Looking For Mr. Goodbar

TalkShowPushPolling
CandyLand

Back in the good old days, before he went prematurely grey and hit the 'Smoothie With A Heart of Gold' jackpot playing opposite Julia Roberts, Richard Gere often portrayed characters working the darker side of life's emotional ups and downs.

Like when he put on a bad Italian accent to chase down Diane Keaton in 1977's 'Looking for Mr. Goodbar'.

Now, I'm not trying to suggest that our good Premier's career parallels that of Mr. Gere's in anyway.

Well, except maybe for that premature greying part.

And besides, it took Mr. Campbell an extra thirty years, give or take a couple, to find his own Mr. Goodbar.

Because, by my reckoning at least, he found it this very morning, in the form of Bill Good Jr.

Now, never mind the talk-show format of Mr. Good's so-called debate, which was bad enough in and of itself (ie. have a candidate respond to a caller and then get slammed by opponents without chance for a rebuttal).

What really got me was something that I only noted in passing, but which David Schreck actually nailed to the wall using that most complicated of arithmetic operations - counting (darn him and his numbers anyway!).

Specifically, Schreck found that 14 of 18 (78%) total callers asked negative questions of Carole James which both Campbell and Adrienne Carr than jumped on, all of which was sandwiched around 'Pitbulling for Campbell' News Clips every 30 minutes and, in at least one case, a straight-up ad BC Liberal party ad.

Maybe, we shouldn't be too suprised though. After all, according to Ian King, Mr. Good has carried the water when Mr. Campbell has found himself in times of trouble in the past:

"CTV News at Six anchor and CKNW talk-show host Bill Good, who is chummy with Gordon Campbell, has declared that because the premier has decided not to resign, the public should move on. I gather, then, that Good believes that Campbell should not pay any political price for his transgressions - Jan 2003."

Clearly, the relatively fair and wide-open 2005 TV debate format, which was much improved over 2001, did not suit Mr. Campbell's handlers while this morning's 'Burns on the Line, Go Ahead Doll!' excercise in talk radio push-polling did.

Which brings up the larger issue - how do you deal with this kind of stuff?

In the old days Progressives had to just suck it up and go because it was the only game in town.

But now there are alternatives, like the Tyee, or even an off-the-reservation Rafe Mair.

In other words, next time the Waterboys (and girls) from Corus come calling I suggest that the James Gang should just tell them to take a hike.

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For anybody who missed it because they were listening to Brand X, Mr. Mair did a great job of holding Shirley Bond's feet to the fire this morning. Ms. Bond is in big trouble because Paul Nettleton, he being the former Liberal who had the guts to stand-up for the people of British Columbia by questioning his fearless leader's wonton acts of privatization, has moved across town in Prince George to challenge her as an independent (see back story here).

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