Tory Mudslinging? Er, Not Quite....

By Christie Adams on September 10th, 2008

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Three days into the Federal election campaign, and someone has already put their foot in it.
An internet spot on the Conservatives’ website notaleader.ca backfired when viewers reacted with disgust, not mirth, at an image of Liberal leader Stephane Dion getting pooped on by a puffin.
I suppose the Conservatives thought it was edgy. Apparently voters disagreed, because the ad was quickly yanked and, rather than try to justify the ad, Prime Minister Stephen Harper hastily apologized, calling it “tasteless and inappropriate”.
I guess he didn’t think so when it was reviewed for him. Then again, Harper also insisted he never saw the ad. Which just made things worse, because it looks like he doesn’t have complete control of his own campaign.
It’s unfortunate the Tories chose to go the bathroom humour route. As a campaign tool, notaleader.ca has the potential to elicit the kind of negative PR that makes the competitor look good in comparison.
Instead, they failed to read his audience and now have to spend time apologizing instead of furthering their campaign.
They’ve got a lot of ground to cover. This kind of ad makes it look like that, far from mud, all the Conservatives have to sling are schoolyard-level insults.