NATIONAL POST:
William Watson in a recent National Post Column - talking about Anti-Americanism - the entire column is great advice for Paul Martin - the new PM - but this section bears repeating.
"You should lay down the law that cheap shots at Americans mean expulsion from caucus. Legitimate differences with Washington are fine. If Canadians really, truly believe the likes of Saddam Hussein deserve our support, we have to do what we think is right. But your party has to get over this idea that U.S. Republicans are a variety of spongiform, and that saying so is acceptable in our politics.
We treat the most unsavoury foreign thugs respectfully when they visit here. We even spray our own citizens with pepper to protect their sensibilities. Yet some of our politicians can't summon minimal respect for the leader of our closest ally and best friend, the oldest and probably greatest democracy in the world. Forty years ago the Canadian economist Harry Johnson decried 'the mean and underhanded anti-Americanism which serves many Canadians as an excuse for their failure to accomplish anything worthy of genuine national pride.' How times haven't changed. The crowning irony, of course, is that many of those most contemptuous of George W. Bush -- his accent, his alleged intellectual deficiencies, his inarticulateness -- are avid partisans of, ahem, Jean Chrétien. If you can make anti-Americanism politically incorrect in Canada, this country might finally graduate from adolescence."
To which I add - Bravo!
William Watson in a recent National Post Column - talking about Anti-Americanism - the entire column is great advice for Paul Martin - the new PM - but this section bears repeating.
"You should lay down the law that cheap shots at Americans mean expulsion from caucus. Legitimate differences with Washington are fine. If Canadians really, truly believe the likes of Saddam Hussein deserve our support, we have to do what we think is right. But your party has to get over this idea that U.S. Republicans are a variety of spongiform, and that saying so is acceptable in our politics.
We treat the most unsavoury foreign thugs respectfully when they visit here. We even spray our own citizens with pepper to protect their sensibilities. Yet some of our politicians can't summon minimal respect for the leader of our closest ally and best friend, the oldest and probably greatest democracy in the world. Forty years ago the Canadian economist Harry Johnson decried 'the mean and underhanded anti-Americanism which serves many Canadians as an excuse for their failure to accomplish anything worthy of genuine national pride.' How times haven't changed. The crowning irony, of course, is that many of those most contemptuous of George W. Bush -- his accent, his alleged intellectual deficiencies, his inarticulateness -- are avid partisans of, ahem, Jean Chrétien. If you can make anti-Americanism politically incorrect in Canada, this country might finally graduate from adolescence."
To which I add - Bravo!
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