Oct 31st- Ottawa Sun columnist Greg Weston, on the "Peter MacKay must apologize for sexist remark" story his industry kept on life-support for 10 days;
A few hours after Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay first landed in the Commons doghouse over his canine reference to Liberal MP and former flame Belinda Stronach, she of eternal good nature was shrugging off the locker-room remark, telling her dinner companions that night: "Let's let sleeping dogs lie."
Fast forward three weeks to Nov 21st and pay attention to how our esteemed columnist decorates his own prose;
As Rona Ambrose returns to Canada from last week’s beatings at the UN climate change conference in Nairobi, we are beginning to wonder if the federal environment minister is perhaps missing her briefs.[...]
Gosh. Caught with her briefs down again.
Gosh.
Well, this makes for an interesting juxtaposition. For all the controversy, the alleged MacKay comments don't appear in the public record - the Commons Speaker Peter Milliken having ruled as much.
But this is no "he said -she said". Greg Weston has not only affixed his name to this trashy piece of commentary, his editors at the Sun signed off on it. But set aside the question of the sexism double standard for a moment - it's not as though we've come to expect moral consistancy from our mainstream keyboard jockeys.
What puzzles me is the metaphorical elephant in the room.
Greg Weston is a professional writer. As we of the media-consuming unwashed masses know full well, professional political writing is hard. It's like, a gift. Lots of people can think up funny, biting commentary - but it takes a real pro to know which rhetorical ammunition to load when sizing up one's target. It's like comedic timing - they're just born with it.
So, that's why I'm scratching my head. If "briefs down" imagery is deemed suitable for describing the behavior of female Members of Parliament in the Canadian mainstream press, why waste such a disconnected metaphor on Environment Minister Rona Ambrose?
Just think of the milage (not to mention, peer approval!) Weston might have wrung out of this bit of linguistic cunning if only he'd had the presence of mind to turn his "briefs down" brilliance towards the MP of "eternal good nature", that former Minister of Complex Files?
Opportunity, lost.
(Though admittedly, on a technical level, it probably fails the strict definition of metaphor.)
h/t Mark Collins, at Daimnation.
Well you can't just "Rona around briefless"; people might notice!!
So then, do we fly her skivvies at full or half mast? That should make for interesting Parliamentary debate.
Unlike Belinda Stronach I don't believe the Environment Minister has ever been given the epitaph:
"Rona around Ambrose"
Indeed, if she has ever been 'briefless' it may be in the presence of her husband; and so far he ain't sharing the finer points of her abilities in the "Ministry of Amore".
I can only suggest that it will take a little more than ambrosia to get the details.
On the other hand ambrosia is known as the 'drink of the gods' in honour of Dionysus; so maybe the Environment Minister will be throwing a big party when the Clean Air Act passes.
Evidently PPG needs a lot of clean air as their thoughts have been somewhat polluted.
So far there is no Clean Mind Act anywhere in sight.
Now where is that 'briefless ambrosia'?
Oh, hang it all, my wife has gone out again to make music on the piano; instead of with me.
We used to call people like this a hypocrite.
"Just think of the milage (not to mention, peer approval) Weston might have wrung out of this bit of linguistic cunning if only he'd had the presence of mind to turn his "briefs down" brilliance towards the MP of "eternal good nature", that former Minister of Complex Files?"
He is evidently not a cunning linguist.
Hey Kate,
I thought you didn't like cats.
I see a business opportunity, lots of material, work out of home.
A New Web site, 3ws mediadoublestandard.com
Only problem, would need huge storage capacity.
Another,.. mediadoubleclick.com For the media's story and take, click once. For the real unfiltered story, click again. Same format, same topic but with the real unfiltered, unbiased, unslanted news.
The Sun Sets on Greg Weston; Charles Adler's go to guy for mediocrity.
So by this logic a leader like Ralph Klein must be held up to an even higher standard, as he is much more recognisable and in a greater position of power.
MacKay's remark caused fake outrage because he's a Conservative. If someone who's not a Conservative says something worse against a woman who's a Conservative MP, why, it's just good, clean anti-Conservative fun.
Revoltingly, shamelessly hypocritical. Weston's an ass.
What got me ticked was this: "While the Conservative government’s sudden devotion to the Kyoto accord may leave some Canadians a tad confused, Ambrose’s remarks will surely push her own officials to test the office drinking water."
They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. They've been pressured by the NDP and public pressure (supposedly) to negotiate, and now they're being accused of being insincere.
If there's sometning in her water it's as a result of her move to Ontario.
speaking of the Ottawa Sun, does anyone notice cartoonist Susan Dewar's lame and spiteful um, cartoons, are just that, lame and spiteful?
It's like she has a har...err...hate-on against Stephen Harper. Latest cartoon has PMSH flexing a weak muscle to China's leader. Notice btw Harper is shown overweight and a nose like a drunkard.
It's one thing to jest about a politican if he screws up, but this is the first PM to stand up against China and put Human Rights before Walmart specials.
And what does the Sun publish? Dewar's sick cartoon. I've written to the paper, so we'll see if they have the fairness to post my question.
http://www.ottawasun.com/Comment/Dewar/2006/11/21/2431785.html
"Charles Adler's go to guy for mediocrity."
Jim Travers' nose will be out of joint, if he hears about his....
"Greg Weston is a professional writer."
There is no such thing in the MSM. They are only professional in that they get paid, but then so do hookers. Without word processors and spell checkers, which most of them don't seem to use, they wouldn't be able to write a nursery rhyme
"Greg Weston is a professional writer."
I prefer the term:
"Undertakers who bury the story, exalt the lead, and cash the cheque."
I suspect nothing pisses off lefties like Weston, Ivison, or Ken Rockburn at CPAC, more than using the name Mark Steyn somewhere in your email.
Expect a terse reply, if not downright snarky.
Yes the PPG payback from the "cunning linguists" is only starting.
Sorry Rona, there can only be one 'Breck Girl'.
Now that they were cunning....you know ...foxlike. Unfortunately many of the pros are more akin to Chihuahuas or Mexican Hairless'....yappy and sure of their stature and importance yet sadly lacking survival skills without the benefit of their masters lap and a warm hearth.
I believe they all fall into the category of catdogs.
Metaphorically speaking.
Syncro
"it's not as though we've come to expect moral consistancy from our mainstream keyboard jockeys."
Lol.
I seem to recall that when the Liberals were in power, Weston used to write negatively about them as well.
Coreect me if I am wrong, but doesn't the tone of all of Weston's columns seem to be in the form of complaints against what the sitting government is doing.
He really is a professional whiner, and the two columns linked above are part of a template that Weston uses for his columns and highlight that point. It's getting tiresome and I think he needs to develop a different schtick.
He is a lot like Adler in that way, and Adler used to write for the Sun chain until they realized they had his clone in Weston.
I seem to recall that when the Liberals were in power, Weston used to write negatively about them as well.
Coreect me if I am wrong, but doesn't the tone of all of Weston's columns seem to be in the form of complaints against what the sitting government is doing.
He really is a professional whiner, and the two columns linked above are part of a template that Weston uses for his columns and highlight that point. It's getting tiresome and I think he needs to develop a different schtick.
He is a lot like Adler in that way, and Adler used to write for the Sun chain until they realized they had his clone in Weston.
Greg Weston is just a run-of-the-mill critic. So too is Schnozzola Travers. Why would anyone care a hoot what they say or write?
They aren't getting their easy stories anymore so they're dreaming them up.
The thought of Rona Ambrose and "briefs" would get their foggy little minds all titillated.
Excellent analysis of the hypocrisy, Kate.
mainstream keyboard jockeys.
Please. Mainstream Hunters and Peckers.
Whoops.
Tomax Dewar is famous. Wait for the Iggy or Rae
to show. spitting coffee through my nose (darn you commenter 1 and 3)
P/S
Greg Weston, if not a cunning linguist is a master debater.
He is definitely NOT a cunning linguist because he has no one with whom to practice his language skills.
That makes him DEFINITLEY a master-debater, although he tends to do that only in front of a mirror.
Weston blew a fuse after Harper won the election. He used to spend all his time attacking PMPM but quickly switched allegiances.
I think he should do a Jon Stewart-like show where you spend all your time attacking whoever is in power for whatever reason you can think off.
At least Stewart does it for laughs....
Simply put, Weston sucks at cunninglinguistics.
"We used to call people like this a hypocrite."
Now we refer to them as so-called "journalists."
he thinks he's a cunning linguist
Greg has unveiled a metaphor: Liberals.
Liberals means: theft of taxpayers' money, bribery, AdScam, AdScam Martin-Chretien, Gagliano, Judge Gomery Inquiry, Guite, crime and corruption in the PMO (ex-Liberal Prime Minister Chretien's Office), found cash money in brown envelopes, etc.
Liberals contains a whole world of meanings. Slice and dice that metaphor.
Greg has the whole Liberal world metaphor in his hands...
Greg is onto the Liberals's metaphor; Greg wants you to know that he has coined a new metaphor: Liberals.
...-
Greg Weston
No love lost for Liberals
"As federal Liberals attempt to give their party a fresh face with a new leader, a national public opinion poll suggests large numbers of Canadian voters are not yet ready to forgive and forget the Grits’ scandal-plagued past."
[Greg concludes with this:]
"No quick fix
But Nanos warns that simply changing the Liberal leader won’t fix what ails the Grits.
“The Liberals may be feeling pretty good about the numbers showing they are competitive with the Conservatives, but what these latest numbers show is it is very premature for them (Liberals) to think they’re out of the woods, or that Canadians have even forgiven them.”
As for the Conservatives, Nanos says, the message from the SES survey on Liberal strengths and weaknesses is equally clear.
“There is a great big bull’s-eye on the Liberal brand.”"
Greg Weston is a horse's ass, without briefs as well.
And to steal Kathy Shaidle's lovely line about Paul Wells:
"Poopy old Greg Weston."