Granted, the show is a comedy revue, but given her past behaviour what she did was simply stupid. At worst, I'd call it tasteless; at best I'd accuse her of having exceptionally poor judgement.
Carolyn - we all get the point - you don't like GWB, and how the American Government has been acting lately. Trust me, most Canadians agree with you. Now shut up and get on with the business of representing your constituents - please.
Of course, this little flap has made its way onto the front pages of that delightedly Conservative mouthpiece paper, The National Post. Of course, the first thing they start off with in their article is a bunch of bleating from the Conservative/Alliance/Reform/Whatever party:
Incensed Conservative MPs demanded that Ms. Parrish -- who last year referred to Americans as "bastards" and more recently likened the U.S. war effort in Iraq to "a coalition of the idiots" -- be banished from the Liberal caucus for her anti-American outburst.What the Conservatives have missed - badly - is that most Canadians _don't_ worship at Washington's doorsteps. For all that we may think that Ms. Parrish is a dolt, there's a lot of quiet applause going off for her saying what many of us are thinking.
Should Ms. Parrish be banished from the Liberal Caucus? No. Remember 'freedom of speech' - it doesn't have any clause about "good taste" in it, and I've seen other politicians make far worse comments than Parrish has on a variety of subjects. (Let's start with some of what various members of the Conservative party have been heard to say about homosexuality for example ...)
2 comments:
Ah... well, regardless or not if she SHOULD be banned for having a personal opinion - alibeit a bit of a strong one - it would appear that she has been.
Martin, in an astonishing display of decisiveness and strength made a bold move and reduced his numbers by one. But, it is all part of the political game.
Just as Parrish is playing her own part of the game, stomping on the Bush Doll, calling Americnas bastads, and referring to the invasion of Iraq as a "coalition of idiots" (cbc).
It's a game played with onions. Onions? Well, layers. There are so many layers to each and every decision made in the political arena. Did Martin move against Parrish because she went against policy platform, because she is a wildcat capable of saying or doing anything, because she publically dissed the Liberals, because Bush is making a state Visit and it's time to suck up, or, is it a move to maintain a Liberal presence at the forefront of the news, starting some positioning for the new election? And I bet that you came up with ten other reasons just while reading this.
Of course, the news is trumpeted that the oppositition has been hounding Martin for weeks to fire the the contreversial Parrish, that she had been given an opportunity to apologize for insulting her own party (and refused)... and, the real gem is the idea that Martin would put up with her dissing other government members, but just not her own party. Ah, the line is drawn in the sand. Oops! We have another independant sitting for a few weeks until the contreversy dies down and the jockeying for numbers once again begins anew.
Years ago, I was accosted on my way into a shopping center by some slightly cracked bible thumping evangelist.
[Evangelist]: {In stentorian tones} "Have you seen God?"
[Me]: {Loud Enough to be Heard} "I have seen God, and SHE's BLACK!"
I kept going - he kept spluttering...
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