Here’s a clip that pretty well sums up tonight’s leadership debate for me….
Harper Doesn’t Accept Truth by Paul Dechene
Ignatieff lays out a lot of Harper’s dictatorial behaviour and Harper’s response is simply that he doesn’t accept the truth of that attack. He doesn’t deny the attack, he just doesn’t accept the truth of it, then he moves on.
It’s how much of the debate went. Iggy, Layton and Douceppe kept taking shots, Harper would just deny them, shrug them off then talk about something else. It was a pretty effective strategy. The National Post’s livebloggers concluded the PM played a strong defensive game and I have to admit they’re right.
Even though the opposition leaders tried to focus the debate on Harper’s anti-democratic behaviour and his government’s corruption, nothing seemed to stick. Personally, I’m not seeing the debate changing Harper’s nine point lead much. I’m calling it a win for the Cons.
Incidentally, right after the debates ended, we recorded episode zero of the Dogcast in which we discuss the debate as well as many other very nerdy topics (Dr Who! The Shadow! The Royal Wedding!). Expect to see that on the blog in a few days.