A regrettably salient feature of today's electoral politics are political party attack advertisements.
Everyone knows they distort the truth. They portray statements and events way out of context, and do more to discredit their party's opponents than they do to give credence to the views of their own party.
But rarely does anybody actually follow up the quoted statements in these ads to see just how badly out of context they are.
This National Post article does a great job in showing how badly this was done by the above Conservative Party attack ad.
The original statement made by Liberal Party President Alfred Apps on CBC's Evan Solomon's Power and Politics follows:
"Michael Ignatieff has been absolutely clear. There will be no additional taxes — iPod taxes, any taxes — on families. And what’s really interesting here, Evan, is the Tories are now having to face up to the fact that their corporate tax cut, at a time when Canadian families are squeezed, is actually giving us a platform. We are funding this by putting corporate taxes where they were, so that Canadian middle class families can actually get some help for pensions, for health care, for home care, for getting their kids to school. When Tories say we’re increasing taxes, damn right we are. We’re putting corporate taxes back up to where they were a year and a half ago. But that’s it. Families are getting the benefit."
While this statement says that the Liberals want to return the corporate tax rate back to its originl place at 16.5%, the attack ad distorts the message to make it appear that Mr. Apps was being confrontational
and belligerent about raising taxes across the board.
Once again, I wish Canadian politicians would stop insulting the intelligence of voters and demeaning the political process with these ads, and listen to the sage Tim Hortons-esque advice of Rex Murphy.
But rarely does anybody actually follow up the quoted statements in these ads to see just how badly out of context they are.
This National Post article does a great job in showing how badly this was done by the above Conservative Party attack ad.
The original statement made by Liberal Party President Alfred Apps on CBC's Evan Solomon's Power and Politics follows:
"Michael Ignatieff has been absolutely clear. There will be no additional taxes — iPod taxes, any taxes — on families. And what’s really interesting here, Evan, is the Tories are now having to face up to the fact that their corporate tax cut, at a time when Canadian families are squeezed, is actually giving us a platform. We are funding this by putting corporate taxes where they were, so that Canadian middle class families can actually get some help for pensions, for health care, for home care, for getting their kids to school. When Tories say we’re increasing taxes, damn right we are. We’re putting corporate taxes back up to where they were a year and a half ago. But that’s it. Families are getting the benefit."
While this statement says that the Liberals want to return the corporate tax rate back to its originl place at 16.5%, the attack ad distorts the message to make it appear that Mr. Apps was being confrontational
and belligerent about raising taxes across the board.
Once again, I wish Canadian politicians would stop insulting the intelligence of voters and demeaning the political process with these ads, and listen to the sage Tim Hortons-esque advice of Rex Murphy.
No comments:
Post a Comment