Meet the Tar Sands PR Wizard

[polly7]

Meet the Tar Sands PR Wizard

Ezra Levant spins tar sands crude as “ethical oil”—with the same tricks he used in his tobacco lobbyist days.

—By Martha van Gelder

http://motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/keystone-xl-tar-sands-ethical-oil-pr-campaign

Wed Oct. 19, 2011 3:00 AM PDT

"This summer, as environmental groups converged on Washington, DC, to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a Canadian "grassroots" nonprofit by the name of Ethical Oil went on the counteroffensive. The group's YouTube videos and TV ads all carried the same blunt message: You can buy oil from Saudi Arabia and bankroll terrorism, the oppression of women, and fanatical Islam, or you can buy oil from Canada, your friendly, democratic neighbors to the north.

This "ethical oil" argument comes from Ezra Levant, a Canadian political commentator and the group's cofounder. A middle-aged man with an easy smile and expressive eyebrows, he comes across in his speaking engagements as a personable, straightforward guy with a commonsense argument. In his book, he doesn't try to impress with big words or even mildly complex ideas. He interjects his policy discussions with short sentences like "Wow." You feel like you're sitting down with a sensible old friend to chat about the follies of anti-tar-sands protesters."


Comment:

solo_poke 10/19/2011 06:14 PM in reply to notgilty

I have been trying to convince Ezra for years to demonstrate the safety of the "bitumen" as the industry likes to call it, by moving his family on to a reserve in the region and having them live there.

Of course cowards never answer challenges.

[leveymg]

1. If Satan emerged from the ground, there would be a PR guy at his feet before the smoke cleared.

Mr Levant would be first there, with his "easy smile and expressive eyebrows," Lucifer would come across as "a personable, straightforward guy with a commonsense argument."

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Compared to many of our current politicians, pundits, and preachers...

...Lucifer would BE "a personable, straightforward guy with a commonsense argument."