If a picture is worth a thousand words, could it cost millions of votes?

One controversial ad! Is it going to be the defining moment for the end of the Liberals stay in government? CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy went apoplectic on Tuesday night as a Liberal strategist tried to get away from the advertising nightmare that had just unfolded for the Grits.

The subject of the heated debate a thirty second commercial, suggesting Stephen Harper's promise to expand the military may have ominous tones. Many are comparing the "Soldiers in the Street" advertisement to the worst gaffes of the Kim Campbell era, remember the distorted face of Jean Chretien.

That one ad seemed to sink the Conservatives of the day, giving the voter the impression that they were nothing but a bunch of mean spirited jerks, not worthy of continuing on in office. A synopsis that was actually quite accurate back in the day. The negative tone of the ads launched during that campaign, sealed the fate of Canada's only female ( all be it short lived) Prime Minister. You have to wonder if history has repeated itself?

The interesting irony in the Liberal ad is this, the last time that a Canadian Prime Minister sent a large force of soldiers into the streets of a Canadian city was back in 1970. His name Pierre Elliot Trudeau, his party affiliation, Liberal. No wonder they pulled the ad, surely someone might have noticed this little inconvenient aspect of Canadian and Liberal history.

The ad is indicative of the confusion in the Liberal camp, if the ad got out in error then somebody didn't do their job in destroying the problematic ad. If it was leaked out by design, it pretty well defines the problems that Paul Martin has had to deal with inside his own house since his ascension to the Liberal leadership. Either way it smacks of incompetence of the highest order.