retakes was that it wasn’t a language issue, that the question was clear and was repeated several times. All of that is true and none of that commentary is the least bit objectionable to any non-partisan observer.

So why is the Canadian Press, and the Globe and Mail, and the CBC, and Macleans bloggers, trying to make this story about Harper’s reaction to it?

Why are they planting the Liberal-inspired suggestion that Harper was making fun of a physical deformity, as in the Chretien ad years ago, when it is 100% CRYSTAL clear from watching the interview that a phantom “hearing problem” had NOTHING to do with his inability to answer the question, and that Harper didn’t suggest any such thing?

That is nothing more than Liberal spin. It is unbelievable to me that the media is letting the Liberals get away with the attempt to blame this on a phantom hearing problem that even Dion himself claims only manifests itself in a crowd.

Are we supposed to give this guy a free pass on any gaffe he commits by blaming it on a non-existant hearing problem?

Do the media really think we are that stupid?
http://liberal-arts-and-minds.blogspot.com/ knb

john g, you are almost as masterful as Duffy in twisting what someone is saying. In this case, Kady.

I’m seriously astounded at how so many commenters apparently consider being purposely obtuse an attribute.
Sammy

Just to let you Dion appologists know, this really wouldn’t be that big of a deal had Dion not been cheerleading the economic plight of Canadians for the last two weeks. His shrill indignation at Harpers handling of the current situation demands much more than what has been offered to date.

Whether you like Harpers answers or not about the economic mess, you don’t question whether he understans what is going on. You may question his perspective, but not his understanding.

The Dion interview, gave us zero insight into whether he even understands the relationship between the credit crisis and the stock market collapse.

Secondary to the above, is his pathetic inability to communicate in ENGLISH.
http://www.macleans.ca Kady O’Malley

And Sammy wins the Seemingly C/conservative Commenter Sensible Criticism of the Hour So Far contest: the point you bring up – that Dion doesn’t seem to grasp the relationship between the stock market collapse, and the credit crisis – is a perfectly valid one. It also depends on the answer he eventually gave, which is exactly what I’ve been saying all along is what seems to be the real issue here. Anyway, congratulations to Sammy! May your cogency be contagious!
Reg

I agree with you there Kady. You would think the CPC communications people would understand that their work had been done for them. If people saw the clip, which in this day and age is pretty much guaranteed, they would either have a lower opinion of Dion or of CTV, not the CPC. By bringing Harper into the mix, it transfers the possible blame to the party. Yet another amateur decision by the war room.
Pingback: The New Face Ad? The End of Dion? Harper’s Last Stand? « Don Street Blog
TobyornotToby

Let’s get out Mike Duffy’s bloopers and outtakes. Betcha we hear the f word more than once. How about that CTV reporter’s recorded stumblings, sounds like he has a hard time using his first language. And since the Conservatives already have the DVD player and TV on the campaign trail, why don’t they roll the out takes from the sweater commercial? Betcha there’s some interesting directions/prompting (Less cowbell! More sweater voice).

In the interest of full disclosure I should reveal that I edited about 47 typos while typing this, and even then probably missed a few.
Mike T.

Kady truly goes above and beyond to hold the hands of readers who feign outrage or misunderstanding. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – you don’t get this level of service at the National Post comment section!
Sammy

Should Harper have rolled out the video for reporters?

It probably wasn’t necessary but I doubt it will hurt him much with the voters he was targeting. The Cons were targeting those swing voters who were with them earlier but have backed away.

They fled because of the economic news and his supposed lack of empathy, they (Harper) had to do what they could to make sure they (swing voters)rethink their decision to go with Dion over the economy.

Things move fast in an election and in the real world economy and you don’t always have 30 days or 50 days to act.
Lech

There was no hearing problem, or comprehension problem.

Dion has been told by his handlers to stay “on message”, and not to wing it or improvise his answers.

The restarts of the CTV interview are the result of the interviewee struggling to reframe the question into one that he has an approved pat answer for.

Dion was doing the same thing on Mansbridge the night before, where off-script questions needed to be reiterated multiple times, and he still begged each.

Mansbridge tired of the nonsense, thanked Dion, and cut to commercial four minutes early.

Pretty sad.
Andrew

I think the Conservative partisan excitement (hundreds of posts on the topic overnight) reveal that they are truly worried about their guy Steve.
keith by the Bruce

comment by Mike T. on Friday, October 10, 2008 at 10:34 am:Kady truly goes above and beyond to hold the hands of readers who feign outrage or misunderstanding. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – you don’t get this level of service at the National Post comment section!

Good observation ! When is the last time you have seen these bias journalists give steve his dues for turning a failed socialist state into the top tightly regulated banking system in the world
Sammy

Andrew, I am not a Conservative partisan, worried about “Steve”.

I am just a guy whose formost concern at this time is my economic future and the prospect of waking up next Wed. to PM Dion sends a shiver down my spine.

Not because he’s a Liberal, but because he appears to me to be economicly illiterate.

This is why I’m posting on this board. Were teetering on the edge here and Dion’s rambling inchoherent statements do not provide any sense of confidence whatsoever.
Two Cents

Criticisms of bias on Kady’s part are totally uncalled for.

Kady may be right that Dion finally did provide an answer. However, it was the shallowness of his answer that stuck in my craw.

Dion demonstrated that he really does not understand what is going on. And when his only response is to talk about a plan to hold 30 days of meetings it also undermines the credibility of his attacks on PM Harper for doing nothing to respond to the global financial crisis.