Stephane Dion's image used in a mean-spirited negative personal attack
Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion has repeatedly promised to avoid personal attacks. The high road would be his, he insists. Indeed, at one point, he said the Liberal Party as a whole would present a positive message to Canadians.
Criticism is not the same as negativity. Stephane Dion can (and does) criticize Prime Minister Stephen Harper's policies.
But when Stephane Dion implicitly allows his image to be used in a partisan political cartoon in which Dion is roasting Stephen Harper alive on a spit, Stephane Dion's promise is seriously undermined.
As personal attacks, it doesn't get much more personal than this:
Stephen Harper trussed up and over a fire, referred to as a pig, the spit being turned by Stephane Dion. The cartoon is printed on an apron.
Where can you get this apron? At the Liberal Party meetup in St John's, Newfoundland:
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion continued to attack the honesty of the Conservative government, saying Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tories can't be trusted.
At a news conference following his party's caucus meeting in St. John's on Wednesday, N.L., Dion used the examples of apparent aid problems in Afghanistan and whether the Conservatives did an end run around election spending restrictions during the 2006 federal election.
CTV's Roger Smith, in St. John's for the caucus, told Newsnet about one small item in demand at the meeting.
"The hottest-selling item here, this apron, selling for $20 by the Young Liberals," he said.
The apron shows Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a spit with an apple in his mouth. Dion is turning the spit, and a hog is basting Harper.
"Coming soon: The world's largest pig roast. See Harper's Conservatives go up in flames," reads the text.
It might be a small matter in the grand scheme of things, but when Stephane Dion speaks of keeping his word and being trustworthy, ought he not remember that he has, on multiple occasions, promised that personal attacks was not his style?
- Dion said he plans to "take the high road" in an election and avoid personal attacks on Harper - although he said Liberals believe the Tories are already planning attack ads featuring him. (Montreal Gazette, December 15, 2006)
- Dion vowed to stay away from personal attacks during the campaign. (Winnipeg Free Press, December 15, 2006)
- "You may have noticed that I don't attack the prime minister personally. I will not. I have heard that they are planning something about me -- they want to have that out in television ads as soon as possible but I will not do that. I want to take the high-road which is to compare two approaches for Canada in the 21st century," said Dion. (Winnipeg Free Press, December 15, 2006)
- "It's a very Bush style," he said with reference to U.S. President George W. Bush. "I will fight back, but not in negativity." (Montreal Gazette, March 31, 2007)
- "We'll fight back, but not with negative images," he told party faithful Tuesday night (Kenora Daily Miner and News, April 4, 2007)
Of course, Stephane Dion would not be the first politician in history to promise to run a positive campaign, and then delegate the vicious attacks to underlings. On that count, I can hardly fault him.
Having said that, in his comment in Kenora, Stephane Dion said "we" would not use negative images. "We" being the Liberal Party as a whole. I guess the NL Young Liberals didn't get the memo. I can't think of an image much more negative than the one on the apron.
A bit of free advice. If you promise to personally avoid personal attacks, then you should direct those underlings charged with launching negative attacks to avoid casting you in a personal attack as an active participant. Stephane Dion's Young Liberals of Newfoundland and Labrador made that cartoon up. These Liberals were selling the aprons while Stephane Dion was addressing the caucus. These Liberals were presumably not taken to task for using Stephane Dion's image as part of a rather violent political metaphor of Stephen Harper being burned alive.
It would seem, then, that the Liberal Party is endorsing the notion that Stephane Dion considers Stephen Harper to be a pig suited only for roasting (politically, of course).
Someone looking at this apron, realizing that it is semi-official Liberal Party memorabilia, would pause and wonder just Stephane Dion meant when he said he was going to avoid personal attacks. It's unfortunate for Stephane Dion that his word is being undermined by others.
Pig imagery is especially offensive to Muslims and Jews. Hopefully members of those groups don't take particular offense at the cartoon.
On the other hand, the aprons were selling well, and the Liberal Party could sure use the money.
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Comments
...i confess! i confess! I was channel surfing and landed on CBC ViewsWorld, err, Newsworld.
There was a good bit on Dion in Newfoundland. His motto was a pickup off Nfld - "ABC" (Anybody but Conservatives). Out west that has a differeent Edmonton saying, but I digress.
What is with the cod liver oil these folks drink in Newfoundland?
I talked with an in-law from NFLD and they said they won't forgive Harper for backing down on money transfers promised them in the last election.
So I said, oh what about the fish stocks, AdScam, Human Resorces, Gun Registry, Bilingualism then?
Posted by: tomax7 at August 30, 2007 09:55 AM
*Yawn*
This was produced by the Young Liberals. Dion didn't produce it.
Posted by: rob at August 30, 2007 10:02 AM
Is the one pouring on the sauce Danny Williams? This looks like the work of very young Liberals, say 11 or 12 year olds. Stephane Dion speaks with forked tongue.
Posted by: muttsrus at August 30, 2007 10:04 AM
Are you ever stupid, Janke. This wasn't even produced by Dion.
Posted by: Angry on a Great White Toilet at August 30, 2007 10:20 AM
I'll be the first post the obvious and ask "How would the Liberals react if Stephen Harper did this?"
These kind of things are just silly and stupid. Someone in the Young Liberals or the grown-up party itself should have nixed this apron long before it was sold at Liberal functions.
Posted by: alan at August 30, 2007 10:22 AM
This is a funny cartoon. Harper should be pleased. They have him as a skinny man, thinner than Dion.
Posted by: at August 30, 2007 10:41 AM
Are you ever going to stop playing the victims - poor, poor conservatives being attacked (by KIDS), boo hoo.
This is just stupid.
Dion didnt' do this and all you are trying to do here is stir up poop as usual.
It must be awful to have to live like that - looking for negatives all the time.
Take some prozac and get a real life.
Can you imagine trying to make such an issue of something done by kids? I can't believe it - pitiful.
Posted by: Sam at August 30, 2007 11:07 AM
*
steve... c'mon now, it's not steffi's fault that you can't speak fiberal.
*
Posted by: neo at August 30, 2007 11:40 AM
"Can you imagine trying to make such an issue of something done by kids? I can't believe it - pitiful."
I feel sorry for the YL's who have to put up with people who refer to them as 'kids'. They're 25 and under and, I suspect, most are legally adults. They should be treated as such.
Posted by: at August 30, 2007 11:41 AM
I'm pretty sure I made it clear that Dion did not make this cartoon, and that I didn't blame him for it. I'm warning him that if he continues to proclaim that he is not going to engage in negative personal attacks, he has to make sure none of his surrogates create negative personal attacks employing his name or image. When one branch of the Liberal organization uses Dion's name or image in a negative personal attack, it won't matter how much Dion says he's not being negative. People won't care as long as it is official or semi-official campaign literature or campaign advertising. If it's Dion's image, if it's from the Liberal Party, and if it's negative and personal, then Dion is being negative in the eyes of people who see this material.
That might not be fair to Dion, but that's the way it is.
Sheesh, try to help some people and all I get is grief.
Posted by: Steve Janke at August 30, 2007 11:46 AM
I feel sorry for the YL's who have to put up with people who refer to them as 'kids'. They're 25 and under and, I suspect, most are legally adults. They should be treated as such.
Well unless your name is Justin Trudeau. Then you're a Young Liberal still at 35.
Posted by: Reid at August 30, 2007 12:17 PM
It's the lack of leadership, Stupid.
Posted by: Joanne (TB) at August 30, 2007 12:24 PM
Has Monsieur Dion calculated 'ow much greenhouse gas dat barbecue produce?
(dat's not fair!)
As far as the Young Liberals are concerned, I can't help but wonder if they haven't issued a dagger yet -like another well-known youth group.
Posted by: up north at August 30, 2007 12:40 PM
The NL Liberals' cartoon shows Dion getting help from a contentedly smiling pig holding a drink while roasting the Prime Minister.
Given that pork is symbolic of cynical vote-buying in politics, I find the Young Liberals' dramatic impression of their leadership very insightful.
So, are NL Young Liberals pork-loving cannibals or do they just think their leader is?
But how does Iggy feel about the recent Liberal hoedown? If you go to the CTV story referenced by Steve above, and click on the image of Citoyen Dion, Iggy looks like he's either about to puke, or just did.
Perhaps he couldn't digest the gruesome message?
Posted by: Alan at August 30, 2007 12:51 PM
How did their love in go in Newfoundland this week?
Too bad the Spit Roaster didn't get a public press conference with Danny Boor Williams. The Liberals were all set up for it with a real Harper bashing event. Williams won yet another promise of an even better deal from Dion IF he gains power, sometimes it helps to play hard to get.
Seems Danny got cold feet or got the right dose of Imodium to get the diarrhea flowing out the right orifice. He sure has been out of control for some time.
Posted by: Libby at August 30, 2007 12:55 PM
Further, a likeness of any human being being roasted on a spit is about the most unfunny image ever given the atrocities we are dealing with today.
What type of brain would conjure up such a thing is what we should be thinking about.
Not long ago we had some Islamic "radicals" plotting to behead our Prime Minister.
Posted by: Libby at August 30, 2007 01:04 PM
You know Steve, following that link above and finding the pic with Iggy.
It strikes me; that's twice this week I see pictures of Dion with his hands raised a la surrender gesture.
Posted by: Lib Kicker at August 30, 2007 02:19 PM
Lib Kicker:
I find it interesting that the majority of the comments after that article hacked apart the Liberals. And that CTV has "closed" the article to further comments. It sure sucks when the sheeple don't fall in line.
And to me that picture looks like the woman in the background has just driven an icepick inbetween Iggy's shoulder blades (he has a look of agony on his face) and Dion is saying "My hands are clean."
Posted by: Reid at August 30, 2007 02:36 PM
...WOW, look at all the leftoids coming out of the woodwork...
Posted by: tomax7 at August 30, 2007 03:21 PM
More proof that Liberals love pork.
Posted by: Cool Blue at August 30, 2007 04:15 PM
Could the image of Stephane Dion burning Prime Minister Harper alive over an open fire be an indictable offense under the Criminal Code of Canada, since it could be interpreted as publicly inciting violence towards an identifiable person?
Shouldn't Stephane Dion publicly condemn the NL Young Liberals for their hateful message and the use of his likeness as the torturer?
If Mr. Dion does not publicly condemn the actions of the NL Young Liberals, how could he rationalize his silence on this matter with his party's strong condemnation of torture?
Shouldn't the NL Young Liberals immediately issue a formal public apology to Prime Minister Harper and all Canadians?
Shouldn't the NY Young Liberals recall all the torture-scene aprons they sold and return the money they raised from sales of this hate literature?
Posted by: Alan at August 30, 2007 04:26 PM
To put this in perspective, during the 2005/2006 federal election campaign, Mike Klander, the executive vice-president of the federal Liberal party's Ontario wing, was forced to resign after posting on his website a comparison of NDP candidate Olivia Chow with a chow chow dog, with the heading "Separated at Birth."
Now we have the official youth wing of the Liberal Party of Canada in Newfoundland-Labrador selling clothing depicting the Leader of the Official Opposition cooking the Prime Minister of Canada's impaled body over an open fire.
The torture imagery and the threatening caption are much worse than what Klander resigned for.
Whoever approved the design, production and sales of this hate message must be held publicly accountable for their actions.
Posted by: JL at August 30, 2007 05:54 PM
So, the torture of our Prime Minister is funny to Liberals? This will make a great election ad for the Conservatives, it shows true Liberal values, they have none! Disgusting.
Posted by: Hunter at August 30, 2007 09:48 PM
A really lame, boring, braindead "cartoon"....
Posted by: Feldwebel Wolfenstool at August 31, 2007 09:33 AM
How many aprons were sold, and as this event was for the liberal caucus, how many liberal MPs bought them.
Will they turn up at bbqs for Dion out west.
We have Iggy with the poop bird, and now dion agreeing to the torture of PMSH.
Those saying dion did not produce this apron, sorry, that wont fly.
Hey, maybe the young liberals are really working to get dion out of power and want him to lose the next election.
If that is the mindset of young liberals, that party is in worse trouble than I thought.
The person producing this apron, would probably be charged under the charter for refusing to do it.
Could be worse, the guy on the spit could have been a muslim and then listen to the outrage. Aren't they protesting another cartoon now.
Maybe the muslims will object as they are against pigs, and therefore it is an insult to islam.
Posted by: Mary T at August 31, 2007 02:16 PM
Stephane Dion is just another Liberal.
i.e. He cannot be trusted.
Posted by: Jan at August 31, 2007 02:51 PM
I take it that the PIG is Danny Williams. How appropriate.
Horny Toad
Posted by: Horny Toad at September 1, 2007 01:23 AM
This reminds me of when Joe Clark was struggling to hold on to the federal PC party leadership in the early 1980s. Mulroney went on television to publicly proclaim his support for Clark but did absolutely nothing to discourage his friends and supporters from undermining Clark (not that Clark needed the help to be honest). I didn't like what I saw as Mulroney's hypocrisy then, and I don't like Dion's hypocrisy now.
Posted by: Brian in Calgary at September 1, 2007 03:23 PM
For those of you old enough to remember, the Liberals consistently ran the most despicable negative advertising and disinformation campaigns against the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance.
When Liberals are the brunt of negative advertising, look at how the cry.
You will see nothing but negative attacks by the Liberals in the next election, despite what Dion says. That is the only way they know how to campaign.
Posted by: Gary Drummond at September 3, 2007 10:14 AM
For those of you old enough to remember, the Liberals consistently ran the most despicable negative advertising and disinformation campaigns against the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance.
When Liberals are the brunt of negative advertising, look at how they cry.
You will see nothing but negative attacks by the Liberals in the next election, despite what Dion says. That is the only way they know how to campaign.
Posted by: Gary Drummond at September 3, 2007 10:14 AM
 
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