Stepping on The Message

The Parti Quebecois has had a disastorous campaign, snatching perhaps defeat from the jaws of victory.  The Charter of Values had done its job of dividing the CAQ and making the Liberals waffle and pander.  However, since the campaign has started, the PQ lost its message pretty much every week:

• Announcing the Quebecor mogul, Pierre Karl Peladeau,as candidate focused attention not on the Charter of Xenophobia but on separatism (he said independence, woot!) and on the pre-existing divides within the party between left and right. Given how much the party depends on unions, its embracing of a union-buster was a bit risky, eh?
• Le Voterfraudfraud (or is it la?).  That is, the focus turned to whether non-Francophones were going to steal the election with much focus on the menace posed by McGill students.  I remember those students--they are a menace to society ... if one has a crappy idea since they have sharp critical thinking skilz.  Anyhow, again, off message.
• Pool-gate.  And this weekend, the question turned to swimming. Ok, not swimming but the desperate need to have the Charter passed so that Quebec women can swim without restriction by McGill Muslim men.  Yes, that dreaded Triple M (tm).  Oy.  Given that the Charter of Xenophobia only applies to government positions, it is not clear how it would affect swimming pool regulations.

Am I forgetting any other distractions from the core PQ message?  


The PQ is trying desperately to return to the Charter of Values as tyranny of the local majority is still their best strategy, I guess.

The best guess right now is that they lose.  And if they do, the infighting and blame-casting will be epic.  I hope this is what plays out, as karma can be so unkind.