potkettleblack

Tara Brautigam reported for Canadian Press on Monday, the day the election campaign launched:

For his part, the populist Tory Premier insists he does not want to obliterate the Liberals or NDP, but emphasizes that the only opposition worth having is one that’s positive.

“It’s good to have an opposition, but it’s important that that opposition be a constructive opposition, it not be a name-calling, mudslinging, personal- attacking type of opposition,” Mr. Williams said in an interview.

But being a name-calling, mudslinging, personal-attacking type of government?

That’s perfectly fine.

Terry Roberts reports for The Telegram today, from out on the campaign trail:

Premier Danny Williams said Wednesday his visit to The Isles of Notre Dame was nothing personal against Liberal Leader Gerry Reid.

...

But as the day progressed, it became more and more obvious that Williams wants nothing more to do with Reid after the Oct. 9 provincial election.

By late afternoon, Williams was criticizing Reid’s “attitude” and his “scowl” and his negative position on every issue.

But Wait! There’s More!

Williams also questioned why Reid, who has made saving rural Newfoundland and the fishery one of his main rallying cries, would launch his campaign in St. John’s.

“Gerry Reid is a capable guy in his own way, but he’s got an attitude, and he can’t get over it. And everybody in the province is seeing it,” Williams said during a rally in Twillingate.

“When they look at him, they see him on television, they see the scowl on his face.”

But Wait! There’s More!

Later, in Virgin Arm, a small community on New World Island, Williams again went on the attack.

“If the fishery is so important to him, can you explain to me why he would start his campaign in a boat in St. John’s Harbour?

Says the man who started his campaign in a traditional outport Newfoundland inshore Lear Jet?

And oh yeah — someone oughta ask Ross Reid how making fun of your opponent’s face worked out for his re-election campaign in 1993.


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UP-DIDDLY-DATE: The anonyblogosphere chimes in, with moderately hilarious consequences.