Tories spark storm over botched Dion(liberal) interview

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his campaign team are seizing on a botched English-language interview given by Stephane Dion, claiming it proves the Liberal leader isn't up to coping with the country's economic problems. The Liberals retorted Thursday night that Harper is taking a cheap shot at a man who has readily admitted his English isn't perfect - and that he has a hearing problem to boot. The controversy erupted over a televised interview with CTV in Halifax, in which Dion interrupted local anchor Steve Murphy to say he didn't understand his opening question and asked if they could start over. It took another two false starts before the interview finally proceeded on the next try - and the Conservatives were quick to jump on the incident. "When you're running a trillion-and-a-half-dollar economy, you don't get a chance to have do-overs, over and over again," Harper told reporters at a campaign stop in Winnipeg. He contended that the stumble by Dion - on a question dealing with the economy - clearly showed that Dion has no plan for dealing with the global credit crisis that is sideswiping Canada. When a francophone reporter asked if the problem wasn't Dion's imperfect English, Harper replied: "I don't think this is a question of language at all. It was very clear, it was asked repeatedly . . . "What's important in the end is that, after all the times the question was put, the answer was from Mr. Dion that he does not have a plan, that if he was elected he would spend 30 days trying to create one."

“The leader has a slight hearing problem,” said Munson. “He said that he didn’t quite understand (the question). The interviewer agreed to stop and restart the tape.”

The problems began when interviewer Murphy asked Dion what he would have done, if he were already prime minister, that Harper hasn’t done to cope with the present financial crisis.

Dion clearly had trouble grasping the question, asking whether Murphy meant what he would have done if he’d been prime minister for the last two-and-a-half years, what he would do if he were prime minister right now, or what he would do if he’s elected next Tuesday.

Finally he asked - and Murphy agreed - to start the taping over again. There were a couple more false starts, with a Liberal staffer intervening at one point to explain things to Dion, before the interview finally went ahead.

Despite the initial agreement to start over, CTV later aired the false starts, with Murphy explaining the network thought viewers had a right to see the exchanges.

The Conservatives, who have been sliding steadily in the polls for the last week, were only too happy to switch the campaign focus off Harper and onto Dion.

During a stopover in Winnipeg, a Tory spokesman primed the media pool with a description of how Dion had put on a “spectacle worthy of Saturday Night Live.”

After that a TV set was wheeled into the hotel lobby so reporters could watch the interview being rebroadcast on CTV’s Mike Duffy Live.

The departure of Harper’s plane was delayed an hour so the prime minister could be brought to the microphone to have his say about Dion.

Finally , Kory Teneycke, Harper’s official spokesman, went to air with CTV’s Duffy to hammer the party message home to viewers in the rest of the country.

Stephane Dion does have a hearing problem... he just doesn't hear Canadian voters. For someone who wants the Liberals to make the sale to the Rest Of Canada he's flailing about. I still think he will make the hapless John Turner look good.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

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