Andrew Krystal, perhaps the most straightforward talk-radio host in Atlantic Canada, spent this morning taking Steve Murphy and the ATV newsroom to task for their airing of Stephane Dion’s fumbling of an economic question during a taped interview.
Krystal’s criticism? That leaders fumble all the time in interviews, and many reporters (keen to have lucid answers) will give the politician the chance to call a mulligan. Harper himself had to use a mulligan when conducting an interview with Krystal over Iraq a few years back - because the interview was taped, the talk radio host gave the conservative leader a chance to do a do-over.
Murphy gave Dion this chance, but then decided that having a leader stumble over the verb tense in a single question was more news-worthy than having a lucid discussion on economic matters. This shows either poor news judgement on Murphy’s part, or an implicit conservative bias (in his memoirs, Murphy regales in telling the reader how hard he was on John Turner during the 1988 election campaign).
Let’s be clear. Dion’s fumble is in no way an indication of his ability to handle the current economic crisis. This was not at all like Sarah Palin’s incomprehension over the Bush doctrine, or suggestions that close proximity to Russia made her an expert in Foreign Policy. It was a linguistic fumble, and offered no glimpse as to the Liberal leader’s economic thinking. Perhaps Dion would have satisfied Murphy if he took a page from Harper’s playbook and simply stated, “If I were Prime Minister today, I would tell all Canadians to buy Nortel. It’s a bargain!”
Alas, Dion didn’t choose to play stockpicker. And in turn, the ATV newsroom didn’t choose to be impartial.
Krystal’s criticism? That leaders fumble all the time in interviews, and many reporters (keen to have lucid answers) will give the politician the chance to call a mulligan. Harper himself had to use a mulligan when conducting an interview with Krystal over Iraq a few years back - because the interview was taped, the talk radio host gave the conservative leader a chance to do a do-over.
Murphy gave Dion this chance, but then decided that having a leader stumble over the verb tense in a single question was more news-worthy than having a lucid discussion on economic matters. This shows either poor news judgement on Murphy’s part, or an implicit conservative bias (in his memoirs, Murphy regales in telling the reader how hard he was on John Turner during the 1988 election campaign).
Let’s be clear. Dion’s fumble is in no way an indication of his ability to handle the current economic crisis. This was not at all like Sarah Palin’s incomprehension over the Bush doctrine, or suggestions that close proximity to Russia made her an expert in Foreign Policy. It was a linguistic fumble, and offered no glimpse as to the Liberal leader’s economic thinking. Perhaps Dion would have satisfied Murphy if he took a page from Harper’s playbook and simply stated, “If I were Prime Minister today, I would tell all Canadians to buy Nortel. It’s a bargain!”
Alas, Dion didn’t choose to play stockpicker. And in turn, the ATV newsroom didn’t choose to be impartial.
2 comments:
Yeah, I have hear alot about this fumble and alot of people seem to see this as showing Dion's incompitence. I think it looks bad, but if its true that in taped interviews that people sometimes do overs it is kind of bias of him. Wish Dion had better english, he has some good ideas but its hard for him to get his point across and show he can be a leader.
"A linguistic fumble" it was not. He seems a capable individual as a politician but he is not a leader. Leaders in Canada need to have command of both official languages. Mr. Dion was caught in a Jack Layton moment - easy to fire criticisms, but when asked what would you have done differently - he really didn't have an answer as there isn't one. Mr. Dion and Mr. Layton tried to pull a-Wall-Street financial-crisis-is-result-of-Harper's-failed-policies stunt. I'm not a Harper fan, but this was pretty pathetic - please don't assume were are this ignorant. Be a Liberal, but ask for real leadership. Results speak for themselves - an amazing opportunity to gain seats and (amazingly) he loses several. Bring on McKenna.
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