I received an interesting piece of mail from the George Abbott Campaign the other day. Aside from being too long for a direct mail piece and besotted by the unfortunate graphic design choices of which the Abbott campaign literature is replete, the actual content of the letter appears to have done some damage to the Abbott campaign.
Heretofore, I had held this image of George Abbott as some nice guy, a reasonably competent minister, and, if he were to win, a decent if uninspiring leader for both my party and my province. I would have been perfectly happy to volunteer for an Abbott led Liberal Party. I would like to state for the record that I am a loyal BC Liberal, and will work with whomever is chosen by the party membership. This letter, however, raises serious concerns with me about the prospect of George Abbott premiership.
The materials that a candidate puts out into the world are a reflection of their character. They compose the public image of the candidate, and while they might not necessarily be a one hundred percent accurate reflection of the man behind the media mask, they are the materials that people are going to use to form their opinions. Sadly, the nice guy image, the quiet competence and unassuming nature of George Abbott that I had once possessed has been shattered by the direct mail piece, displaced instead by the image that the letter (and later the radio debate) has created. I perceive George to be like his letter – nasty, brutish, and much too long winded.
I should be clear. I am a die-hard Christy Clark supporter, and so the accusations may have stung more coming as they were against my candidate. When reading the letter, my face kept contorting into an expression somewhere between the disgruntled and the incredulous. However, in speaking with people committed supporters of Clark and undecideds alike, I am finding that the reaction has been generally, though not overwhelmingly negative. Interestingly, I haven’t found many people who have taken the attacks against Christy to heart – their somewhat nonsensical nature being, I’m betting, being the primary reason why they haven’t taken the membership by storm.
The problem for George Abbott is that this helps reinforce one of his developing campaign narratives, and one that he would want to avoid at all costs. I speak of the charge that Mr. Abbott and his team are rat fuckers – people willing to play dirty tricks to achieve their political goals, and not caring who gets hurt in the process. It started when his campaign created the kitties4christy website, several days before any mention of the cat happened in the media. I would like to think the best of the Abbott campaign, but I do not see how code for a website of this sort could be created without some kind of advance knowledge of the impending Whiskergate kerfuffle. Instead of taking the offending staffer to task for the website, he offered platitudes and evasions, and everything at the Abbott campaign continued apace. Like I say, I smell a rat.
The letter has its problems too, mostly stemming from the fact that the attacks that Abbott levels against Clark are poorly substantiated or specious. I’ve found a couple reviews of the letter, this being one of the better ones. These allegations – that Christy is afraid to face a by-election, or that the NDP are backing her campaign – are simply foolish. They don’t hold water. They just don’t make any damn sense to anyone who knows about the political process, and shouldn’t be given credence.
Still, they’re out there, and they are going to be part of the debate in the next election. Ignatieff wrote some of the most effective and resonant attacks on Dion. I don’t think that has happened yet, as the attacks are not really making any sense so far, but they could. George Abbott looks like he’s lashing out – the last flails and angry swipes of a trailing candidate – and it’s unbecoming of the office he’s seeking, and damaging to the party. I’d like to think that he is the nice guy I thought he was, but if he is approving this type of campaign literature, I might have to reassess that disposition. He really should know better.
