Signs signs everywhere a sign*

As sure as the sighting of the first Robin is a sign of spring approaching, so is the return of The Campaign of Fear™ a sure sign that the Liberals feel that they are in trouble.

From Question period, February 13th, 2007. A big tip of the hat to Officially Screwed.





Some history:

The Liberals first saw the results of scaring Canadians with the use of the Campaign of Fear™ in the 2000 Federal election when Jean Chrétien faced off against Stockwell Day and the Alliance Party. The Alliance were portrayed as racist rednecks with a Neanderthal as a leader in an election campaign that Chrétien, to his full credit had called on the bluff of the rookie leader Day. The election was in the bag from the beginning, but it was here that the Liberals first got the taste of something that would turn up again in following election campaigns; creating fear in the electorate works.

By the time that Jean Chrétien had started his long goodbye, Paul Martin had been busy working to gain control of the LPC to become its leader, and once the coronation was completed, stories of a potential huge majority for Martin soon filled the MSM. Those predictions soon hit a snag as Auditor General Sheila Fraser brought forward evidence of scandal in Quebec and the once touted huge majority looked to be in doubt once the election of 2004 got under way. With the polls indicating that newly elected Conservative leader Stephen Harper was gaining strength over Martin, the Liberals looked to the past for advice and brought out the Campaign of Fear™ for another appearance in an effort to improve their fortunes. Soon Canadians were bombarded with advertisements proclaiming that a vote for Stephen Harper would not only destroy the country, create more gun crime, stamp out abortion and gay rights, but may just be a vote for the devil himself. ( I could use some links to the 2004 ads. If you have any links, please email me or put them into the comments) The end result was that fear mongering had worked again and Paul Martin ascended the thrown, not on his own merits, but by scaring the people he wanted to represent away from the Conservatives and Stephen Harper.

Paul Martin had achieved his goal of doing what his Daddy was never able to do, but with more details of Adscam emerging everyday on the front pages of the MSM, and the fact that he never really had any goals once he had obtained that power; the Paul Martin government fell and an election was called for January 23, 2006. In an election that started out with Paul Martin proclaiming that he would run a positive campaign on his record, and with advertisements of him sitting on a porch wearing a spiffy sweater talking to Canadians, soon saw that sweater hung up and a return to the old standard Campaign of Fear™ with its message of 'Choose your Canada'. With their backs against the wall the Liberals dusted off their old playbook and Canadians were again told of the 'hidden agenda' of Stephen Harper and his plans for deficit spending, his ties to the evil USA, the destruction of health care along with woman's right to choose, and with these came the ultimate example of just how far the Liberals would stoop in this smear effort, the 'soldiers in our cities' advertisement.



So confident were the Liberals in their oft used Campaign of Fear™ that some of the ads had the audacity of carrying the tag lines of, "We did not make that up" "We're not allowed to make stuff up." This time, on the third trip to the 'scary' well, it was just to much to believe for most Canadians and the Liberals were defeated as Stephen Harper was elected as Prime Minister of Canada, albeit with a minority government.


To borrow a line from Jack Layton; the Liberals went to the repair shop after their 2006 election loss for some much needed work, but instead of real repairs and change, the Liberals held a leadership convention of B list contenders, put a quick green paint job on the winner, and claimed they were all better and ready again to lead Canadians. The quick makeover first looked to be working, but after an initial honeymoon period of high hopes and expectations, Stephane Dion and his party now are appearing to be in some trouble as Canadians are looking behind the fresh green paint job and seeing that what is underneath is just the same old tired Liberal red.

While the Liberals today may deny that they are starting to worry about their new leader and political future; the return once again of the Campaign of Fear™ is a sure sign that they are feeling the heat and are getting desperate. Even though all of the previous claims and scare tactics from the Liberals have turned out to be false as Stephen Harper has shown that he is not the right wing monster he has been portrayed as, you can expect much more of the same in the future from Dion and the Liberals as it is all they really have.

Al

A nice collection of Liberal Press releases courtesy of Christian Conservative

*with apologies to the Five Man Electrical Band and long haired freaky people everywhere.

As usual this entry is a work in progress and Links may be added as time permits.