Okay, Conservative Party.
ITQ has been considerate enough not to point out that mycampaign.conservative.ca is … perhaps not quite as up to date* as it could be on the eve of a federal election. But the one thing that we’ve always been able to count on y’all to do was make darned sure that when you unleashed a new ad campaign, we’d know all about it, whether by inviting a select group of journalists to a pre-release launch party out at the Little Shop, holding an off-the-record background briefing at the National Press Theatre, or even just sending out broadcast quality samplers to every earnable media outlet in town.
But just because some of us weren’t glued to TSN during the NFL season opener earlier this week, should we really be deprived of the chance to marvel over your latest diabolically brilliant creation? Since rumours of its existence first surfaced last weekend, ITQ has been searching in vain for the video — on the party website, on Youtube, spammed throughout the Blogging Tory family, GritGirl-style — but so far, she’s come up empty. Has anyone out there have more luck in tracking it down? And what’s with the stealthiness? It doesn’t sound like there’s anything particularly controversial about the ad itself, so why not use the magic of technology to spread the message beyond Monday night football fans? Aren’t you supposed to be the party that actually gets this stuff?
*Sample talking point for writing letters to the editor offered by the sole remaining Action Alert, which is on the economy: “Lowest unemployment rate in 33 years”
UPDATE: Look! More ads! Or, more accurately, more coverage of ads, courtesy of CP’s Alex Panetta:
There’s a surprising new star making a cameo appearance in Conservative ads attacking Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff: his name is Justin Trudeau.
French-language TV ads that have begun airing in Quebec show the rookie MP blasting a few volleys of friendly fire at his leader.
The ads include clips from an interview Trudeau did during the 2006 Liberal leadership race.
Trudeau was not yet an MP at the time but, being the son of the most revered figure in the party, his comments about Ignatieff made headlines during the race.
Trudeau had endorsed Gerard Kennedy and was particularly critical of the front-runner.
“Ignatieff, he’s a little all over the place sometimes,” Trudeau says in the spot, in a clip drawn from a 2006 TV interview.
“He says this, he says that – he contradicts himself.”
Trudeau then delivers this little parting shot: “For me, he’s not someone with… maybe he has the intelligence, but maybe not the wisdom required.”
Oh, leadership races. What would war rooms do without you?