Trashing Sarah Palin: The New Hot Thing

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani’s wife, Judith, take in ballgame at Yankee Stadium.

Remember the cartoon about the stimulus monkey, and how it was somehow Barack Obama? The media ran with the story and before you knew it, the thing was in international headlines and black leaders were calling for the cartoonists head. Yeah, that was a good one.

Or how about the massive outrage that John McCain was somehow complicit in allowing then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton be referred to in a question as “the bitch”? The exchange began when a woman at a campaign event asked Senator McCain “How do we beat the bitch?” Mr.McCain laughed, but then followed up by clarifying his respect for her.

Those stories are but two of the many overblown incidents that created national headlines, but it seems when it comes to insulting Sarah Palin, there’s a little more leeway in the equation. For instance, on Tuesday VH1 comedian Chuck Nice appeared on the “Today” show in which he compared Governor Palin to the notorious STD herpes:

“But, Sarah Palin to the GOP, this is what I’ve got to say, she is very much like herpes, she’s not going away.”

Because Chuck Nice is known as a comedian, the comment slid by without any challenge at all. But even if meant in jest, comparing someone to a sexually transmitted disease, an incurable one at that, is far and away worse than calling someone “the bitch”.

Even if that isn’t convincing, however, consider David Letterman’s recent jokes about Sarah Palin, which crossed so many lines it could be construed as drunk driving:

Letterman, in his monologue Monday night, noted that the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate attended a Yankees game during a trip to New York City, where she was honored by a special needs group. Letterman referred to Palin, Alaska’s governor, as having the style of a “slutty flight attendant.”

The “Late Show” host also took a shot Palin’s daughter, while poking fun at the Yankees’ third baseman.

“One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game,” Letterman said, “during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”

You can see the segment at CBS, from about the 6 minute mark onwards. Not only did David Letterman refer to Ms.Palin in a derogatory way repeatedly, mocking her and making references to her appearance, his comment regarding her daughter is magnified by the fact that attending the game was not, in fact, 18-year-old Bristol, the unwed mother of Palin’s first grandchild. It was 14-year-old Willow, which not only implies that the mother is slut, but her 14-year-old daughter is also a slut, and that Alex Rodriguez is guilty of statutory rape.

I may not agree with Sarah Palin’s brand of politics, but this kind of commentary is vulgar beyond even the flexible limits of standup comedy.

Toronto Manufactures Diversity

“The goal was to depict the diversity of Toronto and its residents.“

This is an “official city policy” by the way, signed by former city manager Shirley Hoy in directing staff to ensure the true kaleidoscope of Toronto residents is represented in all its communications materials.

What I suppose I find most curious about the smiling black guy photoshopped into the picture, is that the family looks like it’s already Latino. Not quite “diverse” enough for Toronto?

Bob Rae’s Chickens Are Deported Home To Roost

Photograph by: Brett Gundlock, National Post

The federal government is protesting the Sri Lankan government’s decision to deport Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae from the country, and for branding him a “supporter” of the defeated Tamil Tiger terrorist network. Foreign Affairs issued the statement that “[It] is absurd to suggest that Mr. Rae represents a threat to Sri Lankan national security, or is a supporter of LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam].” The government has officially registered “dismay and displeasure” with Sri Lanka and considers it an unacceptable treatment of a Canadian parliamentarian. The government is correct to rebuke Sri Lanka for deporting Mr.Rae, when he had a valid travel visa and had consulted with Sri Lankan authorities prior to the visit.

But when Mr.Rae arrived in the country, he was detained and accused of being a national security threat, then refused entry into the country and deported. The fact is that Bob Rae certainly is not a security threat to the nation of Sri Lanka, nor is he a supporter of the Tamil Tigers. He has been involved in the Sri Lankan civil war issue for more than a decade, serving as chairman of the Forum of Federations, and later as an MP. He has traveled extensively throughout Sri Lanka, and talked to people on both sides of the conflict.

One can scarcely blame the Sri Lankan government for the confusion, however, particularly where it pertains to the Liberal members of Parliament who have spoken out about the constant protests and disruptions in Ottawa and Toronto that attempted to bring attention to civil war. Members of the Liberal party were vocal in their public support for the disruptions, even defensive to the point of encouraging further protests and disruptions as the government appeared to provide a divided front in their views of the Tamil protests.

The Liberal party saw the protests as yet another wedge to drive between themselves and the government, and this was highlighted by the appearance of Gurbax Singh Malhi at one of their rallies. If a Sri Lankan parliamentarian was observed to be consorting with a group of Canadians in that country that had known ties to terrorism, would you be wary in letting that person into Canada at a later date? I think the answer is rather obvious.

Canada and the United States has been a breeding ground for support of the Tamil Tiger terrorist network, as evidenced by recent charges of four Sri Lankans on terrorism charges in the United States. The inability of the Tamil protesters in Ottawa and Toronto to properly distinguish themselves between ordinary concerned ethnic Tamils, and the flags belonging to the terrorist organization, was probably the worst aspect of their public relations strategy. Those who stood up in support of the Tamils at the time, Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Gurbax Singh Malhi, to name but a few, have also had to accept the diplomatic consequences of that decision.

The fact is that the Liberals reached out to the demonstrators while also trying to keep an arms length to their association with the LTTE, perhaps attempting to curry favour with a potenially large voting bloc. Bob Rae’s expulsion from Sri Lanka is the direct cause and effect of the politics our Parliamentarians were playing with the affairs of a foreign nation.

Will The Liberals Let The Raitt Affair Go Now?

Photograph by: Chris Wattie, Reuters

It’s difficult to sift through the miles of verbiage on the Lisa Raitt affair, or as Joanne puts it a little more indelicately [but accurately], the wheat from the fertilizer. What strikes me most about this whole explosion is that there appears to be a genuine public interest in a potential gossip-addled scandal, plentifully provided by sound bytes and glossy photographs in the media, for what is essentially irrelevant to the central issue of the isotope crisis.

Ms.Raitt has even tearfully apologized today, taking away some of the sting of those accusing her of comparing getting cancer to being “sexy”. There is so much that is inappropriate about this whole sordid affair that it’s difficult to summarize: the Liberals are essentially saying that Lisa Raitt is unfit for office because her aide accidentally left a digital recorder on involving a conversation about isotopes and colleagues [long before the shortage, mind you], and then accidentally left that recorder in the hands of the Halifax Chronicle Herald, and never picked it up. Did I get that about right?

We’ve already been over and over the reasons why the word “sexy” in conjunction with isotopes isn’t meant to make light of cancer; and after all, the Minister lost her own father and brother to cancer, so the manufactured outrage on that note should be quickly curtailed. The word was used in political parlance as a means of desiring recognition for possibly solving a problem that would enhance her position in the Party and in the government. And as John Ivison of the National Post indicates, if Mr. Ignatieff is suggesting that Ms. Raitt “should be dismissed because her first reaction was to instinctively calculate what the situation meant for her own career prospects”, such a sacking offence would render the House of Commons empty overnight.

For if we’re carefully measuring political opportunism, then the Liberals have milked this cow to it’s current state of shriveled deflation. There isn’t much more controversy they can squeeze from this “inadvertent” recording, even with rumours of more tape containing “disparaging” remarks about coworkers. Besides, does anyone for one moment believe that when Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff were battling for the Liberal leadership, that neither of them spoke an ill word against the other in the privacy of their advisers and aides? Anybody?

Alas, Christie Blatchford is correct, there is nothing sexy about this entire overblown feeding frenzy. Whereas the real issue central to this whole affair, producing more isotopes for cancer victims, has been shuffled quietly to the sidelines, a host of other important events have also been overshadowed by our zeal to hang Ms.Raitt from the cross, least of which not being that another Canadian soldier fell in service of his country [tearfully acknowledged by Don Cherry during Coach's Corner in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals last night]. As found in Chris Selley’s Full Pundit wrap-up, Chantal Hébert even sees a light at the end of this tunnel:

Nothing in the leaked conversation points to a minister looking for cover or a possible scapegoat, should her mission fail, and there are no indications that Raitt feels that she may be in over her head. On the contrary.

All of the above are positive traits, signs of intelligent life at the federal cabinet table and the trademarks of a promising ministerial activist.

Indeed, the qualities of the Minister demonstrated on that tape are the ones we desire in our leadership: a willingness to tackle difficult issues and solve them, to feel she is right for the job at hand, and to demonstrate an exuberance for the opportunity to become an important person in Canadian politics.