Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

'Mine the anger'

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 3:58pm - 7 Comments

Peter Donolo finds hope in fury and indignation.

“[The Finley letter] is right on target in terms of the type of appeals they make, and Liberals in opposition need to be able to mine the anger, anxiety, concern that is out there with a large cross-section of the population that they hope to win votes from and translate into cash,” Mr. Donolo said.

Tags: Doug Finley, fundraising, Ottawa, Peter Donolo, political fundraising

More by Aaron Wherry

Mark

"Doug is reaching out to a different cohort, which is angry, middle-aged white men,” Mr. Apps said."
There were over 32,000 angry,middle aged men who donated to the CPC last quarter.Mr. Apps will totally ignore this group as a source of revenue. Who needs these angry people anyway, when there is so many more happy people?
Anon

Of course courtiers like those employed by the Strategic Council support anything that is likely to pull more money out of people's pockets and into the political industry. Doesn't matter if the anger is legitimate or not (something they studiously avoid surveying or analyzing).

http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

How exactly do you survey or analyze whether people's anger is legitimate or not?

Anon

You survey them and analyze their responses.

http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

"In comparison, the Liberals, as a party of centrists, are not grievance-based, he said, so it is “difficult to light a fire under anybody.”

I don't keep track but is Donolo a liberal or tied to Liberals? I wonder because I think his claim that Libs are not grievance-based is laughable.

Also interesting that Libs have caught up with Cons in raising money. Now the conundrum for Libs to solve will be to keep the donors donating and not let it be a one-off milestone.

Anon

"I'll have you know one of my brothers is an engineer, votes Liberal, and is a vegetarian to boot."

Why do you think this is laughable?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

"Liberals in opposition need to be able to mine the anger, anxiety, concern that is out there"

In other words, they need to find a middle ground between Kinsellan hyperbole and bombast and the narcotically dull "we stand for caring" Canadian-values shtick that they often end up peddling by default. Here's hoping.