Hello! This is Dave Polling Central: Is Danielle Smith a threat or a menace? Below: Wildrose candidate and polling spokesperson Shayne Saskiw, Leader Danielle Smith.The Wildrose Party has finally owned up to being behind the push-poll that tries to tie Alberta Premier Alison Redford to federal Liberal child care policies and the financial difficulties of a company owned by her chief of staff.
However, they’ve opted for a strategy of brazening it out, claiming that their robo-call survey uses a completely legitimate polling technique.
This is too bad, because as everybody knows, the first of the 12 steps to dealing with your problem is admitting that you have one. (Presumably, the Wildrose Party’s social conservative base doesn’t have any problems with the “higher power” part, but never mind that just now.)
They sent out Shayne Saskiw, their candidate in Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills to do the unpleasant job of pleading guilty with an explanation to the court of public opinion.
“One of these things where we put forth the facts of the questions that we ask and then we provide people with the opportunity to provide a response,” Mr. Saskiw told the CBC today. “We just want to see what Albertans think on it.”
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen, and the usual unidentified sources in the mainstream media told me that the party brass were not releasing her itinerary this afternoon, presumably for fear the media would track her down and ask her the obvious.
While this is going on and we wait for the party leader’s response, the spirit of fairness has compelled your blogger to compose a completely unfair and unreasonable push poll of his own. The first question is as follows:
“As reported in the media, in 1999 Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith was fired by Alberta Education Minister Lyle Oberg as a Calgary school trustee along with the rest of the public school board. Disappointment came when school board chair described the actions of the school trustees leading up to the mass firing as 'a failure of adults to act in an adult manner.' How does knowing this affect y
our likelihood of supporting Ms. Smith as premier?”You can press 1 if it makes you less likely to support her, press 2 if it makes you more likely to support her and press 3 if it doesn’t change your likelihood of supporting her.
Well, actually, you can’t press 1 because I’m not about to phone half the households in Alberta with this sucker. But you can click here and pretend.
Let me admit right here that the poll I have composed is not only unreasonable and unfair, it’s totally unscientific and almost bizarrely biased. But, what the hey, according to Mr. Saskiw’s line of logic, this kind of thing is going to be the new normal in Alberta politics, so I might as well get with the program.
I pledge to publish the poll results in a few days complete with a completely misleading spin based on intentional misrepresentation of the results. I may or may not keep my promise, depending on my mood at the time.
And if you don’t like it readers, well, I guess you can do your own darned poll! It’s not like you’d belong to an exclusive club!
12 comments:
That's a fantastic push poll, David. The WRP should have your name on file for their next phone out!
Great work with this story.
David,
I can't help remembering the US Republican presidential nominee fight between George W Bush and John McCain. The Bush camp ran a push poll asking, "Would it alter you view of John McCain if you found out he had a black baby?"
If this is the new normal, expect the question, "Would you vote for a Wildrose candidate if you hear that Danielle Smith swallows live mice like the aliens on 'V?'"
Not a good sign even for Alberta's democracy.
Dear Mr. David Climenhagafail
I didn't hear you complain when Stephen Carter was using sleazy push polling for Nenshi and Redford.
But I guess its okay for you since Redford bribed the teachers union.
Dave:
Danielle and all the board were fired by Minister Olberg. Theresa Woo-Paw was chairperson of the Board and as chair, the buck stopped with her. Later, who did Minister Olberg support to be the next Premier of our province? He left the PCs and supports the Wildrose. Theresa? A PC MLA.
And as for belittling those who may believe in a higher power, well now you're being just plain bigoted. You're better than that.
Thatguy makes an interesting allegation. Is there evidence the Naheed Nenshi or Alison Redford campaigns used push-polling? I'll certainly report it if it's brought to my attention in a believable way, because, as readers know, polling, including its sleazy variants, is an interest of mine. If you have evidence of this, write me at AlbertaDiary(at)gmail.com.
Thatguy needs to remember, however, that I am just one opinionated guy and this blog is merely a hobby - albeit one with a lot of readers now. I don't have the time or resources of the mainstream media; I don't derive any income from this effort. So if Thatguy didn't hear me complain about it, it's because I didn't know about it. And if I didn't know about it, it's because I can't singlehandedly replace the work of the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the CBC and the rest of them. This may shock Thatguy, but now and then I flat out miss a story that everyone else knows about. I'm going to take this criticism as a kind of backhanded compliment since it implies that I'm way more influential and way more insightful than I really am.
As for Thatguy's claim that Premier Redford "bribed the teacher's union," this is one of the Alberta loony right's conspiratorial talking points, completely untouched by fact or logic. It sort of works for the Alberta Teachers Association, though, because it implies that it can tell its members what to do and whom to vote for. As has been said here before, anyone who knows the labour movement in Alberta knows this is a laugh and a half. If only it were so!
I think this poll is designed to discredit Carter as a way of smearing Redford by proxy. It probably has more to do with Carter dumping Wildrose -- not once, but twice -- in favour of the Tories. If his business dealings are wrong now, why were they not wrong when he worked for Fraser Institute Barbie?
Carter has used push polling in any campaign that has enough money to do so. He was using push polling against Bronco when he ran Alnoor's campaign, when he ran Nenshi's campaign (which Nenshi knew about), and in Redford's campaign (not sure if she knew).
Pretty slanted post imo.
Carter has done push polling against Bronco when he ran Alnoor's campaign. He did it against McIver when he ran Nenshi's campaign (Nenshi knew about it), and he did it during Redford's campaign (not sure if she knew about it).
Bias much?
I think there should be a push poll question asking "Would it affect your vote if you knew that Danielle Smith was hired by a current jail bird to act as a strike breaker during a strike at a local newspaper?".
Well, of course my posts are "slanted," they express my opinion. If you want unbiased reporting, read your daily newspaper. Oh! Wait! Their reports are slanted too, but unlike me, they're pretending not to have an opinion ... If you can't figure that out ... oh, never mind.
Danielle Smith swallows live mice like the aliens on "V"? Really? I'd pay to see that.
And you know, it isn't all that hard to visualize.
Dave, Next time I get blasted by a Stephen Carter based push poll, I'll record it just for you.
Frankly I find Danielle Smith laughable because she has no credibility in attacking Stephen Carter when she used her services twice. Especially knowing full well his past of disrepute.
But that was her decision and not the party of course. But don't attack the Dear Leader Danielle or her claws will come out, she doesn't play well with others as many staffers have found out. I hear the Teatro building is getting refitted with a high speed revolving door.
By the way if anyone believes for a second that Lyle Oberg actually supports the Wildrose Alliance, I've got some Ocean Front property 20 miles west of Saskatoon to sell you. Oberg won't stick around 5 minutes in that party after Smith is deposed by Rob Anderson or whomever deposes her.
Post a Comment