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"NASCAR is very popular in my riding," said Ms. Finley, who represents Haldimand-Norfolk in southwestern Ontario. This is a way for the Conservatives to tap into that growing following, she explained.

"It's getting harder and harder to reach people through the regular media. Fewer people are watching the network news ... fewer people are reading the newspapers," the Immigration Minister said.

"So we have to find new advertising outlets to reach them, to get our message through. And the people who follow NASCAR are our kind of people. They're hard-working families, they're taxpayers who play by the rules. And those are the people that we're targeting."

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...However, the aim, she said, is to dispel a misconception that the Conservatives are after an "elitist, Bay Street crowd. We're not...."

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what can i say about this? wooooooooo. too bad we don't have a googly eyed smiley with a propeller beanie. haha.

"our kind of people" eh? beer drinkin, tabacky chewin', gas guzzlin', ass grabbin' good ole boys and thier ole ladies. yee haw. bring it on Opposition, we gots our enviro strategy rahht heare. come on ya wimps!

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Originally posted by writer:
It's like Stockwell Day's seadoo episode. Only stupider. And more dangerous.

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
Sounds like Harper's back room hacks have been spending a bit too much time reading the GOP playbook...The popularity of Nascar in Canada is infintesimal compared to the American south.

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Actually it is growing in Canada, and has a solid 20-40 year old demographic supporting it. Nor are the devotees to Nascar a phenomena of the southern states.

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It's getting harder and harder to reach people through the regular media. Fewer people are watching the network news ... fewer people are reading the newspapers," the Immigration Minister said.

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Some observers might conclude that a lot of people are tired of corporate propaganda and would rather be entertained than brainwashed.

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Conservative insiders have been saying for several months that the party strategy is to go after the large number of Canadians who consider themselves middle class.

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Conservatives are forever trying to undermine working class solidarity. They consider it their duty.

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Conservatives are forever trying to undermine working class solidarity. They consider it their duty.

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Yes, they and the Liberals are just as bad on this.

The truth of course is, to a fairly large degree, things like NASCAR are generally a big hit with the working class, and can be fertile ground for some left populism--the kind the NDP/CCF used to be very much into.

I remember my favourite anarchist politician, Nelson-Creston NDP MLA Corky Evans, using his stock car racing hobby as part of his campaign (sponsored by a whole bunch of folks from the labour and co-op movements, environmentalists, hippie artisans and communards, etc.).

SO it looks like the Cons are trying to tap some of this with right-wing pseudo-populism that the old Reform Party was good at putting forward.

Hard to make it work though. Large numbers, perhaps even a majority, of working class Canadians, including the rednecks, quite appropriately see the Conservatives as chained to the halls of corporate wealth and power and all the snobbery that goes with it.

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Middle class is middle of what, again? Marketing. Brand bullies. These things are all that's holding capitalism together.

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"Middle class" is basically a media/government induced political culture that took off after WWII, so working class people, especially if they were in the professional or self-employed strata, could see themselves as somehow better off, or more established, than what they were before, or unlike "the rest" of the working class.

It later started to graft itself on to the more successful sectors of the labour movement.

Today, it seems we're supposed to accept the idea that pretty much most of the working class is "middle class," and the only people left out are the destitute poor, unemployed, disabled, mentally ill, etc, and other "marginalized" people.

And sadly, many progressive and democratic elements have succumbed to this. That’s why we see many NDP leaders talking about “defending Middle Class values,” like social safety net, Medicare, public education, collective bargaining, human rights and other democratic legislation and environmental protection—definitely all good things, for sure.

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
A while ago, i kept arguing with people here about whether or not the Conservatives had any hope of winning such old-money silk-stocking districts as Vancouver-Quadra.

You may recall, that I said at the time that the Tories have basically given up on trying to win back the Rosedale/Shaughessy vote. They are putting all their energy into going after people who watch NASCAR and drink at Tim Horton's - the burghers of Vancouver-Quadra will be shuddering at the thought!

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Watch for methods to further broaden their support in the next 6-12 months. Remember how during the last election a conservative stategist came up with 12 templates for personality types of canadians? They only had to convert a few of them to win the election, so they targeted them? This is just a continuation of that strategy.

It reminds me of the joke about the guy falling from a 10-story building. "Good so far," he's overheard saying on the way by the 9th floor. "Good so far," he says on the way by the 8th floor. And so on.

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Originally posted by FraserValleyMan:
In Vancouver there's been a discussion for several years about the downtown Indi races, sponsored I think by Molson's. A lot of noise for a few days. The old money types in Shaughnessy can definitely hear the racket, but they don't seem to be particularly upset, ... probably because they are up the coast in their yatchs! If the noise disturbs the servants, ... well, that's what we pay them for!

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The Molson Indy died years ago.

ETA: And I trust we are not going to compare Formula One racing with stock cars.

[ 19 June 2007: Message edited by: Phonz ]