Canadian Liberal leader Stéphane Dion's address to the nation last night was supposed to be his opportunity to convince an already sceptical public of the merits of a 'grand coalition' between his party, the Bloc Québécois and hard-left New Democratic Party. With the Canadian economy in turmoil and anti-government feeling running high, it was a chance to put some blue water between his coalition and Stephen Harper's Conservative Party.
Well, the reviews are in - and they're not good.
"Some said the amateur-looking tape that aired Wednesday night looked like video from a camera phone. Others joked it was taped by people holding Dion hostage.
"But what's dead serious is that the Liberal leader's message - a defence of his coalition with the NDP, and a rebuttal to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's earlier address about the political crisis on Parliament Hill - was nearly eclipsed by the medium.
"While Dion's face was out of focus, the books in the background were not - including the book, Hot Air. It was shot from an uncomfortably tight angle. And on the French version of the address, Dion's face was an unnatural shade of pink.
"The tape was meant to air one minute after Harper's address ended, at about 7:10 p.m. Instead, the Liberals showed up more than half an hour late, according to an official at the National Press Gallery. Meanwhile, TV anchors were forced to kill time while they waited for the tape...
"The video went to air 20 minutes after it was supposed to -and after CTV gave up waiting and resumed regular programming, likely costing Dion a couple of hundred thousand viewers.
It's astonishing, given the media age we live in, that his advisors could have allowed such a poorly-produced video anywhere near prime-time television.
Dion's latest public relations triumph follows this occasion during the October General Election campaign upon which he was, struggling with his poor grasp of the English language, repeatedly unable to articulate his tax policies.
Lamentable!