Monday, October 23, 2006

The Conservative Party of Canada: Profiles in chickenshit.


If there's a common theme running through the CPoC these days, it's their utter spinelessness. Witness Foreign Minister Peter MacKay's infantile tap-dancing after l'affaire Stronach (all emphasis added):

MacKay denies calling Stronach a dog

Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said yesterday he did not use the word dog to describe Belinda Stronach, the high-profile girlfriend he lost last year when she left the Conservative Party to become a Liberal, and that there is no official record of such comments.

"Check the record of Hansard," he told reporters on a ferry in Halifax harbour, referring to the official transcript of House of Commons proceedings. "It's not there. It's not there. I said nothing about a dog."

But that's irrelevant, as no one is accusing him of actually using that word, as the Globe article goes on to explain:

Which is technically true. Mr. MacKay did not directly call Ms. Stronach a dog.

But, on a less-than-stellar audiotape of Thursday's Question Period, a male voice can faintly be heard shouting a comment about a "dog" and Mr. MacKay's voice responds, "You . . . have her."

So this is the semantic technicality on which MacKay is going to hang his denial? That he didn't use the word? This is the sort of thing you expect to hear from a whiny, immature eight-year-old, not from the Foreign Minister of Canada's governing party. To describe MacKay as infantile would be a slap in the face to infants everywhere and, sadly, it doesn't end with him.

As A View from the Left reports, Harper-appointed senator Michael Fortier is bravely taking a pass on actually standing for election given the opportunity. Yes, profiles in courage, the lot of them.

WHOOPS, apparently, someone didn't get the memo as we can read here, where the Western Stunned Herd's Ezra Levant thoroughly pooches the doggie-related talking point:

Should MacKay really resign for muttering, under his breath, on the spur of the moment, that his treacherous ex-girlfriend was a "dog"?

But Ezra ... he didn't use that word, remember? Or aren't you on the CPoC talking point e-mail list anymore? I'm guessing they'll be calling to take back your secret decoder ring any day now.

3 comments:

Alison said...

You know, it's too bad MacKay was so aggressive in his denial of saying what he didn't say; it's going to make his upcoming non-apology just that much more difficult.

Anonymous said...

1. In point of fact, Belinda is no dog. Round Boxing Day last year, she was spotted in New York with none other than The Big Dog.

2. Anyone who's ever acquired a canine from a breeder knows that only the male of the species is called a "dog."

Seriously, what do you think kitty-whipped Peter called her?

Anonymous said...

What a jerk - it all would have been much ado about practically nothing if he had just said "Oh I got carried away, sorry about that". Story over. Instead, the sleazebag lies about it, relying on the fact that the heckling was not recorded in the Hansard. So if it wasn't part of the official record then it didnt happen. Never mind the microphone. What a spineless little snotrag. But I gues we shold not be surprised that the guy who promised there would be no merger with the Reform Party (or the CRAP party or whatever they were calling themselves then) is a liar?