Some righteous Halagonians sending out the love for the family Bush
Canadian editorialist Tom Velk has two columns out that are both worth reading and re-reading.
Bush is coming. Canadians should line the streets, waving U.S. flags, since the visitor will not be – as John Kerry would have been – coming up to take "outsourced" jobs away from us.
Instead, all he will want is Canadian hot air – "support" for a missile defense program that we couldn't stop no matter how hard we tried, and which won't cost us a cent. He'll want more hot air by way of "support" in Iraq – he won't ask for, since we don't have them to give, any front line troops. He'll be quite happy to get a few Canadian folks way back in the supply line, offering medical care or what have you, just so there can be another nation in the coalition of the willing.
In exchange, we get real stuff – reasonable consideration of our problems with cows, fish and lumber. Something for nothing is a deal we should grab with both hands – or at least with one hand, using the other to wave that flag.
If a simple recognition of our own self-interest isn't enough for us to be welcoming, understanding a few things about American politics and international disarray should get us to do the necessary thing.
Bush is the strongest president to take office in many years. He has no operational domestic, and little effective international, opposition. Defying him or insulting him only has the potential of angering him.
And what did they do?
Had Prime Minister Martin gathered what little courage it would have taken to defy the nut left in his caucus, and offered to co-operate in the war, Bush was in a position to pay a big reward. Martin's refusal to do something symbolic in support of U.S. policies, including missile defence, is especially foolish, since our noisy criticism will not change American policy one bit.
Yet Martin stood dumb. We watched as Bush opened the door, waited for Martin to walk in, and then shut it again.
Now all they'll get from us for Christmas is a lump of coal.
I'll pitch in some tickets for front row seats so they can watch Iran pummel the crap out of the impotent UN they hold so dear.
I'll be watching for more from this Tom Velk. He's got us pegged.