Former NDP Cabinet Minister Paul Ramsey wrote a solid forward-looking piece in the Tyee a while back in which he suggested that Gordo and Minions will soon attempt to lock the ugliest of their ideological twins in the closet during the run-up to the coming election:
"....It's the oldest political trick in the book: make "good news" announcements and increase the chances of success on election day. Improving education for our children is popular; cleaning up the environment is popular; buying better medical equipment for hospitals is popular. Strategists hope that some of the popularity of the actions will rub off on the politicians making them...."
And why not.
After all, when you've spent three years bashing the Peasants over the head with your Ne(r)oCon Fiddles the only sensible thing to do is pay your cronies big bucks to hand out a few bandaids to cover the lacerations and then move on.
Ramsey's comments were initially met with derision by many but now it appears that the process has begun in earnest according to Sean Holman at Private Eye.
First there was the Liberal-mandated hiring of Daniel Fontaine to run a nifty little Games 2010 P.R. Flackhouse called 'Legacies Now'. Those acquainted with the seedier side of Vancouver civic politics may remember Mr. Fontaine. He was the main fixer who was obtained on loan from Colin Hansen to run Jennifer Clarke's failed dirty trick-laden Mayoralty campaign. If you can't quite recall that debacle you will remember the internal NPA coup that got the ball rolling. That was the one where Big Developer friends handed Ms. Clarke a very sharp knife that she used to skewer incumbent mayor Philip Owen because he went crazy and started showing signs of independence, and even worse, concern for the junkies, the sick, and the whores.
But I digress, because when he's not shilling for the local liquor industry the Fixer Fontaine will now be:
".....using LegaciesNow announcements as part of their pre-election campaign, churning out photo-opportunities for government members....."
Nice work if you can stoop low enough to get it, but then comes flipside of the double-whammy, again according to Sean Holman:
"...A senior government insider travelling aboard the S.S. Gordon Campbell tells us some ministries have been instructed to "not even think" about legislation or regulations between now and May. The reason: the provincial Liberals will be too busy preparing for the next election...."
So that's the strategy is it then.....
NoNews + ShillSwill = GoodNews!
To simultaneously paraphrase the inimitable HS Thompson and the unbelievably angular Ric Ocasek, 'Res ipsa loquitur'.
And if by chance those good times aren't quite rolling in for you and yours, well, you can always ask those gin-soaked pre-Olympic partygoers the following question:
"Would you like fries with that?"
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