Cheers and Jeers: Rant Bouquets-Summer '08

We’re deep into the dog days of summer (otherwise known as the Obama Love-In World Tour ’08), and it’s time to once again to bestow cheers and jeers those who are making a difference, for better or worse.

The Man-Crush Bouquet: If a political talker gushed over a Republican candidate like this, his credibility would evaporate and his career would be in jeopardy. Good thing MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews is swooning over a Democrat. His endless prattle over Barack Obama has quickly slid from the media’s usual leftwing bias down to downright cheerleading. It has actually become embarrassing.

The Anti-American Bouquet: All those nutjob Canadian’s who are busy protesting the detaining of Canadian citizen (and alleged terrorist) Omar Khadr by the Americans at Gitmo (somehow they got all this time off of work). It would be one thing if the granola-cruncher crowd used the ‘but he was just a kid’ line – the sad and expected excuse – but instead they make the conscious choice of using the young al-Qaeda fighter as fodder for more anti-American rousing. Come to think of it, Khadr has gone from being used by the terrorists to being used by the anti-war crowd. How ironic.

The Has He Grown A Pair? Bouquet: Alberta premier Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative government has decided to go ahead with an appeal in the Gilles Caron language case. In successfully fighting a traffic ticket given in Alberta because it wasn’t printed in French as well as English, Caron has launched the inevitable debate over provincial language rights in a country where the minority French culture is routinely rammed down the throats of the vast non-French majority. In taking a stand, Stelmach has made the right move, and deserves this bouquet. Which leads us to…

The Promote Your Personal Agenda Bouquet: Lawyer Rupert Baudais has suckered a few Western Canadian Francophones into being pawns in his personal language rights crusade. And people wonder why the public image of lawyers is lower than crocodile piss.

The If All Else Fails Pull a Trudeau Bouquet: Liberal leader Stephane Dion, wallowing in the polls and struggling with a public image akin to Mr. Rogers, made the expected act of desperation and has targeted Alberta with his last-gasp Green Shift plan. Also as expected, it has gathered his support from the Greater Toronto Area and the Vancouver tree-huggers (and naturally, David Suzuki). Everyone else writes it off just as they do Dion’s career.

The Obama Nation Abomination Bouquet: Even after the Democratic candidate’s visit to Israel, the ever-targeted Jewish state is unsure if they can rely on America’s continued friendship from an Obama White House. War veteran McCain vs. ‘Really, I’m not a Muslim’ Obama. The folks of Tel Aviv must be sweating a little bit.

The Haven't We Seen This Movie? Bouquet: Outspoken Hollywood political pundits. They were Clintonites (remember how that turned out?) and now they’re Obamaites. Does the fact that the same pop-culture stars that photo-op with Obama also photo-op with Hugo Chavez bother anyone else, or is it just me?

The Damn the Candy-Asses, Full Speed Ahead! Bouquet: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government continues it’s strong stand in favor of our involvement in the War on Terror, despite the fact it could cost them some easy votes come the next election. He may not be perfect, but Harper has shown that he is, by far, the best choice to lead the nation.

The Argument for Genetic Cloning Bouquet: the Republican Party – and the entire Free World - gets this one. If there were ever a time in American history for someone to use a few strands of Ronald Reagan’s DNA and a petri dish, this is it. Sphere: Related Content