Sunday, March 12, 2006

As long as he doesn't serve them hydraulic turkey


Stephen Harper showed up in Afghanistan today. Good for him.

Here's something he doesn't know. Most service members hate politicians - with a passion. Prime minister, defence minister, city councillor, school board trustee; a politician is a politician. They fall somewhere between a used car salesman and an empty Tim Horton's coffee cup with the rim ripped off.

Anyway, Harper is there and I suppose we should all be thankful that he hasn't insulted everyone by wearing combat clothing. Gordon O'Conner was there with him and of course, General Hillier has been there for a few days, which should have told us that either O'Connor or Harper were on the way.

Some things that came out of the CP report.

"We have to remember that there were a number of Canadians killed in the World Trade Center," he said.
Stupid statement from someone who does not know how to motivate a soldier. There were probably all kinds of foreign nationals killed in the World Trade Center. They are not there to avenge Canadians killed in another country.

"We're all touched by the threats of terror and this country, as we all know, has been the bastion of that and is still a threat."
Better. The speech writer must have had a moment of inspiration. By the way, there is at least one soldier in the audience who wants to know if you will personally deliver a letter to his girlfriend.

"Just remember: I was lower in the polls and I won," he told reporters at Kandahar Air Field before greeting two dozen Canadian soldiers.
Just remember, you have the weakest minority in Canadian history and you have been vilified for violating the ethics you promised. Thank gawd you didn't say that to the troops.

"The truth is Canada is not an island, we live in a dangerous world," the prime minister said.
And now, little Stevie, the man who has never worked at anything except politics and lobby groups, is standing in one of the dangerous places... guarded by a personal protection team from JTF2.

"These are great Canadian values. I know it's a dangerous mission, I know it's a tough mission. But we're doing great work, and we should take pride and participate in it."
We?

I really hope Harper does something really smart. If a soldier wants a picture with the PM they get it and it goes to their hometown newspaper. No photo ops with the troops GeorgeStephen. That would be abusing the priviledge of being in their presence.

No comments: