Thursday, May 27, 2010

Coalition Talk, Spun Smart, Works For Liberals

The coalition question, taken head-on, and spun smart, works FOR Liberals, and AGAINST all other parties: "Vote Liberal or You'll Get a Coalition".
Premise 1: Harper Must Go - 2/3 of Canadians Agree
Premise 2: Liberals = Alternative
Premise 3: Liberals Will Do Whatever It Takes to Get Power
Premise 4: If Liberals Can't Win Alone, Then Will Do Coalition
Premise 5: Liberals Would Rather Win Alone
Conclusion 1: A Coalition If Necessary But Not Necessarily a Coalition
Conclusion 2: To Avoid a Coalition, Vote Liberal, So We Can Win Alone

Note that all five premises are largely accepted by public and politicos. See how popular lines of criticism can work in one's favour?  Every classic and popularly accepted criticism of Liberals makes it possible for us to force electorate to think hard about their options, to our advantage.
I've said this before, at greater length:
But how does this relate to coalition question? Because when asked if we Libs are contemplating a coalition, we frame it this way: "Harper must go. We're running candidates in every riding, and obviously, like every party, we'd like all our candidates to win - who hopes any of their candidates will lose? - though we know that's impossible. Like every serious national party, we're working for a majority, and failing that, as big a plurality as possible, for as strong a minority government as possible. But what is clear is Harper must go. We're hoping to accomplish that through a Liberal majority, and failing that, as strong a Liberal minority as possible, but this election is about Harper and his dictatorial tendencies. He's destroying Canadian democracy and he has to be stopped. Harper must go. Whatever it takes, he must go. So we're not hoping for a coalition, we're not planning for a coalition, but Harper absolutely has to be stopped, whatever it takes. If the numbers turn out that the only way to stop him is through some sort of agreement or coalition with other parties, so be it. Harper must go. The stronger the vote for the Liberal Party, the less we will need to make deals with other parties. Ideally, we'll win a majority. But Harper must go, and we will do whatever it takes to get rid of him. The surest way to get rid of him is to vote Liberal. Harper must go. Vote Liberal to stop Harper & start a better Canada." Short version: "Harper must go, whatever it takes."

This position is best laid out as early as possible in the campaign, before its official declaration even. By being upfront about how anti-Harper=coalition if necessary, we free ourselves to run on voting Liberal for all these other good reasons (economy, health care, environment, etc.), and remind people that the stronger the Liberal vote, the surer we can deliver, on our own.

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