Monday morning on CKNW's The Bill Good Show my political pundit colleague Norman Spector made news instead of commenting on it.
Discussing the ongoing and seemingly endless Peter MacKay-Belinda Stronach story, Norman went way over the top.
"You know, I'm not in politics. I can say it. I think she's a bitch. It's as simple as that. And I think that 90 percent of men would probably say she's a bitch for the way she's broken up (retired hockey player) Tie Domi's home and the way she dumped Peter MacKay. She is a bitch," Norman said.
I immediately objected:
"Well Norman, I think you're taking a lot of liberty there. We don't know what happened in the Tye Domi case. We do know that she broke up with Mr. Mackay. And we don't call (Vancouver South MP) Ujjal Dosanjh or (Liberal leadership candidate) Bob Rae or others with names like that. So I don't think that's a fair characterization. I think it's fair to say you don't like her politics. And I don't either personally. But I think that crosses the line, myself."
But Norman dug in and repeated and amplified the comment.
I respect Norman's views generally, even though I often disagree with them. After all, Norman has a very Conservative and Social Credit background, having worked at the highest staff level for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Premier Bill Bennett.
But it's not right to use such pejorative terms on the radio to describe anyone.
It's not appropriate to publicly call a female Member of Parliament a "bitch" for any reason.
And what Norman cites as his reasons to denigrate Stronach are only allegations in the Tie Domi case - allegations Stronach has denied - and certainly not informed comment.
I don't frankly care what Belinda Stronach does in her private life - I care what she does as a legislator and what values she espouses that affect all Canadians.
Norman should reconsider his ill-considered comments and apologize to Stronach.
Since this morning, the B-word battle has become a national news story on CTV National and BC CTV, www.publiceyeonline.com , www.warrenkinsella.com, www.bourque.com and other websites.
If you want to hear this controversial segment, go to www.cknw.com
and go to the Audio Vault and click on Monday October 30 at 10 a.m. - then go to about 10:28 a.m. for the initial comments, followed after the news by callers on both sides of the issue.
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5 comments:
"I don't frankly care what Belinda Stronach does in her private life - I care what she does as a legislator and what values she espouses that affect all Canadians."
This strikes me as rather naive. If Stronach is a home-wrecker, that should matter to voters a great deal.
Which, of course, doesn't mean that Spector was justified in his dumb comments.
Bill,
Your comments are fair and justified. Whether or not I agree or disagree with them is a moot point.
Thankfully you didn't join the legions of federal Liberal supporters on the blogosphere whose immediate reaction is not to disagree with him via a solid argument like you've provided, but instead to do everything they can to permanently silence him. Don't believe me? Then go to www.technorati.com and search for: Belinda Bitch
I am so completely disgusted with such folks supporting the concept of "Free Speech" ... only when such speech supports their own narrow minded views.
Neither you nor Spector could ever be charged with being naive. As such, I tend to wonder if he deliberately opened up this can of worms so we would also start thinking more clearly about what Free Speech REALLY means.
Robert W.
I think Norman Spector is just being a good Tory here. You know, if you plough through the Tory blogs, from the not-so-dark like Andrew Coyne's, right through to the outright bigot hangouts like Kate MacMillan's SmallDeadAnimals, you'll find a little trend concerning Stronach, hidden among the Muslim and gay-bashing, which of course are worth noting in their own right.
The fact is that these Conservative bloggers just cannot help themselves whenever her name comes up. They all have to start screaming "slut" and "traitor" in unison. Now I guess it's going to be "bitch" as well. She may be a bitch, but the obsessive dislike the Conservatives have for her is kind of telling. She hurt them more than what I imagined.
Bill, you mentioned two male politicians who betrayed the NDP, Rae and Dosanjh. I wonder, if the NDP were able to condemn these two backstabbers in terms that were strong enough to do them some damage, but not so over the top as to reflect back on the NDP, would the party be better off? Ever since the 2004 Ujjal betrayal I have been amazed at the total inability of the BC section of the NDP to mount any kind of response to that move whatever.
When a party is trying to assure people that it's serious, it's on the rebound after a long time down, this kind of high level betrayal cannot just go unanswered, not when you're asking people to volunteer time and contribute cash. Is there not some middle path between NDP dead silence (what is the health status of someone who doesn't make a sound when stabbed???) and Tory frothing at the mouth that represents the optimum response to high level betrayal?
I'm listening in complete disbelief to Bill Good this morning on this topic. He's "shocked" over the attention this is getting? He's other either extremely out of touch or being disingenuous. As soon as I heard these comments I knew they were going to blow-up, if not nationally, than locally. It doesn't take a media expert to figure that much out.
Good for you, Tieleman for speaking up... something Mr. Good was incapable or unwilling to do.
And Norman... your free to believe whatever you want about Belinda but don't speak for me (or the other 90% of men's out there.)
Doh! Bill, since you screen these postings can't you edit them too? :)
Please excuse the grammar errors in my last post!
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