Monday, September 29, 2008

On desperate measures

Adam Radwanski notes what's indeed a curious choice by Stephane Dion to talk himself up in advance of the debates rather than seeking to lower expectations to make his performance look better. But this looks to me to be only another example of something the Libs have done before: namely, engaging in what's typically disastrous strategy in a two-party race in hopes that it'll at least keep them in the #2 position. Just as Dion initially tried to make the election about him rather than the Cons by playing up the Green Shift, he's now telling Canadians to expect the world from him in the debate in an effort to try to hold onto his party's tenuous position in the polls between now and Wednesday.

Of course, the problem for Dion is that the repercussions of the last such move are still reverberating (and doing serious damage to the Libs in the process). And it would be in keeping with the Libs' lack of effectiveness so far if the one thing Dion manages to sell during the course of the campaign is the idea that he should be held to a standard which he can't meet.

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