The YouTube campaign

Amateur attack ads against Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff are showing up on YouTube:

Yesterday, the Internet link to a homemade attack ad questioning Bob Rae's credentials as a Liberal was circulating among party members and was featured on Liberal blogs.

Using the Sister Sledge song We Are Family as a soundtrack, the video features quotes from Mr. Rae, criticizing the Liberals during his previous life as a New Democrat.

"Choosing between Liberals and Tories is, at times, like choosing between cholera and leprosy," Mr. Rae is quoted as saying.

[...]

Earlier videos posted on YouTube focused on Mr. Rae's record as Ontario premier. One, set to Strauss's Blue Danube waltz, asks, "Remember Rae Days?" then blames Mr. Rae for "record unemployment, huge deficits, massive provincial debt," even potholes. "Imagine if we gave him a whole country to f--- up," it concludes.

Mr. Ignatieff has come under fire for his writings on torture, his support for the Iraq war and his bumbling campaign, among other things. One spot has a crudely animated Ignatieff saying, "Hi, I'm Michael Ignatieff and I'm running for leader of the Republican Party," before a director yells, "Cut!" and reminds him he's seeking the Liberal leadership.

Another, titled The Rookie, highlights a number of Ignatieff miscues that he later had to correct. It ends by asking, "Michael as leader? No thanks."

The most professional-looking videos were posted by "VideoGRIT," who attacks both Rae and Ignatieff. He (or she) also says Iggy and Stephen Harper are just George W. Bush because, um, they've been photographed pointing their fingers. (Which Liberals never do, of course.)

The National Post calls the YouTube videos "nasty," but are they really any more underhanded than official campaign ads? None of the ones I watched argue that Rae or Iggy will put soldiers. With guns. In our cities. I am not making this up.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at November 15, 2006 08:38 PM