Western Standard - Will Danielle Smith's campaign self destruct？

00:00:00.000 politics. You know, it's always been a game of gotcha when campaigns are going. Candidates and

00:00:04.220 teams, they watch the every word of their opponents in hopes of catching an error or a

00:00:08.880 statement that can be construed as extreme. Danielle Smith handed her political opponents 0.88

00:00:13.880 a bombshell last week when she mused about cancer care while interviewing a naturopath during a

00:00:19.280 podcast. So I'm going to quote exactly what Danielle Smith said. She said, once you've arrived

00:00:24.980 and got stage four cancer and there's radiation and surgery and chemotherapy, those are

00:00:29.980 incredibly expensive interventions, not just for the system, but also expensive in the toll it takes

00:00:35.080 on the body. And I think about everything that built up before you got to stage four and that

00:00:41.140 diagnosis that's completely within your control and there's something that you can do about it

00:00:45.120 that is different. Okay, now out of all of those words, the offensive words were in that quote

00:00:51.620 completely within your control, as you can see highlighted in there. And it isn't surprising

00:00:56.040 that it's upset a lot of people. I mean, pretty much everybody has had experiences with cancer,

00:01:00.500 whether directly or with families and friends. It's a terrible wasting disease and it's an unfair one.

00:01:05.640 Cancer takes children and seniors alike and we've made great strides in treating it, but it's still by

00:01:10.720 far one of our biggest killers out there. Now Smith walked it back and tried to clarify the statement,

00:01:16.100 but the damage has already been wrought. Her opponents and many in the press have of course been

00:01:20.040 eagerly jumping on this and implying she was blaming cancer victims for their own conditions.

00:01:24.700 Now there's a lot of health and lifestyle choices we can make to reduce the chances of getting cancer.

00:01:28.740 I mean, smoking of course is a big one or reducing drinking, not getting too much direct sun exposure

00:01:34.260 or avoiding airborne pollutants and other things. Those choices though, they only reduce the chances of

00:01:39.820 getting cancer. They'll never eliminate them. I mean, non-smokers can get lung cancer too.

00:01:44.440 Young women can get breast cancer and children can get brain cancer. And there's not a thing that could 1.00

00:01:49.120 have been done to avoid it. I'm giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming Smith meant to imply that

00:01:53.820 efforts can be made to mitigate risk and aren't, as she said, completely within one's control.

00:01:58.900 That's all it takes though. One sentence uttered, whether intentionally or taken out of context can

00:02:04.360 destroy an entire discussion, or in this case, maybe a campaign. Danielle Smith's strength has been 0.70

00:02:09.860 her inquiring interviews where she verbally walks down the path of speculation, whether politically or

00:02:14.640 even in areas like healthcare. She mentally meanders verbally and it makes for an interesting 0.99

00:02:19.280 listen. That was part of what made her such a popular talk radio host and allowed her to regain

00:02:24.180 public support and respect after the Wild Rose Florida party floor crossing debacle from years ago.

00:02:30.580 Unfortunately though, Smith's verbose style also creates a minefield for herself. The more words you

00:02:35.880 utter, the better the chances you're going to inadvertently come out with something that's going to stir

00:02:39.620 controversy you didn't want to. And it's not such a big problem when you're in media, though she did

00:02:44.900 run afoul of her bosses a number of times while in talk radio. It's a huge problem though when running

00:02:49.540 a major political campaign and you're surrounded by opponents who are going to exploit every possible

00:02:54.080 error. Smith has explained herself repeatedly and now there's little all she can do but hunker down and

00:02:59.180 see if this one blows over. Time will tell just how damaging the statement may be for her political 0.97

00:03:04.380 future. The other thing she's likely going to do, and this is unfortunate, is reduce the amount of time 0.99

00:03:09.620 that's freely speaking. She'll move into the more controlled mode and stick to talking points, 0.53

00:03:14.340 and that's unfortunate because it's going to make her sound like every other candidate in the field.

00:03:18.280 I know for me it's painful when I interview candidates on the show and I can't get anything

00:03:21.700 beyond their carefully scripted statements. I mean I might as well just read their press releases

00:03:26.580 verbatim and save myself the trouble of booking them. It's a safety tactic on their part though and

00:03:31.620 I can see why they embrace it. I just don't have to like it. I do hope we don't see Smith shying away

00:03:36.140 from being outspoken and examining new policy ideas in light of this mess. Her strength is in

00:03:40.680 thinking outside of the box and being receptive to new ideas. That can also be a weakness though if

00:03:45.380 it's not done with care. The campaign's still relatively in the early stages and Smith came

00:03:49.760 out of the gates hard which made her the presumptive front runner. I'm not sure if she's maintaining that

00:03:55.040 status right now. Now I despise how so many politicians go into the nobody moves nobody gets

00:04:01.120 hurt mode of campaigns where they shy away from anything that can be considered controversial.

00:04:05.940 In light of recent events though we can see why they do it.

Western Standard - July 26, 2022

Will Danielle Smith's campaign self destruct？

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