Posted on 03/11/2005 8:16:01 PM PST by sully777
OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian member of Parliament charged with improving ties with the United States apologized on Thursday for saying "let's embarrass the hell out of the Americans in front of other countries."
The gaffe by Marlene Jennings came exactly two weeks after Canada's Liberal government irritated Washington by refusing to join the U.S. missile defense system.
Jennings -- the parliamentary secretary for Canada-U.S. relations -- reports directly to Prime Minister Paul Martin, who came to power in December 2003 saying he wanted better relations with Washington.
"I would apologize to the members in this House that my comments were a little bit exaggerated. I apologize," she told the House of Commons elected chamber of Parliament.
Jennings, who is herself half-American, accused the United States on Tuesday of refusing to adhere to trade treaties it had signed with Canada. One way to strike back, she suggested, was to shame Washington internationally.
"Let's embarrass the hell out of the Americans in front of other countries that they are attempting to negotiate with on new binational trade agreements ... let's just do it on the public scene," she told a parliamentary committee.
The opposition Conservative party, which says the Liberals have a history of needlessly antagonizing Washington, demanded that Martin fire Jennings for making her remarks at a time when the United States is blocking imports of live Canadian cattle.
"The Liberals have once again shown their anti-American bias ... This strategy is like poking someone in the eye and then asking them for a favor," Conservative legislator Diane Finley told Parliament.
Last November Martin kicked MP Carolyn Parrish out of the Liberal caucus after she stomped on a George Bush doll on a satirical TV show.
Last November Martin kicked MP Carolyn Parrish out of the Liberal caucus after she stomped on a George Bush doll on a satirical TV show.
I thought this was an Onion headline....
They whom the Gods wish to destroy- first they make mad. That is unless these spitefull, bad mouthed women need sex- and are not getting it.
Can they dig any bigger holes for themselves?
How ubiquitous this sophomoric tactic is in the Left's playbook! Liberals view negative PR as a trump card over consequential facts. Did they not notice that cBS's reputation has been flushed down the Crapper? In this age of readily-accessible current events and history sources (e.g., LexisNexis, Google), surely the days are numbered for the "tsunami" of some Canadian pols spouting superficial negativity--devoid of facts--compared to the truth about the U.S.'s well-developed policies, actions and results.
The portent of this is 10x the laughs we used to get noting the cognitive dissonance of newly-imported copy machines into the Soviet Union. Somethin's gonna blow!
Let them continue to wallow in their ignorance. Their ways will increasingly sink back into the pit where they were spawned.
Let Ratherbiased, Doc Howie, Michael Moore, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, BJ Clinton, Jimmuh Caahtuh, and Ward Churchill be their standard-bearers. Oops! They already are!
HF
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