September 1, 2003
As a society, we are a lot easier on public figures to the left of center than we are on those to the right. I have often wondered why this is so, and I recently managed to get some insight. It’s because we associate individuals who are politically to the left of center with being good and right. After all, those on the left are in favour of helping people. The left is in favour of women’s rights, minority rights, affirmative action, school breakfast programs, affordable housing, and resolving child poverty. Clearly they are the good guys.
That’s why it’s okay for them to occasionally stretch the truth or bypass rules that happen to be inconvenient.
Take the Prime Minister of Canada, for example. If lies were gummi bears, he’d own the world’s biggest candy store. But one can’t really fault him, because his heart is in the right place. After all, he was merely doing what any other member of parliament would do by helping one of his constituents acquire a government loan. And the little white lies he told afterwards are okay because no one was hurt by it.
Carolyn Parrish, the Liberal Member of Parliament, is famous for her phrase "..Damned Americans. I hate the bastards." Rather than reap a firestorm of scorn from her fellow citizens, she was actually lauded for her bigotry. But, if we change the word "Americans" and substitute it with, oh, say Iraqis, Palestinians, Pakistanis, or any other nationality for that matter, and change Carolyn Parrish to Stephen Harper, suddenly a lynch mob would materialize.
Examples of this are even more rampant in the U.S. Remember Trent Lott? He was hounded out of office as Senate Majority Leader after disingenuously praising Strom Thurmond and his Dixiecrat run for the White House during Thurmond’s 100th birthday party. Everyone knew that Lott was being specious when he mused whether the country might be a better place had Thurmond won in 1948. It took less than a few minutes before calls for Lott’s head on a platter drowned out those pointing out that he said it as a jest more than anything. However, when Senator Robert Byrd, a liberal Democrat (and former member of the KKK) liberally used the "N" word on national radio, no one raised an eyebrow, much less an objection.
Currently in California, the Gubernatorial recall is presenting us with more examples as leftist media types like Katie Couric gleefully point out that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s father was a Nazi in a clear effort at casting aspersions against a self proclaimed "conservative". In the meantime, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a liberal Democrat, used the "N"-word in a speech he gave to the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, causing hundreds to walk out in anger. And no one says a word. Not even professional firebrand Al Sharpton!
Perhaps the best example of a Left-lib type getting away with a blatant breach of the law is Bill Clinton’s impeachment. For the Chief Executive of the United States to lie to a federal judge under oath, and to suborn a witness to perjury, advising Monika to lie about their tryst in the oval office, is an offence for which a Republican President would have been kicked out of office and faced criminal charges to boot.
One would think that most people caught in committing an unsavoury act, or telling a fib, would be embarrased. But if you are basically good and your heart is in the right (left) place, you are pre-emptively absolved of any wrongdoing and have no need to feel embarrassed. If, on the other hand, you are to the right of center, then clearly you should hang your head in shame, as you are held to a higher standard than your leftist colleagues.