Conservatives treat voters like dunces, but will it work?

South of the border, the Republican presidential candidate did very well in the 2000 and 2004 election (that is, if he didn't steal it, as has been alleged by some) by treating voters like idiots.

In a quote often attributed to H.L. Mencken, it has been said,  "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the  intelligence of the American public."

Well, it seems like like Prime Minister Stephen Harper is playing a similar trick with Canadian voters on the  child-care issue.

A pamphlet was shoved through my mailslot recently saying the Conservatives will let you keep the $1,200 per year child-care benefit. There's a flattering picture of the prime minister.

Beside him is a photo of Stephane Dion looking like a hapless fool with the message: "Dion voted against the $1,200 child care benefit and will take it away."

Nowhere on the pamphlet does it say that the Harper government killed national agreements that the former Liberal government made with the provinces to create child-care spaces, which are in short supply.

The Conservatives also didn't point out that the Liberal plan brought with it provincial dollars, which would have subsidized low-income parents in B.C.

The B.C. government would have matched the federal Liberal government's contribution of $633.3 million over five years. Harper killed that.

The daycare dilemma that has resulted from the Harper government's decision  is well-known to most child-care advocates.

But that wouldn't resonate very well in a Conservative pre-election pamphlet.

This  explains why people receive pamphlets making the Opposition leader look like a buffoon and the prime minister look like a champion when it comes to looking out for our kids.

This frat-boy campaigning style has worked well  for Republican hatchet man Karl Rove. Let's hope that after this election, some Canadian scribe doesn't feel the need to write, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the Canadian public."