Oh Canada: What Idiots You Have Had as Leaders: R U Listening Chretien

So when US diplomats write about the personal lives of foreign leaders this is bad how?  Versus the leadership of one of the United States' closest allies making several purely idiotic statements about an American president.





NDP in hot water over 'Shrub' memo

Canadian Press
July 30, 2003
staff



Saskatchewan's plan to petition the United States to reopen borders to Canadian beef stumbled out of the gate Wednesday when an internal government document flippantly referred to U.S. President George W. Bush as "Shrub."

"Re: Petition to President Shrub," is the title of the memo, dated Tuesday, and sent to NDP legislature members and candidates by party researcher Ted Bowen.

The memo was sent to media outlets by mistake.

"Shrub is Molly Ivins' dismissive nickname for President Bush," reads the P.S.

Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush is a 2000 book by Ivins, a Texas writer, and journalist Lou Dubose. It's a cheeky work that describes Bush as politically savvy but a shallow thinker and beholden to special interests.

When contacted about the memo, Bowen, an American with a thick southern accent, insisted that referring to Bush as a shrub is common where he comes from.

"In a way it's my heritage," Bowen said.

"Nobody calls anybody by their right name in Texas. Everybody has a nickname.

"It's the silly season. If that's news, it's news, but I should not have done it and I apologize."

Opposition Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson labelled the memo "idiotic" and said Premier Lorne Calvert should apologize immediately.

Calvert launched the petition Tuesday before he headed for the Rolling Stones concert in Toronto as a way for Saskatchewan citizens to make a difference where politicians couldn't.

It was to be forwarded to Bush in the coming weeks.

Ranchers across Canada have been struggling since major exports markets were closed to Canadian beef after one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was discovered in Alberta May 20.   [I think ranchers across Canada have been struggling with a greater problem than a beef against the US - Canadian taxes comes to mind]

The memo is the latest high level Canadian insult to Bush and Americans that cattle industry representatives say are not helping their cause.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien's former press secretary, Francoise Ducros, was forced to resign last November after being overheard calling Bush a "moron."

Earlier this year, Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish was overheard saying, "Damn Americans, I hate those bastards."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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