I wasn't sure I had enough material to write even a short post about day three of Andrew Scheer's Great Con Clown Tour of London.
And his desperate attempt to land a big league photo-op, with someone famous, or just important.
Only to fail, again and again.
But Scheer does have something to celebrate these days. For while the Con media is failing to ask him what exactly he's doing in London.
It seems that its hysterical coverage of Justin Trudeau's visit to India has worked.
And Trudeau has been damaged.
A new Abacus poll suggests that the gap between the Liberals and the Cons is narrowing.
The results of our latest survey (February 23rd to March 4th, sample of 4,023 across Canada) reveals that the Liberal Party has seen its support drop to 36%, the lowest we have measured since the election in 2015. The Conservatives are close behind with 33% followed by the NDP with 18%.
And that it's all about India.
Performance assessments of Mr. Trudeau suggest that his trip to India had a lot more to do with the decline in support than the recent budget. Assessments of his handling of the economy, taxpayers’ money, and debt/deficits, are little changed from October 2017. However, his rating for how he has represented Canada internationally has dropped 16 points during that same time.
Even though the budget is infinitely more important than anything that happened during that visit.
And what's even more bizarre, is that although Justin Trudeau has put Canada on the map again after the grim and boring Harper years, and greatly improved its image in the eyes of the world.
Many Canadians believe that one week in India, was enough to blow that new found pride out of the water.
We don’t have the appropriate data to confirm which aspects of his trip to India may have been most harmful to his image, but it’s likely that any combination of the images and videos of his appearances, process questions about invites to certain individuals, or the perception that he may have been snubbed by Indian leaders, could have left Canadians feeling discomforted.
For some, the mocking Mr. Trudeau received from media and comedians clashed with their perceptions of him, making his actions hard to defend and in conflict with the pride they felt in Canada being noticed again on the world stage.
Which of course couldn't be more absurd, since the truth is most of the world either didn't notice, or didn't care.
And it was only the Con media who made it sound important....
Or made themselves sound important.
Which is hilarious.
Except for the fact that they are promoting the rise of Scheer and his alt-right Cons, who are a threat to every Canadian value we believe in.
Especially the rights of women...
And must be resisted by whatever democratic means necessary.
And the good news?
Because the India story really isn't as important as all the other problems we face, it will almost certainly be quickly forgotten.
And in the meantime there are ways to hold the Cons and their stooge media accountable.
You know the other day I saw Postmedia's big boss Paul Godfrey on TV, angrily complaining that the Liberals weren't giving the Con media enough money to survive.
And it was really entertaining....
An angry Paul Godfrey, CEO of Postmedia Network says the program to boost local journalism in the Federal budget won't do anything to help existing media, and the lack of government support for the industry will lead to poorer journalism for Canadians. pic.twitter.com/8folXNPo6K— On The Money (@OnTheMoneyCBC) February 28, 2018
But when it was over, and I had stopped laughing, I thought no, don't give the Con media a penny...
Let them pay for their orgy of bias.
And their crass assault on our democracy.
Criticize them, boycott them, cancel your subscriptions.
And let them slip gently beneath the waves to the place where they belong...
At one point the con media was going to find something that momentarily wounded Trudeau. The bright side of that poll is that his numbers on finance and the economy have not changed. This trip will pass, Trudeau will survive, but the con media won't.
ReplyDeleteHI anon@10:06 AM...yes I agree with you. When Trudeau's numbers on the economy have not changed, and twice as many Canadians believe he has what it takes to be a good PM than Scheer does, I don't believe this will be more than a temporary blip. Scheer's policies will sink him, and hopefully the Con media will suffer the same fate....
DeleteYes, they may have won this one battle. But they haven't won "the war" as they say.
DeleteIF Canadians vote in AS, then they deserve what they get! Look what happened south of our Border!
ReplyDeleteHi Kathleen....you're absolutely right, if Canadians vote in Scheer they will deserve what they will surely get. But luckily I remain confident that will not happen. Scheer is still largely unknown, and I am sure that the more Canadians get to know him, the less they will like him....
DeleteI agree this dumb India story will be forgotten, Scheer will be exposed for what he is, and the Con media will be swimming with the fishes long before the next election.
ReplyDeleteThis story just happened south of the border, and it shows why it's so important to defend the rights and dignity of minorities -- Sikhs and Muslims in particular:
Deletehttps://www.sfgate.com/news/article/An-ex-deputy-rammed-a-truck-into-a-store-because-12735977.php
Sikhs are often at the bitter end of anti-Muslim hate crimes due to ignorant racists' "confusion" about any brown person in a turban. They were victimized after 9/11 and clearly they continue to be victimized today. The fact that the cons attempted to link Canadian Sikhs with "terrorism" in that epic fail of a bill (and continue to do so by rejecting the very term "Islamophobia" and fomenting conspiracies about M-103) puts them squarely in the same ideological camp as this bigoted cop.
Please share this story with whoever you can. A similar event happening on the watch of Andrew Scheer would not be met with the kind of empathy or tact that it would be on the watch of Justin Trudeau.
And speaking of which, Simon, I would love to see an article about Moron Max Bernier's racist temper tantrum in front of Ahmed Hussen and Celia Cervannes the other day. His Twitter defenders were egging him on to keep stonewalling her, using the most deplorable words of encouragement anyone could imagine: "make that n--- b---h beg, Max." You stay classy, Mr. "Freedom of Speech." Read any good classified dossiers today, Max? How about your latest main squeeze? Gonna buy five copies for your mother?
Max Headroom or should I say Minimum Brainroom knows as much about Martin Luther King as Dodge Trucks does. But these are the fellow travelers in Andrew Scheer's biker gang. Canadians vote for the party, not the candidate, but clearly the two are inseparable. The "party" is a Klanbake at Mar-a-Lago, and the candidate is another Yankee-style hate Crusader minus the orange spray tan.
Many, many more people need to become aware of this. BIGLY.
Hi anon@12:47PM...I have to believe that this farce will end soon, because that's all it has ever been. The stooges in the Con media have shamed themselves beyond redemption, and I for one will not shed any tears if they all lose their jobs. It's going to take a major convulsion for something better to arise from the ashes of the old...
DeleteHi Jackie...thanks for sharing that story. I have been horrified by the way the Cons have tried to smear Sikh Canadians, by forgetting the pogroms carried out against them, and branding them all as terrorists. The ignorance of those who attack them because they think they are Muslims is simply disgusting. As for the Bernier story, I have thought of writing something about it but have been too beat to do anything about it. I will try again this weekend...
DeletePoor Cons, the Ipsos poll had them ahead 38-33 and they were already celebrating and calling Schmear Mr Prime Minister. Ha ha ha ha how sad for them.
ReplyDeleteThe results of our latest survey (February 23rd to March 4th, sample of 4,023 across Canada)...
DeleteSo half the poll was taken before his disaster in India. Next poll should be even worse for the Liberals. All we need is the NDP (the useful idiots they are) to get a bit more support to split the progressive vote and Voila! Prime Minister Scheer.
Hi anon@12:57 PM...yes, so much for that Ipsos poll. The situation is not good, but it's not as bad as that. The relentless assault of the Con media has helped Scheer, but his turn is coming and by the time it's over there won't be much left of him...
DeleteHi anon@3:13 PM...I don't know what you are smoking , but could I have some please? Seriously your analysis is flawed. The India story is already withering on the vine, and since it was an emotional reaction, it will almost certainly fade rather than grow. As for the NDP it's not going anywhere, so voila, neither is Scheer....
DeleteThe con media and the con math polling combine to lay hurt on JT. We saw the same thing in the long election Harper cheated and Canadians sent him packing.
ReplyDeleteIf any voter changes their vote due to JT allegedly wearing Indian Wedding dress, we dont need them, vote for strange.
I doubt JT would be wearing inappropriate costumes. Its a con media echo
chamber event.
Hi Steve...yes, we have seen the same thing before. The Con media has always tried to serve its corporate masters. Who can forget the front page ad in the National Post or the way the Globe endorsed the Cons but not Harper? I think Trudeau probably overdid the traditional garb thing a bit. But the passage of time will make people smile, rather than grind their teeth as the Con media seems to be doing...
DeleteThis is discouraging, and it shows that Canadians are unfortunately susceptible to propaganda and fake news from the fourth estate turned fifth column. Which is why a grassroots messaging endeavor is all the more important: not just social media, but a letter-writing campaign, get-out-the-vote initiatives, and demonstrations out in the streets.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, the G7 conference is right around the corner in May, followed by the marijuana legalization this summer. When Trump humiliates himself in Canada like he has everywhere else around the world, Canadians will be reminded of how good they've got it. I remember when he plummeted in the polls after the idiotic and overblown Fidel Castro controversy. That was right after Trump got elected, and now the mere mention of "Trudeau" and "Castro" in the same sentence looks like the ramblings of a conspiracy kook. Canadians are going to see exactly what an Americon deplorable looks like on their own turf. Scheer can't distance himself from Trump, lest he risk losing the Rebel scum that comprises his base. He's in a no-win situation. So as bad as Trump has been for the whole world and certainly for America, by comparison anything and anyone that's Not Trump is good for Canada and good for other countries who want nothing to do with far-right scumbags in his circle. Everything he touches dies an embarrassing death.
People are going to get to know Andrew Scheer plenty when he takes off from Mar-a-Lago and crashes the party in Montréal. It's up to us to turn up the megaphone and let them get to know him even louder. You can easily judge the man by the company he keeps. Like I said: he wants to roll around with Hitler's dogs, he's going to find himself in a bunker full of fleas.
hi Jackie....yes I agree with you, since we can't rely on the Con media to do a balanced job, we are going to have to rely on our own resources. There are a lot of grubby old men who hate Trudeau because he is for women rights and gay rights, and look for any excuse to put him down. But the younger generation doesn't see him like that, doesn't live in a bible of misery, and they will almost certainly help him win the next election....
DeleteLiving in the Justin bubble, unable to recognize any criticism of the man whatsoever, no wonder you're shocked.
ReplyDeleteI'm to the political left of these clucking neoliberal Liberals, and I know an airhead like JT when I see one. The NDP are even more useless. The Cons and Scheer are ridiculously awful. We need a new political party with someone like Corbyn to tell us the truth in a Canadian context. Trudeau sure ain't that man. He's a dope, pure and simple and not a patch on his old man, someone who made me hold my head up high as a Canadian when I travelled overseas. In fact, JT is highly embarrassing from beginning to end.
BM
Have you looked at the calendar lately? The current year is not 1970. Pierre has been dead for almost 20 years. He would be 100 years old (in fact, almost to the day) by the time the next election comes around. This is a very different political landscape that includes the Internet, 24/7 cable fake news, and a rabid Conservative Party full of Nazis-by-any-other-name ("Maple Republicans") that would make Diefenbaker retch and Hitler applaud. Perhaps get out of your Corbyn/Sanders bubble and be mature enough to appreciate a little thing called STRATEGIC VOTING. It's Bernouts such as yourself who cost us Statesiders the 2016 election to "teach the clucking neoliberals" a lesson. A lesson in what? Bend the knee or off with our heads? Dream of revolution all you want, but face reality: your choice for 2019 is pink socks or jackboots. I'll take the pink socks any day. Just like in 2016 it was the pant suit versus the brown shirt with Russian ties. We ended up with the brown shirt because spoilers stayed home and threw a tantrum over not getting their ice cream and a unicorn. Grow up and stop demanding the whole world on a silver platter. You have no idea what you're talking about.
DeleteTrudeau isn't perfect. Neither was Hillary or Obama. But when push comes to shove, you have to make a choice for the benefit of OTHER PEOPLE besides your spoiled, solipsistic self. We would not be facing the prospect of nuclear war, mass deportation squads, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade if the ideological purists had "checked their privilege and be quiet" and hold their nose even if they didn't like Hillary. But no, they threw their votes away for Stein, Johnson, Mickey Mouse, a blank ballot, no ballot at all. The rest is history and so are we.
Oh, and as for traveling overseas, I don't know what parts of the world you're visiting, but Justin is a bona fide rock star adored by world leaders and regular folks alike. Many of whom miss Obama, plus some older ones who fondly recall the Kennedy brothers. A poll at Davos listed Canada as a close second to Switzerland in terms of best countries to live in. The IMF listed Canada as fastest growing economy in the G7. Google and Amazon are looking to Toronto as 21st-century tech hubs because EVERYONE is bailing on the fascist, xenophobic, backwards United States. AMERICANS traveling abroad decorate themselves in Canadian garb out of embarrassment over our Cheeto-in-Chief, and because we and so many others are proud of the tremendous international standing that Trudeau has lifted Canada to. I know what kind of reaction the world has to (not) my president versus your prime minister. Trudeau being a "dope" is ad hominem BS.
If Trudeau makes you embarrassed when traveling abroad, that's your problem, not his. Take what you can get or EVERYONE will be hanging their heads in Schame over having to explain what the hell happened that they went with a Proud Boy religious fascist over the Gen-X version of Mister Rogers. What are you going to say then? "Because it's 1933"?
hi BM...I have never said that Trudeau is perfect, and I don't agree with everything he has done, just most things. But while we wait for another Corbyn Messiah to emerge or decent upon us, Trudeau is the best we got, and the one most able to stop the Cons from returning to power. Also, Trudeau Jr is not an airhead, and his old man was not perfect either. He imprisoned hundreds of innocent people during the FlQ Crisis, and he was a sexist in the style of his times.
DeleteLike many older men in this country you may not care about women's rights or gay rights, but I and millions of other do, and we will not be silenced. And let me tell you something, when I travel overseas as I do frequently, Justin Trudeau is the most popular Prime Minister in the history of Canada. And that's not going to change just because him and his family put on some colourful Indian clothes, or the rotten Con media cooked up some ridiculous fake scandal. It's time for a lot of older men in this country to stop clinging to the past and the patriarchy, and give way to a new and better generation who will build a better world whether they like it or not...
hi Jackie...yes, as I told BM, wherever I have been overseas, I have been mobbed by people of all ages who wish that Justin Trudeau was their leader. It's actually quite annoying at times, but it's a reality that cannot be denied. And to think that all those people have changed their minds because of what happened in India is absolutely ridiculous...
DeleteThe Cons have been in personal JT attack mode since the last election. Their weapon of choice is large scale and repetitive distribution of brief narrowly focused video clips attempting to show Trudeau in a negative light. So far its gone unchecked but the latest poll just shows that the Liberal spin machine needs to step up to the plate. Its not that difficult, they just need to set the agenda and force the Con bushwhackers out into the open for a fair fight. Investigation into who is publishing all of the video snips that turn up online less than 24 hours after question period would be a good place to start. I suspect that once they start peeling back the Scheer facade it will be a gift that keeps on giving.
ReplyDeleteVideo is the weapon of choice because like a magic act in addition to the verbal,sight and sound can be used to convince the audience they saw the impossible. Some smart lawyers and journalists can do it in writing but it is sooo much easier in a video. Unfortunately with Deepfakes enhanced video it is going to quickly get a whole lot worse and laws are going to have to change if democracy is to survive. https://www.fastcodesign.com/90162494/the-war-on-whats-real
The good news is that the UK is taking the initiative with sewer rats like Watson and Robinson bemoaning the fact that they won't be around much longer but not to despair as they have a bigger and bolder plan.
RT
hi RT...the Cons have been in personal attack mode since Justin Trudeau entered politics. It has been the most disgusting example of Republican style political bullying I have ever seen in my life. The Scheer gang is only doing what the Harper gang did.
DeleteAnd the only thing that has changed is that the Con media is is now more desperate and more blatant, and is now openly threatening our democracy. We need to strike back and strike back hard. And yes, I read about the Watson/Robinson bust, and I'd like to see Levant and some of the other hate mongers in this country suffer the same fate...
As far as the Con Media goes Simon, if they provided more balanced coverage on issues maybe I could agree to aid with some financial support. However based on their track records, they would continue to bite the hands that fed them when any of our governments are non-con.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see or hear Paul Godfrey,I'm reminded of an aged poem called "Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore" and I certainly wouldn't object if he was sent Singapore with a shutter, a sail and oar. RG
Always a media conspiracy or an Opposition witch hunt with the Liberal supporters. It's NEVER Trudeau's fault.
ReplyDelete