Tories lose again

A new poll on the Grewal mess says Canadians are more likely to believe the Liberals' explanation than the Conservatives:

The Conservatives strategy of releasing secretly taped conversations to embarrass the Liberals fell flat, according to a new survey obtained by The Canadian Press.

Respondents were slightly more inclined to believe the Liberal explanation of the taping affair than the version offered by Tory MP Gurmant Grewal, who made the tapes.

A poll by Decima Research said 25 per cent of respondents sided with the Liberals, compared to 23 per cent who said they believed Grewal.

"It has not worked as an effective attack on the Liberals," said Decima's Bruce Anderson.

"The public appears to have doubts about the credibility of the allegations and doubts about whether the country's political agenda should be focused on this matter."

The poll of 1,000 respondents was conducted from June 2 to June 5 - before Grewal took a stress leave this week because of an incident at Vancouver airport. The Surrey MP is taking an undetermined stress leave from his parliamentary duties.

A slideshow with an updated transcript, illustrating the sections conveniently cut from what Grewal originally released, can be found here. The Tories' incompetence here has been absolutely breathtaking, and Bob Tarantino chides the Conservatives for screwing it up so badly:

Yes, when weighing the wrongs here, the Liberals are the bad guys. And yes, Grewal's shenanigans with the tapes appear to be just dopey third-rate machinations. So, in the perfect world, if we're assigning guilt, Tim Murphy, Ujjal Dosanjh and Paul Martin are a bunch liars and scam artists. But c'mon: why does the CPC keep doing this? The Liberal-friendly media is going to crucify the CPC every chance they get; do we need to make it easier for them?

The focus in media coverage has now shifted almost entirely away from the improprieties of the Liberals and on to the purportedly Machiavellian antics cum-personal breakdown of Grewal. I woke up this morning and the most important thing which had happened in Canada over the last 24 hours (according to the Globe and Mail, at least) was that one of their photographers had apparently taken a picture of Grewal's nose with a zoom lens with which you could count the cilia on the legs of a fruit fly (I mean, seriously, if that cover photo today isn't argument #1 in "Why You Should Not Become a Public Figure Conservative in Canada", I don't know what possibly could be). And now? More of the same, more than likely.

Is there a way in which the CPC could stage-manage the media more effectively? Possibly. Possibly not, given the general loathing the CBC/Globe/Star axis has for them. But, again, why muddle around in penny-ante crap like this whole sordid affair? Do Grewal's actions excuse the Liberals? Of course not. But amateurism is, to put it mildly, not helpful in breaking through the media bias. Should the media play up the actions of Grewal, while burying the possibly unethical, possibly illegal actions of the Liberals? Nope. But why give them even the chance?

Posted by damian at June 8, 2005 07:30 AM | TrackBack