On November 26th, 2002, Francois Ducros, the communications director and a senior advisor to then Prime Minister Jean Chretien, said of George W. Bush, "What a moron." This attribution was duly recorded by the members of the
media present at the time, reports were filed and, as might be expected, do do hit the fan.Ari Fleischer, predecessor to the current paragon of White House truth, brushed off the comment with, "...somebody who obviously does not speak for the Canadian government."
As the dung storm rose in intensity, the Prime Minister was compelled to speak out. At a press conference he stated the President Bush is "a friend of mine. He's not a moron at all."
This was compelling, for if one thing was firmly established in the minds of many Canadians, Jean Chretien himself was a moron. Further, many Canadians believed, based on the public performance of President Bush, that he was indeed, a moron.
However, Ducros DID fuck up. She may have been accurate but she was not right. She was fired. Rightly so, too. What she did was wrong. Many people had to apologize for her words. Simply put, what she said was impolite and that's not the Canadian approach. She could also be accused of being stupid - did she really believe any reporter wouldn't take that kind of comment and run with it?
Well, after watching Bush for the past five years I feel a serious wrong has been committed. The apology extended to the White House was greater than it should have been. So let's correct things a bit. We apologize for the way it was said; not for what was said.
Let's just say, it seems to us that Bush is something of a fucking moron, don't you think?
And for the 35% of Americans who think he and his gang of carpetbaggers are doing a good job.... well...
I recall thinking at the time, that it was a bit odd that Chretien felt the need to comment at all. And in the choosing of his words, the denial simply reinforced the meme that such was the normally unspoken conclusion of people in government who had had dealings with w (he only merits a lower-case "w" as long as he's under the Mendoza-line of 40% approval in the polls).
ReplyDeleteEven by denying it, it kept the equation 'Bush = moron' alive for another news day at least. By that token, Chretien was smoothly adding fuel to the fire between the lines, while being proper and diplomatic in the literal sense.
Whatever bad you can say about Chretien, that move showed he can be a deftly savvy pol.
P.S. Welcome to the blogosphere, Dasty. Don't forget to have fun with it.
Scott, indeed, Chretien was a very savvy politician. Perhaps one of the wiliest we've ever had. Too bad he used that political "smarts" in ways which did little to properly serve Canada as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the welcome! Now let's see where it takes us.