Coyne v. Wells on the looming election

Why the Liberals are worried and how Layton became the man to watch (VIDEO)

by Claire Ward on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 5:55pm - 65 Comments

Shot and edited by Tom Henheffer
Produced by Claire Ward

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  • http://scottdiatribe.canflag.com/ Scott_Tribe

    Wow.. Coyne vs Wells is now so big it's got its own sponsor!

  • Cindy

    "are you just pulling this out of your butt" – great line, but I think Leanne said that last week in Citizen. Re Bruce Carson.

  • cindy

    no no no no coaltion.

  • cindy

    maybe not run out of town by his own party, but given bad advice by his party, and hence, run out of town.

  • cindy

    those Liberals who are concerned about this election, need to retire!

    • Thwim

      Uh.. you do know that you can have more than one line per message, right?

      • jonatwitan

        But

      • jonatwitan

        Thwim

      • jonatwitan

        that

      • jonatwitan

        would

      • jonatwitan

        be

      • jonatwitan

        much

      • jonatwitan

        less

      • EeeOar

        I see what you're doing there, with those multiple posts…you're just giving us more opportunity to help you salvage your reputation/score….well I did what I could. You're welcome. ;-)

        • jonatwitan

          Thanks, that was the secondary reason (closely behind the obvious joke). I made some comments last week in support of the Harper regime and I nosedived from +60 to -40 before I could say "super formidable political operator"!

          That degree of change is like travelling from Saskatoon to Fort Myers in the middle of February!

    • http://twitter.com/matwilson6 @matwilson6

      Conservatives are way too confused to be able to govern. Obama is a Reagan Democrat, Hilary Clinton is a Goldwater Republican, Reagan was Nixon's puppet, Bush was Cheney's gopher and now, Donald Trump wants to fire them all.

      The ONLY thing that these has-beens and wanabes have in common is this:

      http://ahabit.com/axiom.htm

      There's no business like show bu$ine$$ !

      Politics is the biggest Cabaret show on the planet. The Conservatives poured money into Obama's campaign because they hated and feared the candidacy of Hilary Clinton, and when Obama won, they were so shocked they tried to Tea Party him out of town, but America's Gadaffi survived. Perhaps, they have settled down because they have finally realized that Obama is the real thing -a Reagan Democrat.

      Pompous Canadians, who make fun of the politics south of the border, ought to realize that we are just like them. Harper is a spendthrift Liberal and Ignatieff is a fiscal Conservative. What on earth do you expect when the head of Canada's huge deficit is a lawyer like Jim Flaherty?

  • D-R

    Running on nothing worked last time, right?

    Were there any non-budget things in this document like last year?

    • Jan

      New feature – Harper photo gallery.

  • cindy

    "Harper is ……formidable political operator". Really, not one majority and everyone hates him now. Really?

    • Alan

      "Everyone hates him", strong statement, I don't so that already nullifies this statement.

  • cindy

    Ignatieff was not around when Sponsorship occurred. Best thing ever for Liberal Party at this time.

    • FVerhoeven

      But many of the Liberal MP's sitting behind him were 'just sitting' there when the sponsor ship scandal took place

  • Cindy

    I don't know whether to call you two Bonnie and Clyde, Laverne and Shirley or Wayne and Shuster? It's all good. I love Coyne and Wells.

    • BCer in Mtl

      Cognac & Bologna?

      • Orson Bean

        Kudos for the obscure Doug and the Slugs reference.

  • http://accidentaldeliberations.blogspot.com The Jurist

    Re: the Cons and the airwaves, does Coyne not realize that the spending limits mean the Libs and NDP will be substantially matching the Cons' spending during the campaign, while the absence of government-based ads may actually mean the Cons have less presence than for most of the past couple of years?

    • http://twitter.com/andy_sayers @andy_sayers

      Perhaps Coyne meant that the Cons will flood the airwaves from now until the official writ is dropped. Which is what they are doing.

  • jonatwitan

    Ummm, he more than admitted that.

  • jonatwitan

    Next week, on Harper: SUPER! FORMIDABLE! POLITICAL! OPERATOR!…

    • FVerhoeven

      Hey, how come your total points go down but mine stay at 84 – plus!

      • jonatwitan

        Yeah, I don't know what the deal….liberal conspiracy no doubt!

  • LC Bennett

    The duo may have been wrong about the election year but they certainly have improved their videos. It is much easier to watch them in a coffee break setting than their original mom’s basement web-cam thing – good decision.

    As for the election, Ignatieff will still have difficulty connecting with voters outside of the J-club. A year of handshakes and BBQs has not improved his popularity. It is not a co-incidence that those numbers drop the more he is in front on the cameras.

    • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

      I think that's a good point. The assumption has been that he'll be a better campaign that Dion was. However, Iggy has two challenges to overcome. One, his bio. Dion, for all his broken English, stayed here to fight for national unity. Iggy was in Britain and Harvard forever. Two, Iggy's manner. He might well come across as the kind of arrogant elitist that the Conservatives have been depicting him as all along – even if his English is flawless.

  • Reverend_Blair

    First…great improvement on the sound quality. Thank you for that.

    Second…How come I keep hearing reporters (not just you two) say that they didn't know what Layton was going to do? I'm sitting out here in Winnipeg with no access to anybody, I didn't get to read the budget in lock-up, and I knew that there was a better than even chance Layton was going to pull the plug.

    Andrew did mention that the NDP doesn't get as much coverage as the other parties, which is true. Here's a thought. Cover the NDP as much as you cover the other parties, do it honestly, and next time maybe you'll know what Layton is going to do.

    • FVerhoeven

      I agree. The NDP warrants much more coverage. The NDP may not be my choice for political party, but they always have some things to stand on. Always. So much cannot be said about the Liberals lately.

  • FVerhoeven

    Like the format better of the two of them being in one room together (Coyne and Wells that is)

    Comment:

    running on the budget – not much there, when you break it all down

    running on the scandals – not much there, when you break it all down

    Pretty evenly matched, I would say!

  • Terence

    Was that Jason Kenney eavesdropping at the 7:30 mark?

  • luke

    why is it the commercials work fine but when i get to the actual video it doesn't work?

    • madeyoulook

      The ad wasn't very challenging to bandwith: mostly still photos, so it didn't freeze up. Is my guess.

    • Jan

      I always have freeze up problems with he Wells/Coyne videos – not with anything else.

  • madeyoulook

    Multi-camera! You guys are going all pro on us!

    And then Paul goes and says something bizarre like "let's suppose the Liberals get 130 seats…"

  • Conservanation

    It will be interesting to watch "we Americans" Iggy (and cancer stricken Jack) going after Stephen Harper and trying to convince Canadians to evict the Harper Family … Rachel, Benjamin, Laureen and Stephen …from 24 Sussex and replace them with born-again pretend Canadian Iggy and his non-Canadian wife … who's only mutual interest seems to be reading books and sipping fine wines.

    • Jan

      What a classless post.

    • TimesArrow

      Get out there on the campaign trail and say that…i'll guarantee you'll hand Ignatieff the sympathy vote. There is no such thing in this country as a unCanadian individual; it's an American import we should not put up with.If you're right and i'm wrong, then i have badly misjudged my country.

  • TimesArrow

    Way to throw PWs under the bus Andrew. That was most adroitly done. Quick to the punch too.
    It gets better and better. Maybe Coyne vs Wells will wind up challenging at issue for popularity…that would put AC in a bit of a quandary.

    Although i am overstating the impact of macleans just a bit i suppose?

  • Dot

    I'm all confused. Wells is on the left, and Coyne is on the right.

  • Dot

    My election strategy if I was a Liberal – promote team, and try to put Harper into a funk – he'll self destruct.

    • TimesArrow

      Agree. He was said to be close to quitting over the coalition fiasco – there's still a pouty little boy in SH that would like to take his ball and go home.

  • Zach Goudie

    Great job on the production! The steady cameras, the quiet ambiance and excellent sound quality, the choice of a booth in the back to avoid the distracting hustle and bustle of servers and other customers…it all adds up to a really professional looking and entertaining package. With the production elements all working together, it's much easier to focus on the substance of the discussion, which I believe was also helped by the in-person setting. It's hard to have a quality back-and-forth with webcams, talking over each other becomes an issue and it's just more difficult to get a natural, conversational rhythem going. This set-up is a huge improvement over both the traditional Coyne vs. Wells webcam style and last week's initial foray into the real world. Excellent job all around! Cheers.

    • Claire Ward

      Thanks Zach! We've certainly learned from our earlier attempts.

  • hems

    Regarding format – improving with every take. Well done Maclean's in shaking up the format. I like the more steady camera and better sound. The location is interesting but looked a little barren. Was it not happy hour at the bar? I'm encouraging Wells and Coyne to keep trying this kind of format.

    Here's an idea – how about you run a little write-in contest and ask followers to suggest a location? Winner gets to be a guest pundit or suggest a lead topic?

    • TimesArrow

      I'm going for hooters. Do they still have hooters?…maybe not…

      But i am looking forward to the shirtsleeves and the barbie…and the cool one of course…make mine a Hefe Weizen guys.

  • Judge Roy Bean

    I can see where these 'debates' appeal to the Toronto 'elite' on the left but methinks to middle-class Canada they aren't accomplishing much more than a couple old gals around a sewing circle. A guy and his wife sitting around the kitchen table want to talk about how party policies are going to affect them and could care less about what a hero/idiot Layton is. Please put some substance in these discussions. I know, hard to do for said eastern 'elite'.

    • Fred

      I sincerely hope you are not an actual judge

    • TimesArrow

      Just exactly what would two pundits in the west be saying any differently right about now.? Hating eastern elites isn't any more moral than hating western hicks, is it?

    • katie smith

      Dude, if you don't like them, don't watch … myself? Love them …

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