Two words: 'Doris' Day.<br /> <img align=absmiddle src='images/smilies/lol.gif' alt='Laughing Out Loud'>

   

Hey man, don't even mention that Doris Day thing where direct democracy advocates hang out!<img align=absmiddle src='images/smilies/smile.gif' alt='Smile'> Nothing killed citizens initiatives faster than that.<br /> <br /> Some political stunts aren't even on purpose. Chretien comes to mind, the 'indident' when somebody broke in to his house, and the corresponding 'hitting a protestor' to try to validate his masculinity. <br /> <br /> My favourites have been the 'stunts' that are orchestrated AGAINST the candidates, like the pie in the face or the chocolate milk-hilarious. <br /> <br /> To see 'stunts' though, simply watch Air Farce or This Hour Has 22 minutes, usually there's some politician trying to make themselves more accessible. Heck, there was a horrible show on CBC called "Jimmy's Canada" where Paul Martin joined other celebrities in talking about this fictitious canadian icon. Makes you wonder where exactly his sense of reality is.

   

Yeah, Marcarc, that WAS the whole point of the Doris Day stunt--that it would be ridiculous to have referendums so frequently, as advocated in the Alliance platform (triggered by a petition with 350,000 signatures of voting age citizens aka "3% of the electors"). If direct democracy advocates are taking the head-in-the-sand approach to such great satire, you guys just might not have an adequate rebuttal. Or maybe you need a stunt of your own.<br /> <br /> I do agree that the stunts pulled by activists against politicians are usually the best. Unfortunately, they also tend to land said activists in jail. Hardly seems fair, eh? There are probably tons of other examples of activist publicity stunts out there too we could list. <br /> <br /> I think Peter McKay's interview in the potato patch playing the sad guy after a break-up when Stronach crossed the floor was a stunt that seemed false and silly to me. Stronach's stunt, crossing the floor itself, was a lot more effective.<br /> <br /> Here are a couple of other infamous stunts.<br /> <br /> Former Ontario Premier Ernie Eves announcing the budget at a press conference, I think in a factory if I remember right, rather than in front the legislature, was a stunt that drew a lot of fire.<br /> <br /> During the American election campaign of 2000, Rick Mercer ambushed George W. Bush on a campaign stop in Michigan, asking for comment on the news that Bush had received the endorsement of Canadian prime minister "Jean Poutine" (obviously the prime minister's name was Jean Chrétien, and he had NOT endorsed Bush.) Bush accepted the endorsement as he passed by, which aired as part of the show's regular Talking to Americans feature. In his first official visit to Canada four years later, Bush joked that his "one regret" about the visit was that he'd "hop[ed] to meet Jean Poutine.<br /> <br /> Then again On This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Mark Critch visited MP Carolyn Parrish, who stomped on a George W. Bush doll and performed voodoo on its head. Big flap over that one.<br /> <br /> In the U.S. in the last Presidential, John Kerry went hunting on a supporter’s farm and came back for pics wearing camouflage and carrying a shotgun. But someone else carried the geese he said he shot. (Got a lot of "fire" from NRA types down there, the people he was probably trying to appeal to).<br /> <br /> And a big one--who could forget George W. Bush landing a plane of the deck of an aircraft carrier and giving a speech in front of a banner reading “Mission Accomplished”. Which pretty much backfired with the war in Iraq still dragging on.<br /> <br /> Lastly a fictional one just for fun--on the Simpsons, Marge Simpson served candidate Mr. Burns the three-eyed fish he said was NOT a result of his nuclear plant’s pollution for a much-publicized stunt dinner with the “common man”. When he spit it out he lost the election. Shows the importance of checking that the people participating in your stunt are supporters!<br /> <br /> [BTW to me political stunts HAVE to be on purpose, that's what makes them stunts by definition--if you invite the media, it's a publicity stunt. So I don't think the two Chretien examples qualify, exactly because they AREN'T on purpose. <a href="http://nardwuar.com/vs/jean_chretien/index.html">Nardwuar's questions of Chretien re APEC and pepper spray</a> on the other hand turned out to be inspired.]

   

That's usually the difference between democracy supporters and politicos in general, that it's a 'game' and a 'show'. Note that the CCF and Tommy Douglas weren't big on 'stunts' to get people's attention-the truth and hard times usually suffices. <br /> <br /> Obviously that was tongue in cheek, the audience of "This Hour" is miniscule and most still couldn't even tell you what a 'citizens initiative' is. The Alliance, for all the jokes about citizens initiatives, only had 700,000 fewer votes than the 'united conservatives' of the past election, which could well indicate they had much more support when they had democratic reforms planned. If I had been vaguely political back then I probably would have tried to run as an Alliance rep. That the above poster thinks canadians having frequent votes (meaning:democracy) is ridiculous just shows how far on opposite poles we are. <br /> <br /> In fact, in the past election the biggest proponents of proportional representation was the NDP, which had the greatest gains of any party. So democratic reform could well be on more people's minds than critics think-without the 'stunts', in fact in the last election there was hardly anything that really separated ANY of the parties. <br /> <br /> I'd disagree with the above, but am certainly not going to spend long debating such silliness, but stunt's are like art, they only exist because of their commentary. Stunt's aren't necessarily choreographed, although they can be. If camera's are everywhere, it's filmed, and discussed at length, I"m not going to sit back and esoterically define how it's not ACTUALLY a stunt. <br /> <br /> Just as an aside, I'm planning a HUGE stunt when the election starts, it's called talking to all the voters.<br />

   

Talking to the voters? That's one I don't recall being tried. I hope it catches on. <img align=absmiddle src='images/smilies/biggrin.gif' alt='Big Grin'> <br /> <br /> I kind of half-remember this stunt from my childhood, so I don't remember the candidate, or the party. <br /> <br /> The candidate, in his suit and tie, went for a photo-op on a dairy farm. He tried to put the milkers on, and the cow kicked the hell out of him.<br /> <br /> Since full-grown holsteins were a problem, they put him with a couple of young calves. One of them took a crap on him.<br /> <br /> I guess he was going for the rural vote. I don't think he got it. <img align=absmiddle src='images/smilies/lol.gif' alt='Laughing Out Loud'>

   

Old-style Maurice Duplessis politics:<br /> <br /> A candidate to his riding:<br /> "We will build you bridges"<br /> Someone in the assembly:<br /> "But we don't have river in this riding"<br /> The candidate:<br /> "We will build you rivers then"