Kneepads, Panties and Patriotism

We begin with an email from a citizen of Adler Nation. His name is Grant and he writes:

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Well, I’m proud of our Prime Minister. I sat through watching the interviews after their meeting with the reporters and Stephen Harper was outstanding. The Canadian reporters, I thought, did their best to embarrass or trip up the Prime Minister but he handled them very well. And I appreciate President Obama echoing the same sentiment. I tried to imagine Chrétien, in his slaughtered English, talk and express his points as the Prime Minister and there’s no way in Hades, Chrétien could have come across the same way. I could see Chrétien come across as the grandfather politician and give the President pointers on how to run a country. He would have given the President a soap stone Loon as a memento of his visit. I tried to imagine Layton as the Prime Minister. Layton would have been wrapped around President Obama’s ankle, or sitting like a little kid at his feet in total awe. He would have had no original thought or opinion, but just parrot what the President had said, and talking himself in circles. I think he would have wet himself too… I tried imagining Iggy as P.M. and we would have seen President Obama fall asleep, listening to Iggy go on and on and on, making the President look like his speeches are only sound bites. Iggy would have probably reminisced about the good old days at Harvard. I then made the mistake to turn to CBC and got ill listening from one of their reporters, Susan Bonner, gushing about President Obama. She commented on how the Canadian reporters would have rather had a photo op with the President than ask a question.

And folks, I just want to put this conversation on hold for a moment, because I remember how some of you were attacking me when this big day for Canada was arranged a few weeks ago. This very big day in which the new U.S. President was to pay a visit to Ottawa, and while I think it's wonderful that Canada is the first foreign trip that the American President makes, I just had a feeling that some of what I call the “Knee Pad Media” - the members of the media who are on their knees at all times for left of centre U.S. politicians - would embarrass themselves on this trip. And so I said Feb 19th in Ottawa would become "National Wet Pantie Day." Some of you went a little apoplectic in your emails to me, saying that it was a crude and disrespectful phrase. And I agree, it is all about being crude and disrespectful. Few things are more disrespectful to our country than a Canadian reporter, not a commentator, not a pundit, but for a reporter to be publicly fawning over any leader, foreign or domestic. But aside from the fawning, the comment I found far more interesting from the conversation that Mansbridge and Susan Bonner had was the one where Mansbridge asked her this question and let me quote here. Peter Mansbridge says: LET ME BRING IN SUSAN BONNER INTO THE CONVERSATION, AND SHE WAS IN THE ROOM AND THERE WAS AN AGREEMENT ON WHO WOULD ASK THE QUESTIONS AND JENNIFER DITCHBURN, FORMERLY OF OUR BUREAU AND SHE GOT TO ASK THE ENGLISH SIDE. QUESTION: SUSAN, THE DYNAMIC IN THE ROOM, WHAT WAS YOUR SENSE OF IT ALL? The following is the transcript from the clip: Reporter: IT WAS INTERESTING, AS WE WERE LINED UP, PETER, TO GET OUT ALL THE REPORTERS WERE TALKING ABOUT THIS AND THE AGREEMENT AMONGST US REPORTERS AND, FORGIVE ME I HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST FEW MOMENTS OF THE PROGRAMME AND SO I HOPE I'M NOT REPETITIVE, AND STEPHEN HARPER HAD A MESSAGE THAT HE WANTED TO DELIVER TO AMERICANS ABOUT THE BORDER AND ABOUT SECURITY. AND ABOUT TRADE. AND HE WAS, YOU KNOW, PUSHING THOSE MEDIA MESSAGES DIRECTLY TO TALK TO AN AMERICAN AUDIENCE. SO THAT WAS THE -- THOSE WERE THE MONEY COMMENTS FROM MY POINT OF VIEW AND FROM MY COLLEAGUES IN THE ROOM POINT OF VIEW FROM THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA. AND FROM PRESIDENT, THE STANDOUT FOR ALL OF US IN THE ROOM WAS, I LOVE THIS COUNTRY, AS PRESIDENT OBAMA SAYING THAT, YOU KNOW, AND REMEMBER BACK TO A COUPLE OF ELECTION CAMPAIGNS ONE OF THE FIRST QUESTIONS ASKED OF STEPHEN HARPER WAS IF HE LOVED CANADA BECAUSE HE SEEMS TO BE AT THE TIME IT WAS SEEN THAT HE WAS A LITTLE BIT AWKWARD WITH THIS KIND OF ELECTRIC LANGUAGE BUT YOU SAW THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERING THIS AND SAYING IT QUITE CASUALLY AND WARMLY AND SO THAT WAS THE BUZZ AMONG THE MEDIA AS WE WAITED PENNED UP TO BE RELEASED AND GET OUT HERE AND TALK TO OUR VARIOUS OUTLETS. And after reviewing that, I thought to myself, this is fascinating. Am I hearing Canadian reporters now pushing the idea that our Prime Minister doesn't love our country, not like Obama does or that he simply has a hard time expressing love of country the way Obama does. What's going on here? So allow me to project a scenario we could see three years down the road, one where Stephen Harper expresses affection for the United States, not in Ottawa, but in Washington and the American coverage of the story might sound something like this: “At a joint White House news conference held between President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Canadian leader was pressed for assurances that Canada would not limit the flow of oil, natural gas and lumber to the United States. There had been rumors that because of certain protectionist policies pursued by the Obama administration that Canada would retaliate. But the Canadian leader surprised the White House press corps, by saying "Canada will always be the most reliable partner the United States could ever have. I have always loved the United States. It has always been a beacon of light to those of us who believe freedom is the world's most important resource. It is what nourishes the human imagination, and creates the opportunities for prosperity and security. Free trade is a child of Freedom. As Prime Minister of Canada, I can assure the government of the United States and the American people, that my country will not engage in practices that harm our bilateral relationship, practices that harm the cause of freedom. We will always be freedom's best friend, and that means we will always be the United States most reliable ally and trading partner.” When the Canadian leader finished, something very rare happened in the White House media room. Almost every member of the working media stood up and gave this foreign leader an ovation that lasted for several minutes. What stood out for some, was the small handful of reporters who stayed in their seats. One of them looked embarrassed. Another appeared to be angry. The third had a disgusted look on her face. When CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed the three Canadians, they appeared to be offended by the idea that a Canadian leader would speak in such glowing terms about the United States. The reporter for Canada's national public broadcaster, known as the CBC said, “In our country there has always been widespread suspicion that the leaders of the Conservative party who hails from an ultra right-wing part of the country has too much affection for the United States and too little for Canada. Today, he seems to have confirmed that view with his words." Wolf Blitzer then challenged the Canadian journalist by saying, "But didn't Barack Obama in his very first visit to Canada as president more than three years ago, say at a news conference in Ottawa that he loved Canada?” The CBC reporter then let Blitzer have it right between the eyes. “That's not the same thing at all Wolf. It's a difference with a distinction. In Canada we all want the United States to know more about us and to respect us. President Obama appealed to our fondest hopes when he said he loved Canada. But the worst fear that Canadians have is that their government will fall into the hands of a leader who feels greater kinship toward the United States than he does for Canada and today Prime Minister Harper seemed to be completely over the top by not only saying he loved the United States, but that he also felt that the United States was a beacon of freedom for the world, and Canadians know that isn't true. The United States is seen as an oppressor in many parts of the world. The United States is an ally of Israel which many see as an apartheid state in the Middle East. The United States has also been seen by some as trying to export a kind of militant Christianity, and the United States is also seen as a country that has practiced genocide in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War and more recently in Iraq. And I haven't even brought up Abu Ghraib or Maher Arar or Omar Khadr or Gitmo or Waterboarding. Wolf, the truth is that we at the CBC are in touch with precisely how the average Canadian feels about the United States. We need them to buy our stuff. But we don't want to be associated with their ideological baggage. We are embarrassed by United States policies on race, on war, on torture, and on civil liberties. Am I making myself clear as a bell on why I sat while the rest of you stood and applauded that man for saluting your country as a beacon of freedom?” Blitzer than offered the CBC reporter an uncharacteristic dress down. “Susan, I have never heard so much nonsense in my life from a so-called Canadian journalist. I grew up in Buffalo, only minutes from the Canadian border. I spent a lot of time in your country, and have many friends there. I don't know who you think you are speaking for. But I must assume based on this propaganda that you are mouthing, that you’re either speaking only for yourself or for a small group of people on the far left of the spectrum. I can now see why you were not happy with the Prime Minister's remarks. He represents a mainstream view and what you seem to represent borders on irrelevant. None of us in journalism want to feel irrelevant. But we make a choice every day between following the facts and following our agendas. I want to thank you for sharing with our viewers very candidly on the choice that you and some of your Canadian colleagues choose to take. I want you to know that I too love Canada. We have a very loyal audience in Canada. We get lots of email from Canada and Susan, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them tell me in the next couple of hours that I love Canada more than you do.” I'm Charles Adler on the Corus Radio Network.