This pod is shorter than usual and thank goodness for that, because I was all over the map. Dechene is awesome as usual.
We recorded immediately after last night’s debate. I struggled to come up with anything useful, so don’t judge me. Again this morning, I still don’t feel like I have anything profound to add.
I know for sure the format was garbage.
I think it was trying to be an American-style debate - opening the floor for three minutes and assuming Beck and Moe would duke it out. That didn’t work. Moe had been coached not to interrupt Beck or seem like the aggressor in any way, which gave Beck a fair amount of floor time. She used that time to repeat NDP talking points, which she struggled with at times.
Beck was too coached, seemingly by a former broadcaster. The result was a cadence and pronunciation that, at times, was so robotic and contrived it was cringey. Going into the debate I figured Beck would thrive as herself, because she’s quite good at holding her own in the Legislature against Moe. When she tripped on the word “Premier”, I assumed it was nerves. As the hour continued however, it got worse. She was thinking too much, not about what she was saying but how she was saying it.
Moe was Moe. There was plenty of stupid faces, mouthbreathing and at times his eyes were shifting so hard I thought one of them was going to pop out of its socket, bounce across the floor and into the pit in front of him. I was hoping for some Kamala-style moments from Beck - getting under Moe’s skin - but it didn’t really happen. As the night wore on he got a bit shoutier, interjecting weird chirps about Trudeau, but he was trying to control himself and mostly, he did.
One thing that became obvious to me is the Saskatchewan NDP doesn’t grasp that the Sask Party brand is not the problem - Scott Moe is the problem. If the Sask Party punted Moe and Brad Wall 2.0 rolled up tomorrow to lead it, all traces of Moe would be fumigated and forgotten. Yet Beck didn’t really attack Moe as a leader at all. She had so much to work with, including his human rights-stripping behaviour of just a few months ago.
Isn’t it amazing that the Sask Party needed an “emergency debate” on schools, kids and their pronouns, like five minutes ago, but that shit hasn’t come up once on the campaign trail? It needed to be thrown in his face last night and it wasn’t. So much for protecting trans kids. It would have mattered, alot, if Beck had made an effort to force Scott Moe to defend his authoritarian and frankly, frightening attitude towards them, in front of the entire province.
When Moe was babbling about where the NDP was going to get the money for their promises, the only response should have been asking where the hell he’s going to get the billions of dollars he’s about to piss away on an irrigation project that he refuses to produce a feasibility report for, because it’s not feasible.
You want to build a Starbucks on an urban street corner? Starbucks is still going to need a feasibility report.
There is not a competent, successful, normal politician alive who would try to pull this shady crap over voters. No businessperson would ever invest a freaking dollar of their own money in anything without a feasibility report - but Scott Moe is about to do it with your money. Somehow though, he managed to make that point about the NDP, repeatedly. That was disappointing.
As for moving the needle on undecided voters: did they know about the debate? Did they watch it? Dechene and I realized while we were recording that we didn’t know where and how it was distributed. Presumably it was broadcast on cable TV, which is where most seniors would have watched it. To reach a broader audience, each party will now edit their winning moments and start pushing those out. Both parties have something to work with, but I suspect Moe’s will be edited fraudulently, so watch for that.
Speaking of which - I don’t love that the Legislature was used for last night’s debate. That’s our house, not the NDP’s, the media’s or Sask Party’s. Did they ask us? No, they didn’t. I personally think hosting a purely political, non-Legislative event in that space defiled it a bit. Further, it was a massive distraction from the leaders themselves and what they were saying. Let’s go back to neutral, black curtained backdrops so we can focus on the task at hand.
I guess I hope whoever dreamt up last night’s debate is not responsible for the next one.
If I was forced to tell you now, I’d have to say the debate was a draw. I’m not sure Moe was framed poorly enough to lose votes, nor did Beck necessarily shine as bright as she needed to in order to win the votes she needs, including in rural Saskatchewan.
By the way… does Murray Mandryk know what year it is? That question about rural Saskatchewan “shrinking” was a) bizarre and b) a huge gift to Scott Moe. In fact, I wonder if the Sask Party wrote that one. I’m not trying to pile on, but what the hell Mandryk?
Anyway, this one isn’t my best work either, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Maybe for that reason. :)
T
PS - I’m banned from Twitter this morning for this:
Apparently this Tweet offended someone so much that they reported it, resulting in a ban the morning after the provincial debate. I’m sure my viral Tweet from yesterday on Scott Moe’s relationship with Stephen Harper and India didn’t help.
Anyway, conveniently for a whole bunch of clowns, I’ve been silenced on the platform for… I don’t even know. Nor do I care - I didn’t try to “appeal” it or whatever.
It’s true and I meant it. It’s no secret that Brad Wall and John Gormley gleefully tried to destroy my life and in some aspects, they did. I will never forget it and I won’t let either of set of fragile Old Balls forget it either - ever. Til they die.
Thems the breaks when you’re assholes; I don’t make the rules. Have a great Thursday! T
