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From the Editor

Mr. "Doublespeak Dithers"

by Judi McLeod

February 28, 2005

Much has been made of Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin being dubbed "Mr. Dithers" by The Economist.

Make that "Mr. Doublespeak Dithers".

The Economist's sobriquet portrays a Canadian Prime Minister who is vague, unsure of himself and in over his head at the PMO.

While he's all of that and more, Doublespeak Dithers did Martin's talking on Canadian participation in the american missile defence program.

It was a resolute sounding Martin who said in april, 2003" "If a missile is going over Canadian airspace, I want to know. I want to be at the table…"

It was more the wishy-washy Liberal Martin who said on Feb. 24, 2005: "Ballistic missile defence is not where we will concentrate our efforts."

and it must have been a parody of himself when Martin said the United States of america would require his permission to send a missile over the Dominion of Canada.

although it was certainly no compliment when The Economist dubbed him "Mr. Dithers", Martin said he didn't mind, as he had quite liked "Mr. Dithers" of Blondie & Dagwood cartoon fame.
Before becoming "Mr. Dithers" or even "Mr. Doublespeak Dithers", Martin was ""Mr. Flat Mark" when he carried a paper cutout made by school children everywhere he went. Bland, boring and marching in lockstep with Kofi annan's United Nations, Martin missed out on charisma. To my way of thinking, Martin wears his nicknames well.

Dour and cranky, Dithers of the comic strip could never quite make up his mind, not knowing whether to fire the bumbling Bumstead or to give him a raise in pay.

although the original Mr. Dithers may never have known it, he was a Class a Liberal.

In the 1950s when the original Mr. Dithers was popular, people made fun of him. These were the days when the politically correct had not reached cult status. People who could never make up their own minds always got on our nerves. We all had an uncle or an aunt who dithered away their days. The aunt Minerva, who couldn't make up her mind which cake to take to the church bake sale, so didn't show up instead. Uncle Edgar, who always promised the children a ride in the country, but couldn't make up his mind whether or not to take the car out from under its perpetual plastic tent in the garage.

Generations of Mr. Dithers that followed came under the spell of the politically correct, who enshrine weak characteristics such as indecisivness. Being bold, resolute or just outspoken became taboo.

Tecwyn Roberts of Coquitlam. B.C. got it right about dithering in a recent letter to the National Post.

"Dithering has, in fact been a hallmark not only of Canadian Liberals but also of the behaviour of liberals in general over the past 20 years," Roberts wrote.

"Consider, in random order, the dithering by Jean Chretien regarding Canada's and the United Nations' participation in the Iraq war; the dithering by Kofi annan and his UN cohorts over the investigation into the "oil-for-food" program; the dithering by the UN over the genocides, first in Rwanda and now in the Sudan; the dithering in Canada over dispatching the Disaster assistance Response Team after the asian tsunami; Ottawa's dithering about missile defence…need one go on?

"Ditherers surely rule most of our world, not to mention our daily lives. The blatant anti-americanism manifest in the UN, Europe and here in Canada–with President George W. Bush as the focus of the vitriol–is explained by the simple fact that he is not a ditherer.

"Thankfully, to every dark cloud there is indeed a silver lining."

The first ditherer on the human map goes back centuries beyond modern-day ones. His name was Pontius Pilate, and his story is retold every Easter.

But it wasn't until the politically correct regime came along that it became all right, if not preferable to be ditherer.

It takes certain courage to be decisive. Much easier to take the path of least resistance to be a wishy-washy Liberal, on every side of any given issue. Straddling the political fence, Liberal do-gooders like Martin, annan and Company work hard at the perception of being saviours in a world where the Nobel Peace Prize Committee now recognizes ditherers.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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