Conservatives REALLY Frighten BC Liberals!
By Harvey Oberfeld
The most interesting thing about those latest radio ads by the BC Liberals is the fact they were done at all … now … more than 18 months (supposedly) before the next provincial election. And there’s an entire website set up just to attack BC Conservative leader John Cummins! Congratulations, John! You’ve now officially made it as a real force in BC politics.
The Liberals are clearly running scared … very scared!
Christy Clark decided not to hold an election so she could concentrate instead on jobs, families and the economy. I suspect almost no one believes that (do the Liberals ever learn?).
The truth was no doubt that internal polling told the Liberals they would not win at this time, and that their only hope would be to wait so they could chip away at support for their old nemesis, the NDP.
But neither of the recently-released Liberal radio ads go after the NDP at all: they’re both totally aimed at discrediting Cummins, leader of the Conservatives! Until now, widely regarded as a small, weak, largely still unknown, splinter party with candidates (apart from leader John Cummins) few have ever heard of or with specific policies many voters could enunciate.
Not any more!
Liberal internal polling must be showing that a very large number of fed up and disaffected former Liberal supporters are indeed moving their hopes, their support and the voting intentions to the Conservatives.
And the longer the un-elected, ineffective, and increasingly unbelievable Campbell …oops, Clark … remains at the helm, the Liberals are steering right towards the rocks–and disaster.
While Cummins and the Conservatives are on the rise (with 18 months to continue building and growing as a true free enterprise small business, socially conservative alternative) Clark fumbles, stumbles and crumbles. The Liberals will increasingly be in trouble with their constituency.
That’s I suspect is what the party strategists see in the party’s future, and thus, the campaign has begun …not against the NDP (that need only take place closer to the actual election) but against their real current rivals, John Cummins and his Conservative alternative.
And if I was a Liberal backer …political or financial (which you all know I am not:) ), I’d be even more worried now after listening to the recent Liberal ads. You can hear them both and visit the anti-Cummins website by clicking HERE.
Negative ads DO work, but I believe these do more to remind the politically-attuned more about the past dismal double-dipping history of the Liberals and Campbell than anything Cummins has done.
Both ads talk about “unprincipled politicians”. Ring any bells? Bet it’s not Cummins who comes to mind! And the second almost had me falling off my chair with laughter when it asks: How can you trust a politician who says one thing and does another?
Exactly! Good point! I agree!
However, how could ANY Liberal strategist think that’s a good point to draw attention to with British Columbians at this time? It made me–and I’m sure almost everyone who heard it–think more about Campbell (over and over … too many reasons to list here) and Clark (as the new premier I will seek an early election!) than anything Cummins ever said or did.
Do you think the Liberals could have a secret Conservative agent in their midst? LOL! Probably not.
Yet another example of how the party is floundering. No wonder they decided not to hold an election now, and no wonder that Clark just seized power without putting forward either herself as premier or her agenda/platform for public approval before pushing it all through the legisalture with dictatorial powers over the next 18 months.
All the while Cummins and the Conservatives will continue to grow and build as an honourable free enterprise alternative to the NDP … and the Liberals.
Harv Oberfeld is a blogger, retired broadcaster, and journalist. This column originally appeared in his blog, Keeping It Real. Posted with permission.
