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The email was denouncing various Liberal statements as scare-mongering against the Tories' record; the inclusion of the word "sorry" in brackets may indicate that the line's author or authors intended it to be an over-the-top sarcastic comment. According to the Globe and Mail:
"One sophomoric staffer [on the Progressive Conservative campaign] decided to vent his frustration with the campaign's reverses by drafting a bogus news release. It ranted about the fact that the media criticize so-called Tory attack ads and praise Mr. McGuinty for taking the self-styled 'high road.' The 'kitten-eater' phrase was included at the end as an illustration of a truly extreme attack. The release drew laughs from half a dozen campaign aides who saw it. More tellingly, in a collective somnolence, no one killed the release."
The incident was an embarrassment for the Tories, who were already having difficulty in the election. Their leader, Premier Ernie EvesErnest Eves (born June 17, 1946) was the twenty-third Premier of the province of Ontario, Canada, from April 15, 2002, to October 23, 2003. The Hon. Ernie Eves Rank 23rd Term of Office April 15, 2002 October 23, 2003 Predecessor Mike Harris Successor Dalt, refused to apologize for the incident, but acknowledged that it was "over the top" and that someone had probably drunk "way too much coffee." Press reporting on the incident appeared to turn public opinion against the party, not due to the comment itself, but that the fact that it became public suggested a campaign that was badly out of control and growing desperate.
Mr. McGuinty denied the accusation of ailurophagy . "I love kittens, and I like puppies too," he commented. Though he initially pledged not to allow the issue to side-track the campaign, the Liberals ran with the joke. Slogans involving kittens were produced unofficially, a group of Liberals meowed at an assembly in Niagara FallsNiagara Falls, Ontario ( 2001 population 78,815) is a city located on the Niagara River, across from Niagara Falls, New York. It was incorporated on June 12, 1903. The city is dominated by the Niagara Falls, which bring hundreds of thousands of tourists t, and Mr. McGuinty had his picture taken with a kitten named Snowball as he visited a farm in StratfordStratford ( 2001 population 29,676) is a city on the Avon River in Perth County, in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Both the city and the river were named when it was first settled in 1832 after Stratford-upon-Avon, England, of Shakespearean fame. Stratford. (Tory agents, fearing the photo opportunity, had tried to chase the kitten away, but to no avail; the picture was in all the newspapers the next day.)
Editorial cartoonistAn editorial cartoonist also known as a political cartoonist is a artist who draws cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. The most common outlet for political cartoonists is the editorial page of the newspaper, although theres had a field day with the accusation, depicting the plain-faced McGuinty as a less-than intimidating reptile creature. Patrick Corrigan of the Toronto StarThe Toronto Star is a major metropolitan newspaper produced in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has the largest circulation in the country, in excess of 400,000 daily, and is noted for its liberal stance. While most of Canada's high-circulation ne depicted Eves as a kitten on a plate in front of a hungry McGuinty.Three weeks later the Tory accusation seemed to have backfired when, on election day, the "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet" swept the province with a landslide victory.
It is speculated that the original kitten-eater comment may have been written by fans of the television show Buffy the Vampire SlayerDVD collection Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a U. television series loosely based on the 1992 movie of the same name. It first aired in March 1997 on the Warner Brothers network; after five seasons it transferred to the United Paramount Network ( UPN) for t, which at one point featured a kitten-eating demon, a character by the name of ClemClem is a fictional character in the U. television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer played by James Charles Leary. He is a fairly benevolent demon who lived in the town of Sunnydale. During season six, he befriended Dawn Summers and Spike. He left the town. (He played "kitten poker", in which kittens are used as chips, and was reputed to eat his winnings.) It may also refer to the television series V, which featured evil reptilian aliens from another planet who were fond of eating small furry animals alive. It might also have been a reference to the 1980s television sitcom ALF, whose titular alien was oft-tempted to eat the family cat.