Martin's decline has only begun
The problem with a bounce is that after you go up, you are going to go back down.
Could you imagine six months ago reading things like what Paul Wells wrote today - which I think includes the first slag at Martin being too old:
".... The non-decision decision is becoming such a stock weapon in the Martin arsenal that he is the only man in Canada who thinks he's getting away with it. The non-decision decision joins the theya culpa and the substantive discussion about slogans (he advocated, to a room full of foreign-policy experts in Washington last week, that world leaders "get down to brass tacks and think outside the box." Hooray. Our prime minister is Darren Stevens from Bewitched) as the main weapons of the Martin arsenal.
It is fantasy to imagine this will ever change. The man is past retirement age. He is who he is going to be.
....
Jane's piece says Martin doesn't appear in his own ads. That makes sense; there's nobody there."
Or could you have forseen the media starting to wear thin on Martin's double speak and truth aversion in a photo op at the Princess Margaret Hospital:
Prime Minister Paul Martin warned against "chequebook" health-care yesterday at a campaign-style event in a Toronto hospital that offers basic health procedures after hours paid for under private contracts outside the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.
"I'm not going to comment on specific cases for which I don't have the information," Mr. Martin said when asked whether such contracts violate his concept of a publicly financed medicare system.
....
But he would not explain who, specifically, is advocating chequebook health care.
"Obviously there are a number of people right across the country who do. And I'm just telling you that I don't agree. . . . I'm not going to get into partisan politics," Mr. Martin said.
....
"I don't want to play politics with this," he said.
....
In Ottawa, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper charged that the Liberals have a vague medicare policy of attacking private delivery of health care while allowing it to continue.
"We have a government here that doesn't know about its own policy and talks about a 10-year plan nobody has ever seen," Mr. Harper said. He said as far as he is concerned, it does not matter how health care is delivered as long as a public medicare plan pays.
...."
And look how the Liberals are so concerned that they are using "Scary Movie" as the template for their election ads:
"....A second ad on Mr. Harper's Iraq position focuses on the leader's appearance on Fox TV last year.
"In an interview with an American TV network, Stephen Harper said he endorsed the war in Iraq and said he was speaking, quote, for the silent majority of Canadians. . . .," says a male narrator as music plays darkly.
"Does this sound like someone we can trust to lead the country?"
Seven of the ads under consideration feature either a still picture of Mr. Harper in the House of Commons or a close-up of his face.
All are accompanied by menacing and dramatic music and a male voice quoting Mr. Harper. ...."
Of course these ads are designed to combat the Liberal's problem of a Martin that is failing to come close to expectations - a 'non-political' friend told me he was surprised to find out that Martin was "a bumbling fool" - versus a Harper that is rising. John Ivison wrote this in the Post (transcribed by Warren K):
Similarly, attempts to paint Stephen Harper as "dangerous" may backfire if the public doesn't recognize the portrayal. When he smiles, he may look a little too much like Bruce the Shark from Finding Nemo for some people's liking, but one source who has done polling on Harper's "negatives" said that he has a "surprisingly high net positive."
And lastly, for a brief summary, read this from Larry Zolf:
".....Martin shows no natural capacity for being the prime minister," says my Liberal insider. "The people who work for Martin are the worst in history. They're worse than incompetent. Twice they let Martin in a speech praise the 60th anniversary of Canadian troops landing in Norway rather than in Normandy. That's real incompetence."
If Martin waits till the fall he'll be lucky to win. The longer he waits the more he runs the risk of the people seeing the emperor has no clothes. ...."
Could you imagine six months ago reading things like what Paul Wells wrote today - which I think includes the first slag at Martin being too old:
".... The non-decision decision is becoming such a stock weapon in the Martin arsenal that he is the only man in Canada who thinks he's getting away with it. The non-decision decision joins the theya culpa and the substantive discussion about slogans (he advocated, to a room full of foreign-policy experts in Washington last week, that world leaders "get down to brass tacks and think outside the box." Hooray. Our prime minister is Darren Stevens from Bewitched) as the main weapons of the Martin arsenal.
It is fantasy to imagine this will ever change. The man is past retirement age. He is who he is going to be.
....
Jane's piece says Martin doesn't appear in his own ads. That makes sense; there's nobody there."
Or could you have forseen the media starting to wear thin on Martin's double speak and truth aversion in a photo op at the Princess Margaret Hospital:
Prime Minister Paul Martin warned against "chequebook" health-care yesterday at a campaign-style event in a Toronto hospital that offers basic health procedures after hours paid for under private contracts outside the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.
"I'm not going to comment on specific cases for which I don't have the information," Mr. Martin said when asked whether such contracts violate his concept of a publicly financed medicare system.
....
But he would not explain who, specifically, is advocating chequebook health care.
"Obviously there are a number of people right across the country who do. And I'm just telling you that I don't agree. . . . I'm not going to get into partisan politics," Mr. Martin said.
....
"I don't want to play politics with this," he said.
....
In Ottawa, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper charged that the Liberals have a vague medicare policy of attacking private delivery of health care while allowing it to continue.
"We have a government here that doesn't know about its own policy and talks about a 10-year plan nobody has ever seen," Mr. Harper said. He said as far as he is concerned, it does not matter how health care is delivered as long as a public medicare plan pays.
...."
And look how the Liberals are so concerned that they are using "Scary Movie" as the template for their election ads:
"....A second ad on Mr. Harper's Iraq position focuses on the leader's appearance on Fox TV last year.
"In an interview with an American TV network, Stephen Harper said he endorsed the war in Iraq and said he was speaking, quote, for the silent majority of Canadians. . . .," says a male narrator as music plays darkly.
"Does this sound like someone we can trust to lead the country?"
Seven of the ads under consideration feature either a still picture of Mr. Harper in the House of Commons or a close-up of his face.
All are accompanied by menacing and dramatic music and a male voice quoting Mr. Harper. ...."
Of course these ads are designed to combat the Liberal's problem of a Martin that is failing to come close to expectations - a 'non-political' friend told me he was surprised to find out that Martin was "a bumbling fool" - versus a Harper that is rising. John Ivison wrote this in the Post (transcribed by Warren K):
Similarly, attempts to paint Stephen Harper as "dangerous" may backfire if the public doesn't recognize the portrayal. When he smiles, he may look a little too much like Bruce the Shark from Finding Nemo for some people's liking, but one source who has done polling on Harper's "negatives" said that he has a "surprisingly high net positive."
And lastly, for a brief summary, read this from Larry Zolf:
".....Martin shows no natural capacity for being the prime minister," says my Liberal insider. "The people who work for Martin are the worst in history. They're worse than incompetent. Twice they let Martin in a speech praise the 60th anniversary of Canadian troops landing in Norway rather than in Normandy. That's real incompetence."
If Martin waits till the fall he'll be lucky to win. The longer he waits the more he runs the risk of the people seeing the emperor has no clothes. ...."
