If you check out most movie ads, you’ll nearly always see a list of excerpts from glowing reviews – “…A masterpiece!” “Riveting from start to finish!” “When Oscar time comes, look for the makers of ‘Elektra’!” – even if the film actually left viewers and critics bored into comas.
One running joke is that the blurbs leave out the really important words: “To think the filmmakers had the gall to call this a masterpiece!” “The credits were riveting from start to finish — and they were the one part of the film worth watching.” “When Oscar time comes, look for the makers of ‘Elektra’ at a seedy Hollywood bar somewhere, drowning their sorrows.”
So in the same vein, if you check out the Liberal web site, you’ll see a page of glowing reviews of Paul Martin’s performance in the recent debates, including “The best theatre in Friday night’s leaders’ debate was the moment when the prime minister rounded on separatist Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois. ‘I am a Quebecer, and you are not going to take my country away from me with some trick, with some ambiguous question.'”
Well, those cheeky monkeys at the NDP’s web headquarters had the temerity to actually read the rest of the reviews in question. And they’ve come up with a list of the cherry-picked quotes, and the parts the Liberals left out:
The best theatre in Friday night’s leaders’ debate was the moment when the prime minister rounded on separatist Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois. “I am a Quebecer, and you are not going to take my country away from me with some trick, with some ambiguous question.” They were empty words, for Bloc fortunes in Quebec owe a huge debt to scandalous behaviour by members of the party Martin now leads. To thus present himself as the prime minister for national unity was bold. (Editorial, Calgary Herald, December 17, 2005)
Although I haven’t worked with the NDP’s web crew or the rapid response team this time around, I’ve admired their handiwork from afar, from Average Canadian or Liberal insider? to their debate Bingo card. They’ve been getting kudos from bloggers and others across the political spectrum. It’s been a joy to watch — and I bet they’re having a ball doing it.
Ditto on your kudos to the NDP war room. They seem to have finally figured out how to play this game (by which I mean no disrespect to your role in previous campaigns.
Here’s another, non-political, example courtesy of Regret the Error (one of my favourite sites):
http://www.regrettheerror.com/2005/12/beware_the_prom.html
Our interview with American literary sensation Benjamin Kunkel (Review, last week) was accompanied by a panel of quotes from US reviews, supplied by his publisher. One, from Entertainment Weekly, read: ‘Kunkel has succeeded in crafting a voice of singular originality’ and omitted the next line ‘ – one you want to punch in the mouth.’
I’m also curious about whatever happened to Scott Feschuk, Paul Martin’s speech guy and resident airplane comedian.
I count six days now that he hasn’t posted. I’d like to know if Martin maybe ate him for breakfast or something. I e-mailed him this morning, but have not heard back yet.
From: “Jen Quesnel”
To: sfeschuk@liberal.ca
Date: Friday – December 30, 2005 10:17 AM
Subject: Where’d you go?
Hi Scott
I know it’s the holidays and everything, but are you still on the campaign? You haven’t posted anything for several days now. Last I heard, Paul Martin was in Montreal meeting with the city’s Muslim leaders. Weren’t you with him?
Anyway, it’d be cool if you could just post a quick note telling us when we could expect you back. Kind of like those lame office voice-mail “I’m going to be away from the office till ____” messages, but better.
See you later
Jennifer Quesnel
Regina, SK
Good news: he’s back in action, with a New Year’s resolution for the PM — “Surround myself with a whole new bunch of idiots.”
Would have been nice if resolution number 3 had been “Order Feschuk to do a better job of keeping in touch with Jen Quesnel,” but that’s politics.